Farewell to Magic Underground
Magicians Mark Kalin and Jinger Leigh will close their Magic Underground theater after performances of the Halloween show "Ghosts!" at 8 p.m. today and 6 p.m. Saturday. Magic Underground is at Reno's Pioneer Center, 100 S. Virginia St. Tickets are $15.95 for adults and $10.95 for children. They are available by phone at 686-6600, online at RenoHalloween.com and at the Pioneer Center box office.
Mark Kalin and Jinger Leigh organized this year's Halloween Hollow in conjunction with Reno's Riverwalk Merchants. The old-fashioned, family friendly Halloween celebration runs from 5 to 8 p.m. today in downtown Reno. Participants can pick up their official trick-or-treat bags for $3 at any participating Riverwalk merchant. Then, they can collect goodies, view spooky art and enjoy a variety of live entertainment. For details visit
After 4 ½ years, Magic Underground is pulling a disappearing act, but it isn't one of magician Mark Kalin's famous illusions.
He and his wife-assistant, Jinger Leigh, decided earlier this year that it was time to permanently draw the curtains on their intimate Pioneer Center venue. The primary reason, Kalin said, is that the theater -- devoted almost entirely to magic -- demanded too much time, preventing them from taking long-running gigs elsewhere.
"We thought that give a year, year-and-a-half, maybe two years this place will be up and running on its own and we'll be able to perform here sometimes and other times it can operate (independently)," Kalin said. "Well, 4 ½ years later, it's still monopolizing all of our time."
This summer, Kalin and Jinger played an extended run in Atlantic City, N.J., while magician Eli Kerr performed at Magic Underground. Although they got by, Kalin said the experience confirmed that the Reno theater requires too much attention to be operated long distance.
Still, he considers Magic Underground a success.
"The place was doing fine," he said. "For the time being it was great. I got to see my daughter grow up. We weren't travelling the world. Now she's 7 ½. She can travel with us a little bit. "» It wasn't a matter of giving up a business that was failing. It was a matter of giving up a business that was actually doing fairly well but weighing what the options were for the next three, four, five years."
Kalin said he and Jinger were forced to turn down a number of high-profile jobs during the last four years and that their Atlantic City run, plus a major gig in England, convinced them it was time to get back on the road.
"One of the things that was such a responsibility with Magic Underground was everything came under our umbrella," he said. "The rent. The liquor license. The heating. The marketing. And it took up so much time. (We are) going back to some of the older deals that we've had with a casino, where we provide the show and parts of the operation. They do the marketing and all that stuff. That's a good marriage and that takes the pressure off us. "» We just have to worry about doing a great show, and that's what we love."
Kalin said he and Jinger also realized they were losing some of the contacts they had built up.
"I know that we need to reconnect with some of our performing roots," he said. "We're not done yet. You know, there are things out there we can do."
So today and Saturday, Kalin and Jinger will deliver their last performances at Magic Underground, two showings of their popular Halloween production "Ghosts!" Featured are illusions in which their daughter, Parker, is flattened and shot out of small cannon; where Jinger has a spooky encounter in a spirit box; and where Kalin tells a ghost story with the aid of magical props. Although the production has creepy, supernatural undertones, it is tame enough for even small children.
Kalin said fans will also be able to see him and Jinger on the "World Magic Awards," a Fox television show slated to run near Thanksgiving. Other than that, their future is uncertain. After Magic Underground closes, they will perform for a week at The Magic Castle in Hollywood. Then they'll start looking for the next big gig.
"It's a big question mark right now, but we'll be out there tap dancing the world," Kalin said. "We've got some offers to go to Europe, and we've got to sort of juggle that stuff around what's going to work best for our daughter and stuff like that."
One thing Kalin is sure about is that he and Jinger are keeping their home in Reno.
"We love Reno," he said. "We want to stay here. We always wanted to stay here."