Chicago Tribune - Recommended
"...Once you sit down at Tai’s table, our random, unfair and pandemoniac world dissolves, healed by connective tissue that you just have been too unobservant to perceive. As Tai explains the universe in his humble but persistent kind of way, you really do know far more people than you think and you learn that things truly do lead to logical consequences sitting there waiting. Often magicians present themselves as symbolic deities; Tai’s persona, though, is of fellow traveler."
Chicago Sun Times - Highly Recommended
"...Co-produced and created with fellow Cornell alum Alex Gruhin, the A Red Orchid production streaming from Tai’s home in Pittsburgh weaves together the romance of missed connections, musings on the multiverse and mind-boggling illusions. “Missed Connections” is beguiling, partly because of the content — Tai does things I’ve never seen in 25+ years of magic shows — and partly because he wears charm like an exquisitely understated bespoke suit. The usual magic suspects — playing cards, disappearing coins, sealed envelopes — figure prominently. But he also makes remarkable use of 21st century tech in the service of up-close magic. As card decks and coins were to the great Ricky Jay, so are smartphones and audio email to Jon Tai."
Chicago Reader - Recommended
"...Tai's central question—how might our lives have changed if we had chosen another path—feels less like an occasion for revisiting old regrets and more like a reminder that somewhere out there, someone else is feeling as you do. Whether that's comforting right now or not, I can't say, but at the very least, Missed Connections provides a chance to ponder the simple magic of everyday objects and the adroit warmhearted artistry of a man who knows how to make them feel significant, even over Zoom. I definitely felt less deflated and flat after spending time with Tai."
Around The Town Chicago - Recommended
"...The difficult part about reviewing a show like this is being careful not to say more than they want said. However, each performance has a different set of viewers, so should have different pieces of the equations and a unique ending. Please understand what I am describing are “general ideas”. With a different audience, many things will change and no two shows will ever be the same. That is the “magic of a show like this”. I hope you understand the mystery in this review, but I would never want to tell you more than you need to know, and that is that this is a fabulous one hour of entertainment."
Third Coast Review - Recommended
"...Missed Connections, Jon Tai’s magic and mystery show, is a cozy hour of entertainment laced with his stories of, yes, actual missed connections. Tai and his co-creator, Alex Gruhin, offer a Zoom event performed live where you meet fellow audience members and make a brief personal connection. I shared these magical experiences with Pam, Katherine, Fuzzy, Don, Dawn, Levi and a dozen more friendly souls who found a virtual event to be more than just a viewing experience."
