Magician Paul Dwork brings annual show to Carlsbad Cultural Arts Center

Magician Paul Dwork will bring his 37th annual magic show to the Carlsbad Cultural Arts Center on March 4 at 7 p.m.

Five magicians in total will perform at the show, presented by the Rotary Club of Encinitas.

“It’s a spectacular show,” said Dwork, who held the show for years in Camarillo before relocating to Encinitas two years ago. “You’d have to go to Vegas to see these guys. You’ll never see them all in one location at the same time.”

The show started as a preschool fundraiser for his children, then Dwork kept it going to raise money for different charities. Proceeds from this year’s show will go to local charities through the Encinitas Rotary Club.

The other magicians taking the stage are Eric Buss, Joel Ward, Dana Daniels and Luigi the Parrot, and Danny Cole. Collectively, the group has performed live in front of audiences all over the world, appeared on television with David Letterman and other late-night hosts, and received all kinds of awards from top magical institutions.

Dwork, who has been practicing magic for more than 40 years, performs closeup and parlor magic, according to his website. Daniels and his psychic parrot do corporate events and have opened for Ray Romano and other performers. Cole was a two-time “Stage Magician of the Year,” awarded by the Magic Castle in Hollywood.

Ward, whose love for magic began as a first grader at Cardiff Elementary School, uses “comical audience participation to interactive close-up magic to flashy Las Vegas style illusions,” his website says. He graduated from La Costa Canyon High School in 2001 and attended MiraCosta College.

“The magicians in this show are magicians I’ve known for decades,” Dwork said. “They’re world-class magicians. They are professionals, this is what they do.”

For years, Dwork’s crowds in Camarillo included attendees who returned year after year. Now, after putting the show on hold for the last couple years, Dwork said he wants to introduce his act to a whole new local audience now that he’s in Encinitas.

“I’m hoping that this year people will see the magnitude of the show, look forward to 2024 and possibly do a matinee also,” Dwork said.
“Going forward, I want to carry it on indefinitely. I think that once we get the first show under our belt down here, people will understand that this is first-class magic.”

Tickets are $60. For more information, visit magicmagicmagic.com/rotary-magic. The Carlsbad Cultural Arts Center Theater is located at 3357 Monroe St., Carlsbad.