Review: Joe Diamond astounds audiences in ‘13th Hour’

One thing you can say about Joe Diamond right off the bat is that he’s extremely personable and has a great sense of humor. He’s also an impressive storyteller, but within minutes, you’ll realize just how truly magical he is.

Diamond’s been called many things: mystic, psychic, magician, illusionist and medium (I won’t tell you the joke he always tells about that title). But Diamond prefers “artist” or even “America’s Greatest Mind Reader,” a title bestowed on him by the International Psychic Association. He also has the honor of Crystal Lake Mayor Haig Haleblian proclaiming Nov. 16, 2021 as Joe Diamond Day. That award is proudly displayed in The Dole Mansion lobby in Crystal Lake, where his studio is housed.

Diamond hasn’t performed “The 13th Hour” since before the COVID lockdown.

“It’s been interesting to come back to after a few years, especially since the whole theme of the show is time, and then the last few years our relationship to time has changed,” Diamond said. “In a post-lockdown world, time moves differently; and 2020 simultaneously feels like a lifetime ago and like it was just yesterday.”

And I’ll admit that as many times as I return to his show certain I’ll catch him on something or see how an illusion or trick is done (and I can trace my attendance back to 2016), Diamond continues to amaze and perplex me and every audience member, no matter how skeptical. Authors, WGN and the “Today” show have all praised him. What is quite admirable and must be remembered is that Diamond is always alone on stage and reigns as a great improviser.

Diamond isn’t limited to Studio 215 at The Dole. He has pretty regular gigs at Maxwell Mansion in Lake Geneva, the McHenry Outdoor Theater, The Red Oak Restaurant and radio stations across the country, with a much-anticipated, main-stage show coming up Saturday, Feb. 25, at the Woodstock Opera House.

Diamond has been seen all over the world in livestreamed productions from India to the United Kingdom; he is memorably known for his blindfolded Pontiac GTO drive around the Woodstock Square, and for solving the Richardson Adventure Farm’s corn maze.

In “The 13th Hour,” Diamond performs a myriad of tricks with only 13 people in the audience. You couldn’t get more intimate or be more able to see if there are wires (there aren’t), cameras (none) or an assistant (nope) feeding him info. My two favorite segments of the show involve books and keys, but there’s fun with cards, money, watches and vintage photographs.

After prefacing the book segment with: “Where can you know another person’s thoughts without knowing them in another time and place?” – he explains that reading a book is the closest thing to telepathy and time travel because: “You were reading the author’s thoughts without having met them, without the author speaking the words, and those words and thoughts were conceived in a different time and place.”

Diamond offers a selection of books (from among tomes by Stephen King and even a thick Harry Potter or two) to an audience member who picks a book, and on Diamond’s direction, finds a page, chooses one word, and writes it down without talking or sharing the word. There is no way Diamond could memorize all the contents or all the pages of all the books that he’s offered. Yet, incredibly within minutes, Diamond has written that word down correctly, back turned, eyes closed from across the room; comments from: “That’s insane” to “You’ve got to be kidding me” are loudly expressed.

As for the keys segment, Diamond invites all to take a key from a round table in the center of the room. The key is tied and knotted to a silk ribbon, and he’s about to demonstrate the ideomotor response. Holding our keys perfectly still in front of us with fingers below the knots, those keys begin to swing – in circles, side to side, back and forth – everyone’s is moving differently. Diamond has an audience member come up and hold the key in her palm, close her eyes, and concentrate; she went home fascinated and enchanted with the souvenir of a very bent key that no one in the audience was able to bend back to its original shape.

There’s so much more to be intrigued and mystified by thanks to this consummate entertainer in his well-paced and interactive show. But be aware, despite various dates in 2023, tickets for “The 13th Hour” are quickly disappearing.

• Regina Belt-Daniels loves the magic of illusion, necessary for someone involved in all aspects of theater since the first grade.

IF YOU GO

WHAT: Joe Diamond presents “The 13th Hour”

WHERE: Studio 215, The Dole Mansion, 401 Country Club Road, Crystal Lake

WHEN: Various dates

COST: $35

INFORMATION: www.joediamondlive.com/dole