America's Jr. Magic Champion To Perform On Italian TV Competition "La Grande Magia - The Illusionist"

TOLEDO, Ohio, April 25, 2012 /PRNewswire-iReach/ -- Award winning teen magician from Toledo, OH, Eli Portala (15) will travel to Italy and perform on the television show "La Grande Magia -The Illusionist" airing on Canale 5, Italy's largest television network.  The producers of the show searched the world looking for the top thirty magicians under thirty.  They saw Eli performing at the World Magic Seminar in Las Vegas in March of 2011.  The show will be filmed at a theme park just outside of Rome aptly named Rainbow Magicland beginning on April 24th.  The competitors will be followed for two weeks both on and off the stage.  "It's kind of like the magic version of American Idol," says Eli.

(Photo:  http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20120425/CG94957)

Each magician has been asked to prepare three to four routines for the show.  Eli will work with a team of carpenters, tailors, musicians and sceneographers to help him fully realize his vision for his act.  "I'll definitely perform my dove act, and I've been working on a new sleight of hand routing for the last year that I will include," says Eli.  "I'm really proud to represent Toledo and the US, and I hope I can bring a little Toledo Magic to Italy."

For the Portala's, magic is a way of life.  Eli's father, Andrew Martin (Portala) is a full time magician, his sister Emma (13) works on stage as Eli's assistant and his mother, Melissa, manages their careers.  At the age of six, Eli Portala became the youngest champion magician in the US, and for the last ten years he has traveled the country performing his classic brand of magic with a hip and modern twist.  Over that time he's wowed thousands of people, picking up numerous awards and titles. 

Eli is a freshman at the Toledo School for the Arts and one of a small handful of rising young magicians in the USA. He is the youngest winner in history of the prestigious International Brotherhood of Magician's Jr. award, and the youngest and only two time winner of Abbott's Magic Get-Together - the longest running magic contest in the United States. Past winners include such luminaries as Lance Burton, Franz Harary and David Copperfield.

At Fifteen Eli will be the youngest American performer on the show.  Six other Americans will be performing - Bill Cook (22) from Chicago, Reuben Moreland (18) from New York City, Krystn Lambert (21) from Hollywood, CA, Eric Gilliam (20) from Anchorage, Alaska, Sterling Deitz (22) of Washington state, and Michael Tucco (29) from Las Vegas, NV.

On the web: www.MagicwithEli.com / www.facebook.com/MagicWithEli

Media Contact: Melissa Portala, Andrew Martin Entertainment, 419-472-4333, [email protected]

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SOURCE Andrew Martin Entertainment