Justin Flom wins international magic award

Justin Flom, Branson's rising star, brought home the People's Choice Award in an extraordinary international magic festival held for the past two weeks in Malaysia.

World-renowned magicians competed by showcasing magic, showmanship and illusions of the highest caliber at the Genting International Magic Festival held at Genting Highlands Resort. Better known as Genting – City of Entertainment, it is a family holiday destination with over 18 million visitors, both Malaysians and international visitors, annually, and the world's largest resort.

"I was honored to be asked to compete and am on cloud nine being selected as the people's favorite," said Flom. "Each night of the competition audience members completed a ballot to choose the entertainer they enjoyed the most. I wasn't expecting to win when they announced my name at the awards night the last day of the festival."

Genting International Magic Festival is officially endorsed and sanctioned by the International Brotherhood of Magicians, the world’s largest organization for magicians with over 13,000 members in more than 80 countries spanning the globe. The People's Choice award is an honor among others Flom has earned this year. He was recently featured on the cover the International Brotherhood of Magicians magazine, Linking Ring.

Flom is in his second year of having his own theater, Justin Flom's Imaginary Theatre, located on the top floor of the Majestic Steakhouse at the corner of Gretna and Roark.

From the age of two Flom showed an enthusiastic interest for the art of magic and found it easy to get on stage with his dad and perform. His youth was spent performing magic with his younger siblings being billed as “The Flom Kids.” He has performed with his family overseas and been to ten different countries performing magic. At the age of 18, Flom headlined his magic show at the Branson Mall Music Theatre. By the end of 2005 construction began on the Imaginary Theatre, a venue that houses an experience-based magic show. It opened July 1, 2006.

“I love that I can transport my audience to another place and let them escape their daily life. They may laugh, cry or experience wonder but they're not worrying about their regular stressful life. That's magic. It's important that I can let the audience in on the experience because the audience is the most important part of the show. Without the audience, there is no show,” he said.

Several effects in his show are his own ideas. He derives satisfaction in seeing them built from the ground up, performing it in front of a live audience and hearing the approval, but, he said, “My favorite illusion is my next one.” And even though Flom was presenting his Christmas shows, he was already planning the new illusions for his 2008 season.

Showtimes are 7:30 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday.

For more information about the 2008 season call the box office at 417-332-1911 or go online at imaginarytheatre.com. The Imaginary Theatre is located at 2849 Gretna Rd.