ew names are as synonymous with magic and mystery as that of Harry Houdini. His grand illusions and daring spectacular escape acts made him one of the most famous magicians of all time.

The man who inspired generations of illusionists is coming to Prescott for two shows at 2 and 7 p.m. Saturday, April 1, in the Crystal Hall on the third floor of the Elks Performing Arts Center, 117 E. Gurley St.

Duffy Hudson, an actor and impersonator, will embody this historical figure live on stage in his one-man show. Hudson developed the idea of creating a show based on the life and magic of Houdini with one major concern in mind, he isn’t a magician.

“It’s really a one-man show about the man who did magic, so there’s there certainly is plenty of magic in it,” Hudson said. “With Houdini, you have to do magic. His two most iconic illusions were the straitjacket and the swallowing of needles. Those were the two biggest things that he did. He did them throughout his whole career.”

Hudson wanted to focus on the life of Houdini and didn’t want the show to be all about magic, but it didn’t make sense to him to create a show on Houdini without magic. So, he spent a few years developing some of Houdini’s most iconic tricks.

“I had to learn a lot of magic to do it, even though you end up doing maybe five tricks over the course of the show,” he said. “In learning a card trick, you have to learn a lot of card concepts. You’ve got to learn a lot about manipulation and sleight of hand in order for that one trick to be really good. So, these magician friends of mine were very helpful.”

In studying the life of Houdini, Hudson explained that he discovered a lot of misconceptions about the magician’s life.

“Houdini is very driven, career driven, and for some reason I kind of associated that with unattractive personality traits, like he was conniving or he was cutthroat,” Hudson said. “Then, I started reading about him and I realized that those assumptions I had about him were not true. He was actually a very generous, very kind man. He was driven, career-wise, but there are really very clear reasons for that. I mean, he had come from abject poverty and he really felt that he had to excel in order for his family to excel. So, it changed my point of view about him.”

Beer, wine, non-alcoholic beverages and snacks will be available for purchase throughout the evening.

Priority ticket holders will have assigned seating in the first two rows, all other seats will be first come, first served.

For tickets and more information, call 928-756-2844, email info@etpac.org, or visit www.prescottelkstheatre.org.

For more information about Duffy Hudson, visit duffyhudson.com/houdini.