"AN INTIMATE EVENING OF GRAND ILLUSION," DAVID COPPERFIELD, Kingsbury Hall, University of Utah; also today, 2, 5 and 8 p.m. (581-7100 or kingtix.org); running time: 1 hour, 20 minutes (no intermission)

Don't try this at home. Don't even think of trying any of illusionist David Copperfield's routines (which are certainly not "routine") at home.

Well, maybe one of the card tricks — but without the deadly poisonous scorpion.

Copperfield is a master at creating mind-boggling illusions. You could tell yourself "it's all just smoke and mirrors." OK, there's quite a bit of special-effects fog and a large, convex mirror (Copperfield said it was from a local 7-Eleven).

But it's more fun just to sit back and enjoy the ride.

And, believe me, it is quite a ride.

Early on, Copperfield appears in a flash of light astride a revved-up motorcycle.

He takes Houdini's daring "escape" escapades to a whole new, high-tech level — with witnesses drawn from the audience at random to check things out from every point of view ("like a Paris Hilton video," he quipped before a packed auditorium on Friday evening).

Casually attired in an unbuttoned blue shirt (he's not locked into an old-time top-hat-and-tuxedo vaudeville niche), Copperfield is focused on one thing — keeping the audience entertained.

In one segment, to the tune of "Having My Baby," he invites three women up onto the stage. One, he claims, will get pregnant. The other two are part of a "mind games" bit, conjuring up a name for the infant and pulling a card from a shuffled deck. A few moments later, Copperfield unveils a giant "birth announcement" with — yes, indeed — the name one of the women thought of at random. (Would you name your daughter Lulu Copperfield?) Then a sonogram video has the unborn baby — with the same card which had been pulled from the deck.

One of Copperfield's best known sidekicks — Webster, the duck — also took part in a couple of segments, including an hilarious "slow-motion" replay with a stuffed animal replacing Webster.

There are poignant moments in the show as well, especially a tribute to Copperfield's stubborn grandfather, who insisted that "magic is a hobby, not a job." His grandfather's love for playing the lottery — and using six specific numbers — is integral to one of the most intriguing "mind game" segments.

Just how does he make half a dozen people on a platform disappear — then suddenly reappear up in the balcony? How does a young woman from the audience end up, just moments later, on the beach in Perth, Australia, with her long-estranged father?

"Follow my instructions to the letter," he tells one group of folks who are called up to the stage, "and you won't die." Poof, maybe. Die, no.

Copperfield sums it up by telling the audience, "it's all about the imagination."

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