At 23, Curtis Adams is the youngest magician to materialize as a local headliner. Seen emerging from his illusion called "The Vortex," he hopes to rock downtown with his self-produced show at the Plaza. Photo by John Gurzinski.

Nearly all professional magicians will tell you they started as a child, working birthday parties and the like while still pre-teens.

But Curtis Adams goes them one better. He had his own production company by the time he was 13. That doesn't mean he could get a grown-up to take a meeting with him at the tribal casinos he was trying to work. "My partner was in his late 20s, so we used him to get in the door," he explains.

Adams turned 23 on Monday, but figures he's still young enough to "change the face of magic."

"It's a big goal," he adds with laugh. "We're not there yet."

Still, his self-produced "Adrenaline -- Magic That Rocks" aspires "to make magic cool and to make it mainstream."

"I want to make it all right for people to say, 'Yeah, I'm going to see this magic show,' '' he says of the revue that was scheduled to open Thursday at the Plaza.

Adams wants to redefine the way a magician moves and talks onstage. "A lot of people say they're doing it," he says, "but a lot of people aren't doing it."

Well, there is that David Blaine guy. But Adams is quick to point out that Blaine doesn't perform live, at least not in any type of show you can buy a ticket to see. And Blaine focuses on Houdini-type stunts or close-up sleight of hand. "My love lies in theater," Adams says, "and I don't think anybody has done it theatrically yet."

Adams has been around long enough to reinvent himself since his big break on a 2001 Fox Family Channel special, "Lance Burton's Young Magicians Showcase."

Back then his stage partner was his younger sister, Julie. They grew up with three older brothers in Long Beach, Calif., before moving to Carson City in time for middle school. A few years ago, a mutual friend introduced him to Don Wayne, the creative director who steered David Copperfield through his glory years of annual network TV specials.

Wayne worked to mold Adams into the new Copperfield. After a year and a half, they got to the point where they were ready to pitch the show to casinos before stepping back to notice they had been too successful in their mission.

"We realized it wasn't any different (than Copperfield)," Adams says. "I looked just like him. I acted just like him."

That led to "a lot of soul searching." They went back to the drawing board to create a more authentic stage personality, one that better reflects the real Adams, a cheerful live wire of a guy who doesn't seem to need the Red Bull he's nursing during an afternoon rehearsal break.

Out went the short, spiky hair and in came "the shag," as he calls the slacker hair that gets whipped into a flying wedge for the show. Adams performs in a tank top and jeans, but still sweats so much, "it's hard to keep weight on."

The show he brings to the Plaza -- after a summer run at the Tropicana in Atlantic City -- also takes a new look at some of the stock ingredients of a Las Vegas-style magic show.

For instance, there's always the moment where the magician escapes from some type of death trap, usually to switch places with a lovely assistant or turn up in the audience. The drama is usually built with a lot of dry ice, Gregorian chanting and melodramatic narration.

"It's so cheesy it's funny," Adams says. So he decided to run with that, turning the bit into a spoof and locking an audience member into the death trap "while I sit and watch."

Adams says the show has a wide demographic appeal and tries to preserve some traditions for existing magic fans while cultivating new ones. But more than the illusions, "where you will win is if you are a unique personality," he says. "If people fall in love with you, then you will go places."

After all, he's had more than 10 years to figure that out.