Didn’t think he’d make it? Trick’s on you

His magic act has taken him to 15 countries over the past 20 months. He’s logged a half-million miles via buses, airplanes, automobiles and ocean liners. The best in the abracadabra biz are beginning to know his name.

So much has changed since I met Dave Womach.

That was eight years ago. A frosty February night found me in the Stockyards Inn to observe a monthly meeting of the Spokane Magic Club.

I’ve always been a fan of magic. I appreciate the skill it takes to make an audience believe the unbelievable.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t overwhelmed by our local artisans of the “now you see it, now you don’t” craft.

One senior citizen – nicknamed Mr. Trick – said he was going to balance nine nails on the tip of a single nail. He spilled them all over the table.

“I haven’t done this in a while,” lamented Mr. Trick.

Oh, well. I wasn’t really expecting to discover the next David Copperfield.

Until I met Womach, that is.

He was 14 at the time but poised beyond his age.

I watched wide-eyed as he performed a deft, one-handed cut with a deck of cards. First with his right hand – then with his left.

The teenager was already a seasoned entertainer. He had been touring Spokane middle schools, mesmerizing young audiences with a magic show he honed on a stage in the basement of his home.

That was then. Today, Womach is about to make the leap into the magical big time.

Womach and his wife, Jamie, are living in a Reno hotel. Each day they head to a warehouse to rehearse for his first headline gig in a major resort.

That show is scheduled to open in July at the SandCastle Dinner Theater in Saipan, which has been dubbed the Las Vegas of Asia. Saipan, a U.S. territory not far from Guam, is a tourist draw for Japan, Korea and China.

The show will feature 150 birds, six dancers choreographed by a Cirque du Soleil dance coach and two 500-pound Bengal tigers.

Tigers?

Sorry to be a worrywart. But do the name Roy Horn and the phrase “horribly mauled on stage” ring a bell?

Not to fret, Womach said. “I learned enough to realize that I don’t want to handle the cats.” The tiger-taming duties will be the job of professionals.

Headlining such a major production is a gigantic break, especially considering Womach is just 22.

A feature in the January issue of Magic magazine noted the effort he has put into his career since tinkering with a magic kit as a child.

For 2 1/2 years he performed table magic in Spokane’s downtown Red Robin restaurant. He worked three shows a day at North Idaho’s Silverwood theme park.

He performed by invitation at the Shanghai Magic Festival. He went on a six-week Canadian magic tour.

Then came the months of cruise ship hocus-pocus.

It’s not always a Love Boat being stranded with 3,000 audience members, Womach said.

“You can’t leave your cabin without being harassed,” he said. “Every time you turn around, someone is saying, ‘Oh, look. There’s the magician. Make my food disappear.’ “

But the real aggravation has come in quarantines and red tape involving Womach’s specialty – live birds.

Moving his feathered friends around the world is asking for trouble in these tense times of avian flu and West Nile virus. “It would be easier right now to transport tigers than birds,” Womach said.

He has come a long way from the days of middle school magic shows.

But I’m not surprised. This affable kid has burned with a desire to become a great magician ever since he cut his first deck of cards. True to the magician’s code, he never revealed any trade secrets, but he did tell me something poor Mr. Trick should have known.

“It’s not how many tricks you know,” Womach said. “It’s how many you can do well.”