Spectacles: Laterna Magika

Before the audience are three gorgeous girls. They are talking among themselves. They all look exactly alike. They are indeed the same chick—one in the flesh and two on movie screens.

Actually, they are the same Czech, appearing in Czechoslovakia's unique Laterna Magika at a Munich theater. Using ten screens of assorted sizes, five projectors, 21 technicians, 17 performers and two conveyor belts, Laterna Magika achieves a series of kinetic marvels that leaves the Germans jawohling in the aisles. Actors on the boards engage in dance and dialogue with actors on the screens, mingling reality and illusion,...