TAMPA, Fla. — On the set of Amaze at the Straz Center, there’s a touch of magic with a story to tell.

What You Need To Know

  • Amaze with Jamie Allan at the Straz Center in Downtown Tampa

  • Saturday: 12 p.m., 4 p.m. and 8 p.m.

  • Sunday: 1 p.m. and 5:30 p.m.

  • The show runs through May 11

Jamie Allan has been making the unreal real for four decades.

The pieces on stage — a bookcase of toys and pictures of his family.

“It inspired this show,” said Allan. “That is actually the start.”

The first trick that started the dream?

“My dad took a coin and made it disappear,” said Allan.

It’s called a “French Drop,” and it relies on the magician’s use of misdirection.

It blew his mind that as a kid that he could fool a grown up.

That giddiness has never left him.

“There’s dreamers and skeptics. People that just want to watch magic and the people that want to figure it out,” said Allan. “And a good magic show will get you to stop trying to figure it out.”

It’s the life story that magic made.