You, too, can be under the illusion.

Byline: LEWIS TAYLOR The Register-Guard

WHAT DOES a master of illusion do once he's already vanished an airplane, levitated over the Grand Canyon, walked through the Great Wall of China and escaped from Alcatraz?

In David Copperfield's case, he sets his sights on something we can all fantasize about: the lottery.

"No one dreams about sawing someone in half, but everyone dreams about winning the lottery," Copperfield said, speaking by phone from Los Angeles.

"Lottery" is the latest addition to Copperfield's traveling stage show, "An Intimate Evening of Grand Illusion." Previously titled "Portal," the performance also features a `magic transporter' that will beam Copperfield and one lucky member of the audience halfway around the world.

The show comes to the Hult Center on Wednesday for two performances.

Copperfield's "Lottery" was inspired by his late grandfather, who taught him his first magic trick when the boy was 12. For years, that four aces card trick was a regular part of Copperfield's routine.

Now, by performing "Lottery," he said he is able to continue to honor his grandfather's legacy night after night.

Copperfield's grandfather may have been his first magic mentor, but the relationship soured after Copperfield refused to listen to his grandfather's advice to find himself a real occupation. Instead, he focused on magic, developing a dramatic performance style that drew more from film and the performing arts than from traditional magic.

To this day, Copperfield cites Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly, Orson Welles and Steven Spielberg as some of his greatest influences.

"I'm inspired mostly by people from the cinema," said Copperfield, who lists "Citizen Kane," "Harold and Maude," "The Wizard of Oz" and "Gone With the Wind" as a few of his favorite movies. "I'm inspired by people that tell stories and create fantasy."

Now `46 going on 22," Copperfield continues to put on fantasy-filled performances 500 times a year. To stage his mammoth traveling show, it takes a staff of 50 and four tractor-trailer rigs.

Copperfield spends an average of 2 1/2 years developing each new illusion. He spent more than seven years developing his "Flight" performance.

Aside from Harry Houdini, Copperfield may be the best-known magician of all time. In the past decade, his empire has grossed $1 billion, and he holds sales records around the world.

In the 20 years he's been a professional magician, he has starred in 18 prime time TV shows and won 19 Emmy Awards. His name recognition wasn't hurt by a much-publicized six-year relationship with supermodel Claudia Schiffer, and he's also been knighted by the French government and awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Given his credentials, you might expect Copperfield's live routine to be a bit, well, over-rehearsed, but he insists the show is unpredictable and constantly changing. His test audience for new illusions is his live audience, and he's always developing and testing new tricks while out on the road.

He has suffered numerous injuries while performing, and has had several brushes with death while on stage.

"Things go wrong all the time," Copperfield admitted. "I was doing an illusion with a Ferrari once, and it fell. I was lucky, because just a few minutes earlier, I would have been under it."

Although Copperfield has escaped from an imploding building, taken the plunge over Niagara Falls and dangled 10 stories above a bed of flaming spikes while wearing a straitjacket, he said the small illusions are just as important as the big ones. He called his routine a mix of intimacy and grandiosity.

`I think there's a nice balance," Copperfield said. "People like seeing `magic unplugged,' but they also like to get their money's worth.'

Copperfield said his greatest achievement to date is not one of his illusions, but the establishment of Project Magic, a rehabilitation program that helps disabled hospital patients improve their dexterity and motor skills using sleight-of-hand magic. He said the program is in use at 1,100 hospitals nationwide.

Copperfield's wish list of future magic tricks includes putting a woman's face on Mount Rushmore, straightening the Leaning Tower of Pisa and making the moon disappear. Of course, there are a whole lot of other possible illusions he won't mention, but, as he assures anyone who asks, retirement is not one of them.

"I guess I could (retire)," Copperfield said, "but I won't. I'm working on some really cool things.

`Stay tuned. You'll see."

DAVID COPPERFIELD

WHAT: Live performances by a master

magician

WHEN: 6 p.m. and 9 p.m. Wednesday

WHERE: Silva Concert Hall, Hult Center, Seventh and Willamette streets

TICKETS: $25 to $45

CAPTION(S):

David Copperfield will appear magically on Wednesday at the Hult Center. What in the Dickens?