Phuket Gazette – Wednesday, January 11, 2012 6:29:39 PM

PHUKET: When I was asked to review a new production on Soi Bangla, I was a little nervous as I have yet to learn how to gracefully fend off the many invitations from very lovely and much younger Thai ladies (or ladyboys) who suggest I spend a few hours in their company.

What a surprise then when I approached the stairs to Genesis, to find the production team from Danze Fantasy, who are well known in entertainment circles as one of the world’s leading producers of musical and stage performances.

I’ve seen their shows in the Genting Highlands in Malaysia and on Sentosa Island. I’ve heard about their productions on cruise ships such as Star Cruises that ply the waters around Asia. And now they have brought one of their very professional and entertaining shows to Patong.

“We love visiting Phuket and have always wanted to launch a show here,” says Ben Russell, the dynamic young Danze Fantasy producer. “We decided to go where the people are looking for entertainment and you can’t get a better location than Soi Bangla.”

The theater is set upstairs in the newly renovated Promenade Shopping Plaza across from JungCeylon. The space is intimate but the stage is large enough for the company’s eight dancers and the sizable machinery used in the magic acts.

The 80 minute show features Joe Labero, who, in magic circles, is a major super-star. In 2009, he received the Illusionist of the Decade award at the Magic World Cup in Beijing, an honor also given to David Copperfield in earlier years.

Labero has toured the world with Danze Fantasy since 1996, performing from Monte Carlo to Australia, but spends much of his time setting up his own productions in his native Sweden. He is joined by a talented cast of professional dancers from Europe, England or America who wear costumes and make-up to add to the show’s Gothic sense of drama. Another highlight of the Genesis production are the juggling talents of Romano Frediani who is an eighth generation Italian circus performer.

Lindy Russell is the troupe’s artistic director. She has had an impressive career, first as a dancer in musical theater in London’s West End and later when she turned her talents to choreography and creating her own shows that have toured around Europe. In 1980, she brought her first production to Asia where she met her partner and collaborator, John Eramanis, who added special effects and magic to the Danze Fantasy productions.

Over the past thirty years, they have mounted magic and dance spectaculars around Europe, Australia and Asia.

“We have an international team. Our costume designer works out of Las Vegas and our choreographer is based in New York. When we decide to build a new production, I gather our team in our London offices where we have a great time designing the show,” explains Lindy. “We also hold our auditions for dancers who arrive from around Europe and America hoping for a place in our production.”

Genesis is an absolutely world class production of magic and illusion, well worth the effort to spend a fun evening on Soi Bangla, Patong.

– Bruce Stanley
Phuket,Thailand

Anders S Nilsson på semester i Thailand… Här om dagen var han även och besökte oss i Teatern i Phuket… Trevligt trevligt

Phummisak Hongsyok Mayor

PHUKET: The island’s newest acrobatic and magic show, in a custom-built theatre on Soi Bangla, officially opened |to the public on Wednesday (December 6).

Stay sharp, now: Illusionist Joe Labero comes under the knives
The 550-seat Danze Fantasy, situated on the south side of Bangla Rd close to The Pizza Co, will initially house ‘Genesis – The Magic Spectacular’, starring Swedish illusionist Joe Labero.

The theatre is part of the Patong Promenade entertainment project, at the intersection of Rat-U-Thit 200 Pi Rd and Soi Bangla.

Altogether, the show has 24 Thai employees and 34 technicians and performers from Australia, the US, Sweden, Russia and other countries.

Danze Fantasy Thailand board director Ton Nilma told The Phuket News, “Altogether we spent about B50 million, and it took five months to build the theatre. It is situated on 1,100 sqm, and has three levels. We expect customers will be 70 per cent tourists and 30 per cent Phuket residents.”

The Genesis show last 80 minutes without intermission, and is performed twice a night (7.30pm and 9.30pm) from Wednesday through Sunday. Percussionist and juggler Romano Frediani show performs at the theatre on Monday and Tuesday evenings.

