Presto! The ‘Physician Magician’ practices both medicine and magic

Dr. Ricardo Rosenkranz said he was not interested in magic when he was a kid. He came to it later in life, when he was already practicing medicine.“I discovered that this was a great art form that also could play a role in healing,” Rosenkranz said. “Not from the perspective of a manipulation that actually changes cells or molecules physically in the body in that particular way, but in terms of outlook and perspective and mindset.”Eventually, he said he started using magic to teach at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine. “No surprise, as soon as I started doing magic at the medical school, I got teaching awards,” he said. “And I'm so delighted no one fired me for it.”Rosenkranz, who is originally from Mexico City, is the owner of The Rhapsody Theater in Chicago’s Rogers Park neighborhood, where he has shows in both English and Spanish over this Cinco de Mayo weekend. In this episode of the Rundown podcast, Rosenkranz tells host Erin Allen about occupying a unique space as “The Physician Magician,” the relationship he sees between magic, medicine, doctors and patients, and, of course, he also performs a little radio magic.