To celebrate Father’s Day, I invited my two children, Alex (age 10) and June (age 5) to perform at the Waldorf in Chamber Magic last night. It was their debut performance, and they did an amazing job! In this post, I’ve added a photo-essay and two videos of their world-premiere.

All dressed up for their debut

Here’s how I introduced them:

“Tomorrow is Father’s Day, and my family and I have prepared something special for you. My two children are in the room with us here tonight. Alex and June, would you please stand up? Alex is ten years old, and June is five.”

Waiting to be introduced in the Waldorf Towers

Alex and June stand up to acknowledge the applause

“I don’t think that anyone in the room is as excited as I am right now, since the children are going to make their world-premiere debut in The Waldorf Towers tonight! They’ve been practicing magic to perform for you. First, would you please welcome my son… Alex!”

Alex walked out and gave the following speech:

“Thank you for that warm welcome! My name is Alex and my dad teaches me magic. Sometimes I get the chance to use it. For example just the other day I was in the kitchen. I wanted to eat breakfast but the Cheerios box was empty.”

Alex opened the top and bottom flaps of a box of Cheerios to show it completely empty:

Showing the inside of an empty cereal box

“Then I remembered that my dad said I could use a magic wand. But I don’t have one. Let me ask my sister. Hey, June! Do you have a magic wand?”

From the wings, June squeaked in a high-pitched voice: “Yes I do!” (This got a huge laugh)

Alex continued, “Can I use it?”

“Sure,” she replied.

June marched out to center stage with a large spoon held high.

Handing a spoon to Alex, instead of a magic wand

Alex said, “That isn’t a magic wand. It’s a spoon.”

June grinned, and firmly announced, “It’s a MAGIC spoon!”

“Well, if I wave the magic …spoon… over the empty Cheerios box,” Alex continued, “Look what’s inside!”

He poured a full bowl of Cheerios into a bowl. And the audience erupted into spontaneous applause. (Watch the VIDEO below)

At the peak of the applause, June said, “Wait, wait. I have a question. Alex, what about the milk?”

I then joined my children at center stage, holding high my “Think-a-Drink” teakettle. The audience laughed, since they had just seen me pour half-a-dozen different beverages from that same kettle.

I proceeded to fill the cereal bowl with milk:

Magically pouring milk from a previously empty kettle

I concluded: “And that’s how we eat breakfast in the Cohen household!”

Here’s a video of the performance. I apologize for the jumpy video. It was taken with a Flip Video camera, not a professional quality. Still, it’s a great record of my children’s first appearance.

Later in the show, June made a second appearance for a baffling mindreading act – the duplication of a drawing made by a random audience member.

June walks off to the left side of the room with a pen and paper

A random volunteer draws any picture he likes at the opposite end of the room

Forty feet away, June starts drawing a picture too

The drawings match! Look at the surprised expression on the man’s face. Love it!

A clear photo of their drawings – they each drew a tree

Once again, here is a homemade video of June’s performance. Be sure to watch the end, so you can see exactly how accurate she was in her drawing. The proportion, angle, and size of her drawing perfectly matched the tree drawn by the random gentleman.

I want to thank Alex, June and of course my wife Yumi for all of the preparation that went into this performance. Sharing the stage with my children was, to me, the best Father’s Day present I could ever imagine.

Father’s Day 2010 at The Waldorf Towers, NYC