PHOTO BY JORDAN BECKHAM

If you haven’t yet found the time or occasion to visit Liberty Magic, the Downtown venue for close-up magic performances, you should absolutely make a point of it this month.

A return engagement of “Lee Terbosic in The Life and Death of Harry Houdini” is underway at the intimate venue and will continue through Dec. 3. It’s a remarkable show, in which Terbosic — not only a skilled magician, but also one of the world’s leading experts on Houdini — welcomes the audience into a recreation of the legendary performer’s living room. On an unexpectedly momentous occasion in Houdini’s life, he entertains friends and neighbors (that’s you) with inexplicable feats, from the daring to the detailed.

Terbosic, a Pittsburgh native and one of the founders of Liberty Magic, has made Houdini a focal point of his well-traveled career. He has hosted television shows (and is developing a documentary) about Houdini’s life and secrets and has become a confidante of Houdini’s nephew.

Late in the show, Terbosic steps out of character and talks about his own pursuit of Houdini — and he will reveal a brush with Houdini artifacts that have tantalized magicians for more than a century, which led him to a secretive encounter in the desert. 

Really.

First and foremost, you should see “The Life and Death of Harry Houdini” because it’s a very entertaining show. Everything I’ve seen at Liberty Magic has been highly entertaining; they only bring in the best performers in the world.

But that story at the end — and Terbosic’s proximity to the grandest legacy in magic — underlines something about this venue.

As you may have noticed, Pittsburgh is not Las Vegas. It is not Orlando, New York or Los Angeles, either. Yet the world’s great magicians — including Terbosic, who carries the legacy of the best magician who ever lived — come to Pittsburgh to perform. And they stick around for a month at a time.

Because Pittsburgh has become undoubtedly world-class in this respect. It’s one of the finest places to see magic anywhere — a place that offers close-up, intimate encounters with the best performers around. I’m no expert on magic, but I know that this place must be pretty good to attract folks as talented as it does.

And when the legacy of Harry Houdini runs not through New York or Las Vegas but, in large part, through a storefront magic parlor on Liberty Avenue, that’s remarkable — and it’s a point of civic pride.

Seven years ago, Terbosic created an event called Houdini 100, wherein he recreated a daring stunt in the heart of Downtown — escaping from a straitjacket that was suspended high above a crowd of onlookers. He did so 100 years, to the minute, after Houdini had completed the same feat in the same spot.

In “The Life and Death of Harry Houdini,” he performs that same escape — hanging inches above the crowd, allowing the audience to observe every contortion and straining muscle in detail.

Now that’s a good reason to buy a ticket.