[NoHo Arts District, CA] – A NoHo Arts theatre review of El Mago Loco, starring Linzy Beltran and directed by Natasha Mercado, at the Hollywood Fringe Festival 2025.
El Mago Loco is a very, very special show. It’s “soft clowning.” A performance style originated by the director, Natasha Mercado, that combines absurdism with vulnerability and emotional depth. The result of all this alchemy is Linzy Beltran performing as El Mago Loco, a Latino magician suddenly startled to find he is performing to a mostly white audience, on whom much of his cultural references will fall totally flat. Unperturbed, he pushes through the initial awkwardness and finds his groove.
Linzy is absolutely brilliant as El Mago Loco. She oozes charm and sarcasm and even a little sex appeal. This soft clown style is so utterly beguiling that the audience becomes completely entranced. Basically, holding their breath for most of the show. Why I hear you ask? Well, it’s hard to describe magic, isn’t it? Perhaps it’s because of the deeply emotional connection we inexplicably establish with El Mago. A little in love and a little scared of him. Like a first date with the perfect potential partner who has been mercilessly hyped. You are excited, terrified and hopeful that the whole event will be utterly life changing, one way or another.
El Mago Loco is an absolutely brilliant Hollywood Fringe play. It creeps up on you, surprising you with just how wonderful it is. As El Mago walks us through his magic act, he slyly teases and works the room, casually including audience members, who are mostly actors, of course, and who take on their roles with all their hearts, adding to the whimsy and charm of this piece. Somehow, El Mago manages to make us love him, despite the disastrous tricks and the missed sound cues, and the scruffy, slightly odd appearance…or perhaps because of them.
El Mago Loco is absolutely hilarious and genuinely heartwarming. It brings the audience and the performer together as one to discover the show. We have a mission to complete his task to perform the play, as well as our own to witness it. It’s like some mad experiment with multiple possible outcomes. It’s an escape room of a show, without the panic and agoraphobia. Linzy Beltran as El Mago Loco holds the audience in the palm of her almost definitely sticky hand, and the show is all the more splendid because of it.
This was my first Hollywood Fringe show this year, and I have to say I may very well have been ruined for every other show…not sorry! Amazing show!!!
Tickets:
https://www.hollywoodfringe.org/projects/11938?tab=tickets
When:
Thursday, June 5 at 7 pm
Sunday, June 22 at 6:30 pm
Thursday, June 26 at 10 pm
Saturday, June 28 at 2:30 pm
Where:
The Cats Crawl
660 N Heliotrope Dr., Los Angeles, CA 90004
https://www.instagram.com/linzybeltran
https://www.natashamercado.com
****
Don’t miss a Hollywood Fringe Festival 2025 #HFF2025 show >>