(NEW YORK, NY) -- Swedish street magicians and illusionists Peter Brynolf and Jonas Ljung achieved the impossible by stumping the legendary Penn & Teller on the first season of their long-running television show, "Penn & Teller: Fool Us!" Now Penn & Teller return the favor by producing Brynolf & Ljung in their New York theatrical debut, Stalker, which combines street magic, stunning illusions and physical mentalism, leaving audiences both thrilled and mystified. Photographer Jeremy Daniel has photos from their New York debut.
Directed by “Eurovision” mastermind Edward Af Sillén, Stalker is currently in previews and opens Monday, April 1 Off-Broadway at New World Stages (340 West 50th Street). Tickets are available for purchase online.
“Brynolf & Ljung had us at ‘hallå’ with their mind-bending magic on our TV show,” Penn & Teller commented. “Now, we’re joining forces with them to unleash Stalker in New York City. We’re truly excited to join the producing team of this spellbinding spectacle.”
In today’s society, no one is hidden. Everyone is being stalked, and everyone has become a stalker. Stalker is an innovative 90-minute magic show by the Swedish duo Peter Brynolf and Jonas Ljung. Get ready for fast-paced entertainment combining street magic and physical mentalism – with a climactic plot twist that you’ll never see coming.
Brynolf & Ljung’s magic creates audience pandemonium. Their work is original, organic, and often prop-less, using borrowed objects and audience suggestions for their illusions.
The pair first stunned the magic world in 2009 when out of nowhere, they won the silver medal in Comedy Magic at the prestigious World Championships of Magic in Beijing. They next stunned Penn & Teller on the first season of “Penn & Teller: Fool Us!,” which led them to open for Penn & Teller in Las Vegas in 2011.
From 2015-2017, they performed on their own TV show, “Street Magic” on Sweden’s largest television network, TV4, playing to half a million viewers each week. They subsequently toured the country with Hokuspokus Motherf*ckers (2016-2017), Cirkeln (2018-2020) and the original production of Stalker (2021-2022), selling out concert halls and arenas.
Lighting design for Stalker is by Jamie Roderick. Sound design is by Drew Levy. General management is by KGM Theatrical. Production Management is by Tinc Productions. Stalker is produced by Lifeline Entertainment (Lasse Karlsson/Michael Henriksson) and Penn & Teller, with co-producers Pernilla & Niclas Nyrensten and All Things Live.
Here are more photos from their NY debut.
Brynolf & Ljung (Performers) had their international breakthrough on “Britain’s Got Talent” in front of over 11 million viewers. They are also known for their popular Swedish series, “Brynolf & Ljung – Street Magic” on TV4 (2015-2017). The series aired for three seasons, playing to over half a million views each week. Peter and Jonas have appeared in a variety of TV shows: “Allsång på Skansen” (SVT), “Sommerkrysset” (TV4), “Fångarna på fortet” (TV4), “Nyhetsmorgon” (TV4), and “Bingolotto” (TV4), among others. They have appeared on “Penn & Teller: Fool Us!,” have been the opening act for Penn & Teller at the Rio Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas and have performed shows in Las Vegas, Oslo, Helsinki, Copenhagen, New Delhi, Vienna, Edinburgh, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Beijing, Paris, and London. In 2009, Brynolf & Ljung won a silver medal in the Wizarding World Cup in Beijing, China. In the spring of 2016, the duo debuted Hokus Pokus Motherf*ckers!, which played to sold-out houses at Berns, with extra performances at Cirkus in Stockholm and on tour. Then followed Circle in 2018-2019 and most recently, Stalker, which played 2021-2022 with a total of 85 performances and over 60,000 tickets sold.
Edward Af Sillén (Director) is one of Sweden's premier directors and screenwriters, known for his work for “Eurovision Song Contest” with 250 million viewers and hit musicals such as Såsom i himlen, Änglagård, and Tootsie. He has written and directed successful films like En underbar jävla jul, En del av mitt hjärta with Malin Akerman and Ett sista race. In 2015, BBC brought him to London to direct a show with Graham Norton. Recently, he directed the premiere of Brynolf & Ljung’s Stalker and the Swedish production of Peter Pan Goes Wrong.
