Derren Brown: Secret on Broadway Tickets

By: Derren Brown, Andy Nyman & Andrew O'Connor
Director: Andy Nyman and Andrew O'Connor
Producer: J.J. Abrams, Thomas Kail, and Jeffrey Seller
Cast list: Derren Brown
Design: Takeshi Kata
Lighting: Ben Stanton
Sound: Jill BC Du Boff
Other info: Projection
Design: by Caite Hevner

There is a magic moment happening on Broadway right now — literally. Illusionist Derren Brown brings “Derren Brown: Secret” to the Cort Theatre for a mind-bending limited engagement. Following its Off-Broadway run at the Atlantic Theater Company, the one-of-a-kind experience blends what Brown calls “psychological illusion” with “mind reading and suggestion.” Do you dare?

The show is powered by magic-makers offstage, as well. Produced by J.J. Abrams (known for fantastic on-camera feats including “Star Wars” and “Lost”) as well as “Hamilton” director Thomas Kail in his producorial debut, it’s directed by Andrew O’Connor and Andy Nyman (who serve as co-writers alongside Brown). That a performance could be at-once “enthrallingly baffling,” as the New York Times described of its Off-Broadway run, is one reasons it renders as a must-see.

Recommended for 12 +. There is a cerebral nature to the performance and the duration of the show may cause issues with concentration. Children under the age of 4 are not permitted in the theatre.

What to watch for

In order to ensure a safe secret-sharing space, Brown asks his audience to participate in a “vow of silence” at the beginning of every performance, during which they promise that all information he is able to lure from his subjects never leaves the confines of the theater. Talk about a cannot-be-replicated performance.

Despite going from a roughly 200-seat theater Off-Broadway to one that is approximately five times that size, Brown is not worried in the slightest about losing intimacy with his audience. He’s previously performed in British venues around the same size as the Cort and still refers to the evening as “being in dialogue with the audience throughout the whole thing.”

He is now an expert, but Brown’s roots in, well, being a bit “shifty,” did not begin quite so auspiciously. In fact, the talent used to used his sleight of hand to shoplift various goods and trinkets — and he didn’t always get away with it. He eventually put the practice to bed when he set off the alarms walking out of London department store Harrods.

While “Secret” marks his Broadway debut, Brown has been performing various incarnations of his shows onstage since 2003, winning two Olivier Awards along the way. This installment is actually his eighth live show, and it is also his most personal, wherein he shares a secret of his own. If that doesn’t intrigue you, what will?