What David Blaine Will and Won’t Do at his Vegas NYE Shows

Posted on: November 28, 2023, 12:25h. 

Last updated on: November 29, 2023, 10:01h.

Corey Levitan Read More

Expertise: Commercial Gaming, Entertainment, Expert Insight, Las Vegas, Las Vegas Myths.

When David Blaine’s new Las Vegas residency, “IMpossible,” debuts at the Encore Theater on New Year’s Eve weekend, “so many dangerous things” will be attempted, the illusionist told the New York Post.

Two will not.

Among the things audiences will get to see Blaine do are swallowing a metal coat hanger, holding his breath underwater for up to 10 minutes, and trying not to screw up the infamous ice pick trick again.

Last December 17, during his residency at Resorts World, Blaine smashed the wrong cup.

“I wasn’t sure where it was and I didn’t want to delay the show,” he told The Post, referring to the ice pick. “Lots of magicians mess themselves up on this thing. I bled everywhere. I went off stage for 40 seconds, cleaned the blood, and came back out. That won’t stop me from performing it at the Wynn.”

For the Wynn shows, which will be directed by David Korins — creative director of the Broadway musical “Hamilton” — the illusionist also promises a heap of interactive magic. (That’s why the “IM” is capitalized in “IMpossible.”)

This includes a mysterious final trick in which audience members will participate using decks of cards they’re handed.

What You Won’t See

Blaine came across a stunt that captured his imagination earlier this year. It was while he filmed “Beyond Belief,” an upcoming TV series he co-executive-produced with Ron Howard and Brian Grazer of Imagine Entertainment for Disney+ and Nat Geo.

In the series, Blaine seeks out extreme stunt performers in Southern Asia who can teach him their secrets, which is how he ends up buried in scorpions and eating red hot coals.

When Blaine found an Indian street performer who punctured his torso with skewers and hooks, he considered attempting it until, as he told The Post, “my doctor advised me against it.”

Hmm. Does Blaine, who lived in a block of ice for almost 64 hours, electrified himself with Tesla coils while standing atop a 22-foot-tall pillar, and floated nearly 25K feet into the air by holding onto balloons, seem like the kind of person who normally listens to doctors?

No Dice on This One, Too

The Resorts World show, which ran from September 2022 until June 2023, famously began with Blaine jumping from a lighting truss nine stories in the air onto a bed of empty cardboard boxes stacked by audience members.

On March 12, Blaine dislocated his right shoulder during the stunt. Where most performers would have just canceled the show and gone to a hospital, Blaine made his painful predicament part of the act.

After his own crew failed to pop his right shoulder back into place, in full view of the gasping audience, Blaine called on any doctors in the house to come forward. Fortunately for him, a convention of orthopedic doctors was in town and one of them performed the procedure.

“I’m lucky the injury was to my shoulder and not to my neck. Now the jump is off,” he told The Post. “I promised my (12-year-old) daughter that I wouldn’t do it again in my show.”

Ever the illusionist, what Blaine didn’t mention is that the Encore Theater stage isn’t nearly tall enough to allow a repeat performance of that trick anyway.

“David Blaine: IMPOSSIBLE” will play December 29-31, February 14, 17, and 18; March 27, 29, and 30; and May 8, 10, and 11 at the Encore Theater. Tickets, starting at $69.95 plus taxes and fees, are available through Ticketmaster.