12 LONGISLANDPRESS.COM • JULY 2019
CRISS ANGEL: BY RUTH BASHINSKY
Criss Angel may look intimidating
and his magic may play tricks with
your mind but, beneath the goth exterior
— black leather, chains, eyeliner
and tattoos — is a soft-spoken, polite
person humbled by his fans, his love
for the art, and the charity he started
on behalf of his son.
Angel was excited to talk to the
Press while on the road for his
sold-out show, RAW - The Mindfreak
Unplugged. This native Long
Islander, born Christopher Nicholas
Sarantakos, whose fascination with
magic began when he was 6 years
old and whose first “major" illusion
was making his mother float in the
family den, has come a long way. Angel,
who admits he’s a perfectionist,
has spent most of his life honing his
craft and stunning audiences here
and abroad, and the payoff has been
magical.
Throughout the years, he’s garnered
massive attention for his genius.
Some of the most recent honors include
the GOAT (Greatest of All Time)
Award from Vanish Magic Magazine;
Lifetime Achievement Award
from the International Brotherhood
of Magicians (Angel is the youngest
recipient of this distinguished honor,
approved unanimously by the organizations
board of trustees). And, his
Hollywood Walk of Fame star (there
are only a few magicians who have
been so honored).
These days, Angel and his family
reside in Las Vegas. He filmed the
A & E network TV series at Planet
Hollywood Resort & Casino there
and was at the Luxor in Las Vegas
for a decade. He started his headline
residency at Planet Hollywood in December
2018 with Mindfreak, dubbed
an immersive evolution of magic.
A building implosion in front of
50,000 people in Clearwater, Florida,
his upside down double straightjacket
escape with noose and weight in
Times Square, his levitation above the
Luxor in a light beam, and walking on
water are some of the eye-popping,
cringe-worthy performances
Angel is known for.
Despite
all the fame
and world-
r e n ow n e d
status, he is a
Long Islander
at heart, loud
and proud. This
month he is
ready to come
home to see his
fans, friends
and family and
perform a show
that he describes
as “mind blowing”
that’s been
20 years in the
making.
Angel spoke candidly
about his early days
when pounding the
pavement waiting for his
big break, the dangers of
his craft, his love of pizza,
and his new mission in life.
Read on. It’s epic.
When was the last time
you did a show in New
York? My last time I
performed on Broadway
was in Times Square. I
performed Mindfreak
in 2001. I did it for about
600 performances at the
WWE World Wrestling
Entertainment
nightclub. I created
a theater in the basement.
It was a banquet
room I transformed. I called it
the underground theater.
How does it feel coming
back to New York? It is going
to be amazing and I am
so looking forward to it. It's
kind of coming full circle.
I’ve always wanted to play
a legitimate Broadway house.
Here is the opportunity
of a lifetime to play at
the Lunt-Fontanne
Theater where my
childhood idol
once performed,
Doug Henning
in 1986 and
his World of
Magic. To be
on the same
stage Doug
was on is
pretty epic.
Take us back
to the early years. I
grew up in Elmont and
then East Meadow. I
still have a lot of family
on Long Island. Coming
out to Long Island gets
very sentimental to me
because I get to reminisce
about the days that I used
to pound those streets,
spending endless amounts
of time on the Long Island
Rail Road and the subway
trying to get a break.
What kept you going? I think
for me tenacity, passion, and
intuitiveness were the key
ingredients of success. Basically,
I knew I had something
special to offer and
even though people didn’t
see it and wouldn’t give me
the time of day, I wanted to
prove them wrong.
When were you first
introduced to
mag ic?
My Aunt Stella taught me my first card
trick when I was six years young so I
drove everyone crazy performing the
same card trick over and over again, so
my Aunt Stella is to blame.
Sounds like that is when the journey
began. That is all I thought of at
the time. Magic and music, that was
my life back then. I’d go to the Hicksville
Magic Shop.
I do remember The Magic Shop on
Hempstead Turnpike for magic
anything relating to magic and face
paint. The Magic Shop is no longer
there. I actually bought a lot of the
stuff that were collectors’ items. I
created a magic shop that looks like
that shop, in Las Vegas in my studio.
Any memories you can share? I’d
spend the afternoons there. My mom
would drop me off. I would look at
stuff and when other magicians
would come in I’d want to pick their
brains. I just wanted to be in that
world.
Was there one trick that skyrocketed
you to fame? I spent 24 hours
underwater when I opened up
Mindfreak on Broadway in 2001. That
really captured a lot of attention. It
was on the cover of the New York Post.
I was the first person to ever do that.
Do you have a favorite trick or
illusion? I think my favorite one is
definitely the levitation because I
have worked the longest on it. No
one has ever seen anything like this
or has done anything like this.
Just hearing you talk about it
sounds like you get such a rush. To
do this levitation when I perform it
and hearing the audience and how
they jump to their feet and stand
and applaud when they see it, is so
rewarding. I guess for me with everything
I have done, this one was the
most difficult to pull off and bring to
Broadway. Where people dream to fly
I actually do fly.
COVER FEATURE
Illusionist Criss Angel is originally from Long
Island. (Criss Angel Studios)
/LONGISLANDPRESS.COM
