Exclusive: Cosentino urges Victorian Government to open theatres, reveals plans for performance in i
Exclusive: Cosentino urges Victorian Government to open theatres, reveals plans for performance in international showcaseCosentino says COVID-19 restrictions onMelbourne theatres need to be lifted as soon as possible.Speaking exclusively with CelebrityLane, the illusionist questioned why shoppingcentres can be packed full to the brim with large crowds, while theatres are not permitted towelcome punters in a way he says could be managed to ensure public safety.“In a theatre you can control testing someone’s temperaturewhen they walk in, you can control wearing gloves or sanitising their hands, masks, aswell as the distance they sit down in seats. Plus you can contact them if anythinggoes wrong, whereas in a shopping centre you have thousands of people clambering over the top of one another and you could have any random, who couldbe ill, walking in.Cosentino is Live Nation’s highest-selling artist and normally puts on around 100 shows per year, Credit: Cosentino, Instagram“I just find it quite fascinating how certain things havedifferent rules and regulations. “I know I’m a bit biased because I want to get back to workand my passion of performing, but I think the restrictions on theatres need tobe lifted,” he said.Cosentino, who usually puts on around one hundred shows peryear, says opening theatres with reduced numbers would be a waste of time.“At the moment you can have 25 percent or 50 percentcapacity, but for a lot of the bigger shows that doesn’t really work,” he said.“We budget at the bad end for 60 percent or 80 percent capacity, sostraight off the bat, those kind of things don’t really work.”Video: Cosentino was forced to take his product online due to the pandemic, Source: Cosentino, YouTubeLike most entertainers affected by the pandemic, the award-winningmagician was forced to postpone his commitments for 2020 – Cosentino was set totour nationally and had plans to release two new books and a magic kit – untilnext year and move his entire product online. “I’ve been doing a lot of corporate gigs, teaching magic, doing some keynote speaking and I’ve just done a couple of social media endorsements, which believe it or not, I’ve neveractually done before.“It can’t replace my live (performances) by any means, but it’ssomething anyway. I’ve had some revenue coming in, so I have a lot ofgratitude for that.”Cosentino is a former recipient of the International Magician of the Year award and several Merlin magic awards, Credit: SuppliedCosentino is one of 19 artists – Americansinger Michael Bolton and former Spice Girl Mel C are two of the other high-profile entertainers – from eight differentlocations worldwide taking part in the AXN All Stars virtual showcase onNovember 28.The world-first entertainment concept, an event organised byAsia TV giant AXN in partnership with Indonesia’s Ministry of Tourism, aims to injecta sense of joy, hope and unity around the globe as the world continues tobattle the COVID-19 pandemic.Cosentino’s performance, which he filmed under strictCOVID-safe protocols at his studio at Hallam in Melbourne’s south-east, is anillusion he created specially for his The Magic, The Mystery, The Madness TV special in 2017.“It’s a piece where my head is inside this locked Perspex boxand I’ve got a sand timer connected to 18 kitchen knives and there’s 350 identicalkeys and only two of those keys will open the padlock and I have to find thembefore the time runs out,” he said.Cosentino says he was honoured to be asked to be part of the AXN All Stars showcase, Credit: SuppliedCosentino has previously toured to sell-out crowds and ravereviews in Australia and Asia and his TV specials were watched by an estimated50 million people per night in South East Asia.He said he was honoured to be given the opportunity toappear alongside superstars such as Bolton and Mel C in the AXN showcase.AXN All-Stars will stream live for free on November28 at 11pm AEDT on AXN Asia’s YouTube and Facebook. Details aboutCosentino’s tour and merchandise at cosentino.com.au. -- source link
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