Metaphysically Speaking

Trust your gut. Follow your instincts. However you want to put it, people have always been fascinated by the concept of intuition. It’s a phenomenon most people have experienced — you encounter a person or a situation, and you have an immediate sense of understanding. Positive or negative, there’s no conscious reasoning — you just know.

For Michael Newton-Brown, the feeling was something he discovered in himself at a young age, and it’s guided him ever since. Reflecting on his long, successful career in show business — including tours with the Ringling Circus, Bette Midler and Barry Manilow, as well as directing an impressive résumé of local theatrical productions — Newton Brown says his sense of intuition has had a big impact on his success, and that he still uses it today.

While people might know him best for his impressive résumé, what they might not know about is what he refers to as his “other life” — as a Tarot card reader. We recently sat down with Newton-Brown at Pixie Dust, where he performs readings each Tuesday, to talk life on the road, metaphysics and how theater and intuition aren’t so different, after all.

"I was a little boy, maybe 4 or 5 years old, and my great grandmother was sick. I woke up in the middle of the night crying, and I went to wake up my dad, very upset and saying that she had died. It turned out that she had, and evidently, she had come to me on her way out. That was the first time anything like that ever happened."

"It’s something that runs on both sides of my family. My grandfather and great grandfather both had it, but in those times, you didn’t talk about it. I was always drawn to metaphysics and the occult — even from a very young age."

"When I was in college, I learned to read Tarot cards. I really enjoyed it. I liked the intuitive quality that it brought out, because, in reality, it’s just cardboard and ink. But it serves as a springboard for me to get a sense of what’s going on.”

"It’s hard to describe. I sense things and feel things. Things will pop into my brain, and other things I just know."

"I’m the least occult person you’ll meet. I don’t do mumbo jumbo; I don’t tell people’s futures. I believe everyone has these abilities, and a sense of intuition, and everyone has the power to make their own choices and create their own reality."

"I found I was using these abilities a lot in my theatrical career. I would get certain feelings about people that would influence my decisions. I ended up falling into a career touring with Bette Midler on her first big tour, then Barry Manilow. Nobody knew who he was at the time. We were playing these tiny nightclubs, then “Mandy” came out, and everything started happening. After that, I had a career lighting operas all over the country. These were all things I just stumbled into."

"I don’t think there was ever any doubt about what I was going to do. I always loved theater and the circus — I even had a trapeze in my backyard."

"I’m drawn to work that has some meat to it. I recently did ‘Sunset Boulevard,’ ‘Side Show’ and ‘Cabaret.’ I’m currently directing ‘Hands on a Hardbody.’ It’s a great production, but it didn’t last in New York. I like productions that have something to say."

"I can’t explain it. When I’m working with actors, I’ll get a feeling, just like I do when I’m reading cards, and I listen to it. I think intuition and theater are very similar. Actors have to work in intuition all the time."

"You just have to try it. Sometimes, it’s not until a few weeks later that you look back at the reading and see how it applied to you. I enjoy helping people. It’s nice to have a perspective, other than your own, on your life."