cosmo

Cosmo Solano. Courtesy cosmosmagictheater.com.

Cosmo Solano, Cosmo's Magic Theater

Not everyone would be willing to store 100 theater seats in their garage like local magician Cosmo Solano — or has a spouse who would let them. "[She] thought I was out of my mind,"…

Not everyone would be willing to store 100 theater seats in their garage like local magician Cosmo Solano — or has a spouse who would let them.

“[She] thought I was out of my mind,” Solano says of his wife.

But the seats proved to come in handy, and now have a new place in the Pueblo native’s Cosmo’s Magic Theater, where Solano performs his world class sleight of hand, mentalism, and classic magic tricks.

Solano fell in love with magic at an early age. For him, the reactions to his magic was amplified with a powerful need to see more.

“I was really interested in how and why (magic) worked,” Solano says. “I was fascinated with the method behind it.”

After high school Solano took his talents to Los Angels, working as a movie extra and making connections in the entertainment industry. At 21, he became a member of the world-famous Hollywood Magic Castle and found himself learning from and hobnobbing with legends of the trade. Solano also spent time performing in Las Vegas before returning to Colorado.

“I’ve always been a bit of a tinkerer,” Solano, who also creates his own tricks, says.

His creations have been performed around the globe, including by Chris Angel and making an appearance on “America’s Got Talent.”

“I’m a big advocate for elevating magic as an art form,” he says.

Solano performs
Solano performs during one of his Close Up Room events. Courtesy closeuproom.com.

Most recently, Solano has been hosting performances in a small theater in his home called The Close Up Room, with seating for about 15 people, and building a dedicated following. He always wanted to open a permanent theater, though, and finally got the chance when a business partner emerged.

“I told him that [opening a venue] had always been a goal of mine,” says Solano of his unnamed business partner. “Next thing I knew, we were doing it.”

Cosmo’s Magic Theater — and its fresh-out-of-storage seats — hosted its first audience in early October, with only a handful of subsequent performances (Solano’s still working through existing bookings). Future plans include weekly performances and hopes of featuring acts from around the world once a month, in addition to Solano’s shows.

Attendees will see a little bit of everything in Solano’s performances as he showcases his background in mentalism and sleight of hand, with storytelling woven in — never cheesy or cliché.

“This fun but heavy duty magic,” he says.

Originally written by Jonathan Toman of the Cultural Office and published in the Colorado Springs Independent Abstractions section on December 8, 2017.