He comes to pick us up at Valence TGV station in Rolls Silver Cloud from 1964. In black jeans and shirt. Relaxed. Dani Lary doesn't look like his vintage car. He never stalls and three-hour nights are enough for his fuel. The illusionist can tell his life story since he was 8 years old, when he opened his first magic box, without being bored for a moment. He is 61 today and wants to tell the story of the progress made in "Tic-Tac", his fourth "magic show", as he calls his creations. He embarked on a tour of 32 dates throughout France until May 29, including two Fridays and Saturday at the Casino de Paris.
In Dani Lary's shows, special effects and illusions are used for a story. This time, it was the one of his life: his arrival from Algeria at 4 years old with his French parents and a father who then employed 300 people in his furniture factory. Once the family was repatriated by De Gaulle, to Colombey-les-Deux-Eglises (Haute-Marne), the father became the general's cabinetmaker. After four years, all move to Romans (Drôme), in cities for returnees.
Dani, whose real name is Hervé Bittoun, makes the zouave in class and devotes his life to magic. At 8 years old, he cut all the newspapers in the house, to try to reconstruct a page, like the magicians seen on TV. He learned carpentry with his father, tinkering with coffins where he locked up his sister, and planted wooden crosses wrapped in flowers in the garden.
Boning cars, his other passion
The kid who exasperated his family ends up impressing the audience of the show "The Biggest Cabaret in the World", by Patrick Sébastien, for twenty years. "I have created one illusion a month for two decades, it's huge," he says. In June 2019, he opened a 1,000-seat performance hall in Barbières, near Romans where he lives in a beautiful property.
In the entrance hall, the reception desk for the disabled is a glass plate placed on a real trunk by Harry Houdini, a great American illusionist who died in 1926. The walls are the old metal arches of the Halles Baltard. Dani Lary himself screwed the rivets Gustave Eiffel way. "I went to measure the size of the rivets on the Tower to screw the same in my room," laughs this genius on. In the hall, the stage decor is always that of "Retro Temporis", his latest show, inspired by Jules Verne.
We then enter his workshop. Hush ... The underside of the bluff must remain secret. Another genius is involved. Stéphane Teinturier, his creative partner for 30 years. Dani imagines a tour, Stéphane designs the technique. "I keep playing Lego at 52, making incredible objects", laughs the engineer who knows mechanics, electronics, carpentry, welding ... Here he is refining the seat of the number the torn woman, next to Dani's boned cars, those he made. His other passion. In the hall, the visitors' bench is the back of a Simca Régence.
The Houdin family's gift
In his home in Romans, Dani exhibited the 600 books from Robert Houdin's library. His father made him custom furniture for this priceless treasure. It is the great-great-granddaughter of the founder of modern magic, in the 1840s, who bequeathed this background to him. A blessing that still moves him today. “She saw my shows when I started, on cruise ships. When she told me she was a descendant of Robert Houdin, I didn't believe her for a second, ”says Dani.
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Baroness Emmanuelle Reille leaves him his card, and a few years later, he invites him to the Casino de Paris, where he plays the first part of Pascal Sevran. Seduced by his talent and creativity, the baroness believes that this prodigy will be a worthy heir to Houdin. She invites him home, to a social evening in the presence of Jean-Claude Brialy. Servers, petit fours and… legacy speeches. Dani has to pinch himself to believe it.
Now it is he who helps and advises magician friends, companies like Le Cirque du Soleil. Around the armchairs of the room sits a glass pyramid in which Philippe Candeloro appeared on an ice rink, a magical lift for a concert by Johnny Hallyday in Bercy, a table on which Ludivine Sagnier was charcuté for Chabrol's film "La fille coupée" in two ". Béatrice Dalle lost her head on a barrel organ in Gaël Morel's “Notre Paradis”.
Dani built this room like a showcase for a TV show. “I would like a producer to seize the magic to devote a beautiful show to him here. It is lacking today to promote talent. "
Her son Albert ends the show in style
"Tic-Tac" sets a clockwork decor. Symbol of passing time, chrono of 40 years of career. This tour is carried by 20 people and two semi-trailers, full of machines, advanced toolboxes. Like his three previous shows, Dani Lary declines 40 numbers, including the inevitable flying piano. He sits up on his stool, in front of his keyboard. He and his instrument seem as light as a feather, turn around together, float in weightlessness.
"It's my tube, the favorite number of spectators, I can't take it off," Dani smiles. The master of the great illusion ends his autobiographical show with the handover of power to Albert, his 28-year-old son. For the first time, Dani lets him finish the show alone, with the Gloup number. "He does it even better than me, in a shorter, more efficient way!" Says the dad.
Albert enters a giant aquarium, full of water. Two assistants shoot a latex film in front of the aquarium, the public sees it deforming, as if Albert planted a fist through the glass walls. A few moments later, the prodigal son finds himself in front of the aquarium, soaked, as if he had crossed the wall. "It's my favorite number because nobody understood it," laughs the father.