Michael Carbonaro's magic show returns to The Paramount in Huntington

For his next trick, magician Michael Carbonaro will reappear on Long Island. The Oakdale native makes his triumphant return home at The Paramount in Huntington on Feb. 22.

Each time an artist performs at the venue they are presented with a brick engraved with the date of their gig. Over the years, Carbonaro has collected so many, he’s planning to use them in one of his future illusions.

"I’m hoping to get enough to construct a wall that I could walk through like David Copperfield did with the Great Wall of China," says Carbonaro, 48. "I’ll walk through the Great Wall of Paramount."

LONG ISLAND MAGIC 

Long Island has played a key role in Carbonaro’s magic history. It all began with a passion for special effects and makeup.

"I wanted to be a monster maker because I loved horror movies and Halloween," says Carbonaro.

He used to get his supplies at the former Magic Shop in Levittown, which closed in 2013.

"Initially, I went to look at the masks and makeup they had available," says Carbonaro. "I got to spend time in the shop hanging out with the guys behind the counter and they ended up teaching me magic tricks."

After showing off the tricks he learned to family and friends, his mom suggested he start a business.

"I began doing kids’ birthday parties for $35 starting at age 13," says Carbonaro. "The business bloomed to the point where I was performing at up to six parties a weekend."

By the time he attended Connetquot High School, Carbonaro started to expand his magic production to full stage shows, performing at fundraisers, variety shows and even at halftime during his high school homecoming game.

"My mom was pulling curtains, my dad was helping to fix the illusions when they broke or putting wheels on the props. It was a whole family operation," recalls Carbonaro. "We sold posters and I was signing autographs. I was like a mini David Copperfield. It was really exciting."

He even brought on an assistant, Tara Malone, of Bohemia, who helped him on stage.

"He would cut me into three pieces or put me in a basket with swords that he stuck in," says Malone, 46, who met Carbonaro during a community theater production of "Oliver." "We also had a trick called the Metamorphosis where I would lock him in a wooden crate and stand on top. I’d throw a sheet over the crate and we’d switch places."

Carbonaro’s magic style was inspired by the showmanship of David Copperfield mixed with the wit and cleverness of comedy duo Penn Jillette and Raymond Teller.

"Magic is a little bit like learning music. You first learn scales, minor chords, major chords, what things can be put together and what instruments can be used to make certain sounds," says Carbonaro. "With magic, you learn techniques of misdirection or how to perform a vanish or a levitation or sawing someone in half. When magic is working correctly, it’s actually invisible."

TV BOUND

After graduating from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts in 1998 with a bachelor of fine arts degree in drama, Carbonaro moved to the West Coast to pursue a career in acting. He landed small roles on "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit," "Guiding Light," "All My Children," "30 Rock" and "CSI: Miami" but it was his nine-episode stint doing magic on "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" from 2011-2014 that brought him into the spotlight. It helped land him his own show on TruTV, "The Carbonaro Effect," which ran for 125 episodes from 2014-2020.

"I launched into this television type of fame, which was its own kind of ride," says Carbonaro. "It opened everything up."

On top of this, Carbonaro was slowly becoming a known name within the LGBTQ+ community. "It was tough growing up on Long Island being in the closet. I didn’t really come out until college and out in my career around the time of ‘The Carbonaro Effect,’ " he says. "I didn’t have a big ‘Ellen’-type moment of coming out. I would just casually talk about my husband. It was right for the moment."

INTERACTIVE SHOW

Fresh from his residency at the Penn & Teller Theater in Las Vegas, Carbonaro brings his new show, "Carbonaro: Lies on Stage" to the Paramount, which will include audience participation.

"I have people come up on stage and I’m out in the crowd performing magic, even teaching people how to do a ‘Carbonaro Effect’-type of prank," says Carbonaro. "If I have a new person on stage during a trick, I don’t know how they are going to react. It always gives the shows a fresh energy. I love riding the edge of not knowing how each night is going to go."

Carbonaro looks forward to returning to Long Island and being among his people.

"Long Island was the birthplace of my magic career. There is this resonance that instantly connects me to my roots," he says. "The energy there brings me back to when I first started performing magic and it hits in a way that no place possibly can."

By David J. Criblez

david.criblez@newsday.comDavidJCriblez

David J. Criblez is a reporter for Newsday's exploreLI, covering entertainment-related events from local music to stand-up comedy to festivals.