Lifeline Entertainment (Producers). In 1997, Lifeline was conceived as a management company for artists and producers in Sweden through a collaborative effort between Michael Henriksson and then-employer, Live Nation (formerly EMA Telstar Sweden). Over the management years, Lifeline successfully represented artists such as the globally acclaimed Robyn, Christian Falk, etc. In 2009, Michael took control of Lifeline, and by 2010, he welcomed Lasse Karlsson as hia new partner. With a background in managing international pop sensation Ace of Base, as well as Japanese phenomenon Meja, Lasse brought a wealth of experience to the partnership. In 2012, we founded Lifeline Entertainment, focusing on shaping the evolution of the live entertainment business in Sweden with the main focus of developing the concert hall and arena experience in Scandinavia. Today, Lifeline stands as one of Sweden's leading private agencies, boasting over 400,000 tickets sold annually. From concerts to theatre productions, including hits like Peter Pan Goes Wrong, We Will Rock You the Musical, and Woody Allen in Concert, alongside our Swedish successes like Brynolf & Ljung, Pernilla Wahlgren, and Bo Kaspers Orkester, Lifeline has firmly established itself on the entertainment map.
Penn & Teller (Producers). From humble beginnings busking on the streets of Philadelphia to acclaimed sold–out runs on Broadway to the longest-running, and one of the most-beloved resident headline acts in Las Vegas history, magic’s legendary duo continues to defy labels—and at times physics and good taste — by redefining the genre of magic and inventing their own very distinct niche in comedy. Their record-breaking Las Vegas show at The Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino has an amazing nine wins as “Las Vegas Magicians of the Year” and was called “The single best show in Vegas,” by the Los Angeles Times. The current hit series “Penn & Teller: Fool Us!” for The CW Network, on which up-and-comers and magic veterans try to fool Penn & Teller for a chance to star in the pair’s hit Las Vegas stage show, was nominated for a Critic’s Choice Award and returned for a 10th season in 2023. Hundreds of outrageous appearances on everything from “Fallon” to “Friends,” “The Simpsons” to “Colbert,” “Modern Family” to “Big Bang Theory,” plus their own specials for NBC, ABC, PBS and Comedy Central have garnered them an Emmy, a Writers Guild Award and their own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The controversial Showtime series, “Penn & Teller: BS!” was nominated for 13 Emmys and was the longest-running series in the history of the network. The show highlighted the pair’s ardent skepticism by tackling the fakes and frauds behind such topics as alien abduction, psychics and bottled water. In recent years they’ve become acclaimed documentarians with the BAFTA-nominated Sony Pictures Classic release, Tim’s Vermeer, which follows Texas-based inventor Tim Jenison on his quest to discover the methods used by Dutch Master painter Johannes Vermeer. Their other films, the critically lauded feature The Aristocrats and the Showtime short The Gambler’s Ballad, were met with wide praise. The Olivier-nominated Magic Goes Wrong, written and created in collaboration with Mischief Theatre (creators of the Tony-nominated The Play That Goes Wrong), played at London’s West End Vaudeville Theatre, setting a box office pre-sale record. The Daily Mail hailed it as a “spellbinding romp,” while The Sun theater critic raved, “I’ll be laughing into next week.” As individuals, they are just as prolific. Teller directed versions of Macbethand The Tempest that toured to raves from The New York Times and Wall Street Journal, co-wrote and directed the Off-Broadway thriller Play Dead and has written two books. Penn has written five books, including the New York Times Best Sellers, God No! and Presto. He hosted the NBC game show “Identity” and donned his ballroom shoes for ABC’s hit “Dancing With The Stars.” Last season, together, Penn & Teller were unmasked after several spirited performances on “The Masked Singer.” In 2023, Penn & Teller celebrated 48 years of professional partnership.
ALL PHOTOS BY Jeremy Daniel
