Magician
Sep 06, 2022 12:15 PM
Annette Fragale
Magician

Many people wax poetic about turning tragedy into triumph; Annette Fragale actually did it.

In 1985, on Superbowl Sunday, Annette’s husband, along with 70 other passengers and crew, was killed in the Galaxy Airlines Flight 203 plane crash.

“I just couldn’t believe it,” she says. “It was such a devastating loss. I didn’t know how I was going to go on.”

But Annette, mother of five, knew she must. Friends and family bolstered her during her time of need, and wanting to acknowledge all they had done for her, she hired a magician to entertain them. Little did she know the show would reveal a new path for her life.

“I needed something to do with my time, and when I saw that magician standing up there I said to myself, ‘I can do that,’” says Fragale.

So that’s what she did.

Fragale enrolled in magic school, she took improvisation classes with the acclaimed Stevie Ray, and she went to clown college. She frequented magic shops for tricks and fashioned her own from thrift-store finds. “I love what is called ‘kitchen magic,’” she says.

Her first gig was a kid’s birthday party, so she loaded her bike (yep, her bike!) with her tricks and magic paraphernalia, and set out to make young people laugh. “I was very nervous, but I loved it,” she says.

Since then, she’s taught classes through the Plymouth parks and recreation department, and performed at Dudley Riggs, Comedy Sportz, private parties, libraries, daycares, schools and corporate events in and around Plymouth. And for the past four years, she’s been creating her own cable television show called The Magic Book Nook (which airs on Channel 19 on Saturdays from 7:30 to 8 p.m. and replays Sundays at 3:30 and 11:30 a.m.), where she infuses magic, stories, songs and frequently a few of her 11 grandchildren into one fun program.

“I’ve gotten much more confident in every area of my life,” Fragale says. “Magic has helped me do that.