In this amazingly crafted act of illusory showmanship there are seven doves, one parakeet, eight ducks, two geese and about fifty pigeons. There are also five female dancers and one male assistant. No, it isn’t Animal Planet Meets Dancing with the Stars. It’s the Lance Burton Master Magician Show at the Monte Carlo Resort & Casino in Las Vegas.

As someone who attends a great deal of Broadway theater, I am a little nonplussed about the “star effect” that many producers have increasingly introduced to that wondrous island of American theater between 55th and 41st Streets (my apologies to Lincoln Center’s Vivian Beaumont a few blocks north). Oftentimes when Rodeo Drive meets Broadway, the results can be disastrous (I love you, Julia Roberts, but your turn in the Broadway play, “Three Days of Rain” . . . Ouch!!).