At 11pm every night, the theatre becomes a 300-seat live music venue named Rock Star that will be managed by the Seduction Group. First up on stage are a Scandinavian band, beginning December 15.

Genesis ticket prices are B1,500 (adult), B1,300 (child) and B3,300 (VIP); while Romano Frediani tickets are B900 (adult) and B700 (child).

For more information or bookings call 076-342858 or visit danzefantasy.com

Genesis Grand Illusion Show Review

PHUKET: There has to be an appropriate way of summing up the new live show that opened this week in Phuket’s famous Soi Bangla. The one sentence that stuck and would not go away was: ”More exciting than a free night in a bar full of hookers.”

Just why we couldn’t shake that thought is difficult to understand, but the route to the Danze Fantasy Theatre in Patong does offer up some different kinds of entertainment.

The Genesis show, which opened to the public on Wednesday night, is world-class and an absolute delight. As the media were treated to a free showing, it’s not possible to make a judgement on the price of entry.

Deeply ingrained scepticism means we’re not given to outbursts of excessive praise, but this show is magical and deserves to pack ‘em in every night.

What a delight it is from the moment the comedy begins among the audience in the large theatre and moves on stage. There isn’t a moment that didn’t have the first-night crowd enthralled.

Joe Labero is the star and he is rightly billed as a ”grand illusionist.” We have to say that it’s an apt job description. He’s so grand it’s a surprise that Centara hasn’t snapped him up.

Acrobatic comedy, superb juggling and a singing and dancing troupe keep the fun and the variety coming through a cleverly crafted show that either has the audience in stitches or on the edge of their seats in amazement.

The show opened with a producer’s comment that Genesis is ”as good as anything in Las Vegas” and we expected to find that statement flawed within the first 10 minutes. Almost 90 minutes later, we were clapping a fantastic show that proved to be totally flawless and constantly entertaining.

Soi Bangla will be an adventure, we are sure, for the performers. But when you think about it, there’s nowhere better to be to attract an audience to fill houses in the low season as well as the high season.

There are some clever ideas at work to encourage a long run, too. After the second show (twice nightly, at 7.30pm and 9.30pm) the seats are cleared away and from 11pm until late, the place becomes the Rock Star Live Club, with a Swedish band doing its stuff.

From Wednesday to Sunday with Joe Labero in the show, the price is 1500 baht (1300 baht for children) while on Mondays and Tuesdays, without Joe Labero but with the show running for a similar length, the entry price is 900 baht.

On Tuesday, in grand show biz tradition, the finishing touches were still being applied to the upstairs section of the theatre but with bars easy to find upstairs or downstairs, the space should work well in both its guises.

Rotary Club of Bangkapi Lunch meeting it was “Magic all over the venue” with Grand Master Magician and Illusionist Joe Labero.

Joe one of the world’s biggest magicians and brain behind some of the most astonishing illusions of today carried us into a 30 minute mystical sample journey and giving us insight to some of his incredible illusions and his world that transcends the boundaries of imagination with unbelievable transpirations of artifacts.

Joe also proved his true showmanship, cracking jokes and keeping all of us entertained and at the fringe of our seats with a mix of up-close magic and good old grand illusions, helped out by our visiting Charter President of the Rotary Club of Sraprathum, Rotarian Suwanna Wongsurakrai and her friend.

If you are interested to see the entire Show, Joe Labero is performing every week from Wednesday to Sunday for 90 minutes with “The Genesis show” at the Danze Fantasy Theatre in Patong, Phuket – and the show is as good as anything in Las Vegas!

Thank you Joe!
Rene Clausen

Joe Labero & Famous Actor  Stefan Sauk rocked the house when first episode of ” HELT MAGISKT”(Scandinavian version of BBCs Magicians) was filmed. The trick performed by Joe & Stefan is responsible for the deaths of at least 15 magicians but they pulled it of great.

Petré Event hosted the gala premiere of Cars 2. Great Fun, Labero’s daughter Nicole was more interested in ice cream than to be photographed.

Labero & Johan Petre competes in Go-Kart Click here to se the video