Antonio Diaz, better known as Wizard of Pop, He knows a lot about illusions, but he never thought it would make him this serious. Català de l’Any. He is pleased to be recognized Catalan NewspaperFrom the Prensa Ibérica group, The next day he will give her the 20th, but at the moment his mind is focused on the performances of ‘Nothing is Impossible’, which has just returned to the Victòria theatre. He will return to the United States in April, and his success on Broadway this summer will have opened many doors for him.
Is it a magician who creates a character, or is he shown as he is?
It’s a mixture. The Wizard of Pop eventually lives up to Antonio’s claims and hides his flaws. Like Antonio, I am a very introverted and level-headed person. Pop Magician, on the other hand, is enthusiastic: much more dynamic, agile, quick-witted, fun… I’m fun when I’m with people I know. But overall I’m not the life of the party. However, I feel this comfort on stage. Creating a character that would make you more interesting was something I had to work on.
Mine is carpenter work, craftsmanship
How much luck and how much effort is required to reach the top?
Luck plays an important role in everyone’s life. There is definitely some luck involved in a successful career. We won the lottery just by surviving. To stay healthy, to have vital conditions that allow you to make choices, and to be able to sacrifice your time and years to devote yourself to what you love most… that’s your chance.
What were the most important moments in your career?
There were three or four. I didn’t realize it at the time, but looking back, it was very important to make a television program that could be watched in many countries. I was lucky, but it was also a lot of hard work, sacrifice and hours of thinking. For many years of my life, magic was everything. It’s like falling in love. Magic is the first thing you think of when you wake up and the last thing you think of when you sleep. It’s all about your magic tricks, your plans, how you create a show that appeals to different audiences. In the end, it’s ‘fifty fifty’, but if there’s no luck, there’s nothing to do.
Did you touch the sky last season?
It was the best of my life professionally. No matter how many extraordinary things I accomplish in my career, I will never perform on Broadway with such great success again. It has been the most exciting year. It went better than I could have imagined. For me, going to Broadway was already bullshit. But going and having your show be one of the biggest is unrepeatable. It was the most incredible of my life professionally.
What is your next goal?
Go back home. They are giving me many awards this year, but the one that excites me the most is the award from Català de l’Any because it is from my home. After all, we are 8 million and I’m sure there are many people who deserve this award more than me, but it is also very exciting to be able to win this award by playing sleight of hand. Now I want to enjoy performances at home and be close to my family and friends, and the second part of 2024 will be devoted to returning to the USA. I would like to take a step forward.
It has many offers. How will this step happen?
There are offers from Broadway and Las Vegas, but I want to give my theater in Branson, Missouri a shot. It’s a super bet to have a scenario where we can have more audiences than anywhere else. Although Branson is not as well known as New York or Las Vegas, there is something poetic about wanting to do something there. Mine is carpenter work, craftsmanship. It seems to me like a seductive and appealing idea that they could come from all over America to see us. Moreover, anyone who discovers the little-known Branson will be amazed.
So Branson yes, New York in 2024 no?
We’ll see because there are a lot of negotiations and things can change. I feel like I still have a few years left in my career and the challenges in New York and Las Vegas can be postponed. I feel like if I don’t give my theater a chance now, I won’t give it a chance anymore. We made a million-dollar investment to renovate and beautify this place. I would like to try this adventure.
I come from a very modest family from Badia del Vallès. We didn’t have great things when we were kids, but we had a lot of free time
What will you program in Branson when the Wizard of Pop isn’t performing?
In my opinion, this is the most important magic theater in the world. I want the best illusionists to perform there. There will be quality magic shows. All the magicians I’ve contacted so far are excited because this is something very special. A chance to have our own Madison Square Garden for magic.
Where does this ambition and ability to think big come from?
Developing myself beyond magic on a strategic and business level has become a necessity. After all, when you’re a wizard and you’re starting out, you either have a business vision for how to organize yourself, or you can barely get anything done without a plan. Over the years I discovered that I was passionate about show business. That intangible idea of creating a brand, establishing it, and spreading it through word of mouth. Word-of-mouth math like calculating how many people will show up for every person who watches the show. I’m excited to set goals and move towards them. It’s the only thing that works for me in life. Chess players say a bad plan is better than no plan at all. I look for goals that excite me and pursue them.
My life is very busy and so am I. It’s also hard for me to make peace with the world because I’m weirder than hell.
Have you studied finance or do you have an economic advisor?
I learned a lot on my own. There are 4-5 people around me with whom I play ping pong and brainstorm. When we meet, I like to take three or four crazy things and measure them in every sense, not just financially but also on a brand strategy level. It is important to reconcile the present and the future. My weak point as a brand is that I can only be found in one place, I cannot do franchising. This means I have to take very good care of my presence everywhere. My company is huge, a lot of people work in it, and you have to balance risk and adventure. I need a little adventure a year. I think that if I only move in cities I know with controlled risk, maybe I’m not using the best years of my career to grow. And above all, I want to grow in the USA, a strategically very important country for show business, without losing the opportunity to work at home, which makes me very happy not only on a professional but also on a personal level.
Once you start, you suffer from the unknown. Protecting and improving yourself when you succeed. How do you deal with pressure?
It gets better over the years. I had a bad time for a long time because you had to live in the moment and save the game every day. It was an impressive struggle to achieve the result. As you grow, perhaps economic pressures become another type of pressure because you already have a role on your team and you want to continue to make good decisions and make everyone proud of you. The challenges vary but I like to put pressure on myself and I think we are still in the growth phase. The decline phase will be difficult for me because I’m coming from the lowest point and I already know what that is. But as the curve moves higher, like Forrest Gump, I set the bar higher and higher. We must go as far as possible.
When I was a kid, my dream was to be the best magician in the world, to be on the same list as Copperfield and Houdini.
It’s a long way from Barberá to the pinnacle of magic.
It was a great goal to talk about everything we talked about today with Pilar, my manager of 15 years. We are experiencing it now. I have a team of hundreds of people and structures that enable us to dream big.
But there must be something special about his family because his brothers also achieved their dreams, one of them becoming a doctor and the other a physiotherapist.
There was a lot of love and a sense of humor in my family. The sense of humor was very therapeutic because it is true that we come from a very modest family in Badia del Vallès. We didn’t have great things as kids, but we did have a lot of free time. I’m a magician because I have all this free time, because to achieve something you have to devote hours to it. At home, I had free time, a sense of humor, empathy and compassion. This is the best inheritance I’ve ever had.
David Copperfield and Harry Houdini are his heroes. Any other references?
At the national level Mag Lari has become a great reference. By the way, Copperfield called to congratulate me after my Broadway debut; It was like calling a musician Madonna. In my opinion, Copperfield is perhaps the greatest wizard in history.
Now 37 years old, single, is Altın single?
(Laughs). Maybe bronze or tin. It was difficult for me to come to terms with it. My life is very busy and so am I. It’s also hard for me to make peace with the world because I’m weirder than hell. But I’ve had the chance to meet wonderful people and share wonderful moments along the way. I have great faith in love. I’m a big fan of thinking it all comes and I hope it does.
How much longer will we see him on stage?
I can’t imagine retiring any older. My childhood dream was to become the best magician in the world. I’d like to go there and have some kid put me on a list with Copperfield and Houdini. I know it’s complicated but I want to try it. But I don’t want to retire without producing and directing a film first because I love cinema and producing musicals. When I grow up, I see myself going to the theater to see what we are producing or programming. The world of theater fascinates me.
Are you tempted to train other magicians?
Can. But since this is my world, I need to get closer to others, like a movie or a musical.