The fourth and final episode of the Judges Cuts round aired last week. Louis Tomlinson, one of the members of boyband One Direction, was the episode's "Guest Judge", helping regular judges Howie, Mel B, Heidi and Simon choose which seven acts would make the Live Shows out the final group of 20. This set of competitors included Quick-Change Illusionists Sos & Victoria Petrosyan, Comedic Magician The Amazing Armando and Mentalist Duo The Clairvoyants.
How Did Sos & Victorian Petrosyan Do?
Sos & Victoria Petrosyan are the second magic act in AGT history to focus on Quick-Change magic, following David and Dania, whose audition went viral during the First Season. For their audition (above), Sos & Victoria marked themselves out from other Quick-Change acts through their use of upbeat pop music and their desicion to perform with clothes they had made themselves, ensuring that their magical costume changes did not only highlight their skills as magicians, but their abilities as costume designers. However, they needed to avoid the two flaws which ruined David and Dania's act - a reliance on repeating the same costume changes in every performance, and a refusal to listen to criticism.
How Did The Amazing Armando Do?
With so many great magicians competing at the Judges Cuts this year, it was only inevitable that we'd get a couple of bad ones, but The Amazing Armando made even Cecile & Mighty seem impressive. The Amazing Armando's audition went untelevised, but his signature shtick (according to his website and Facebook page, neither of which provide much information) is to portray himself as a magician from a fictional third-world country. In the hands of a professional, this approach could generate intelligent and amusing comedy, but, judging from what little we saw of him, Armando relied on an overly exaggerated delivery, making the act seem a little creepy and detracting from the magic instead of enchancing it.
The best part of The Amzing Armando's Judges Cuts routine (Below) occurred at the beginning, when he tricked Mel B into joining him on stage as a volunteer. After that, things went downhill rapidly. Armando performed a comedic trick where he promised to use sleight of hand to make a Chicken Nugget vanish from a handkerchief in front of her eyes, but actually made it vanish by throwing it over her head. This can be an amusing effect when performed by the right magician, but merely seemed silly and annoying when Armando performed it. Simon and Howie gave Armando an X, with Louis pressing Mel B's buzzer for her. Armando finished his performance by making a small black bird appear from within the handkerchief. However, this trick proved another failure, as Mel B saw Armando performing the sleights which allowed him to make the bird appear. As soon as the performance ended, Heidi gave Armando a fourth X, officially eliminating him from the competition on the spot.
Overall, The Amazing Armando's performance was a complete mess, and probably the worst performance from a magician in this entire season of AGT. The tricks which formed the routine were too small and generic to be impressive. Furthermore, Armando performed them badly, with a very annoying delivery and a number of errors. Things got even worse for Armando after his performance, as the pet bird emptied it's bladder on stage whilst the Judges were providing their comments (Heidi, who said that the performance was inferior to Armando's audition, was the only judge shown giving proper feedback). It was an appropriately embarrassing conclusion to what had been a very poor performance.
How Did The Clairvoyants Do?
The Clairvoyants are not the first magicians on AGT to specialise in mentalism. last year, Oz Pearlman proved to be the most successful of the magicians in Season 10, finishing in third place, and Eric Dittelman from Season 7 also made great use of his apparent ability to read the judges minds. However, The Clairvoyants, a duo consisting of Austrian mentalists Thommy and Amelie, represent an old-fashioned but fascinating type of mentalism that seems totally unique to AGT. In their audition (above), The Clairvoyants performed a number of tricks in which a completely blindfolded Amelie correctly identified small items, such as a tube of lipstick, an iPhone, and a Bottle of Ear Drops, and revealed information about them (such as the brand of lipstick and the expiry date on the ear drops) which she could not have possibly seen even without a blindfold. The Clairvoyants had one of the best auditions from a magic act this season, but like Sos & Victoria, they needed to prove that their genre of magic could remain interesting once the novelty of their audition had worn off.
Fortunately, in their Judges Cuts performance (below), Sos & Victoria avoided these two errors, but their efforts to show off their range and please Simon (who had previously criticised Sos' dance moves during their audition) almost undermined their act. Sos & Victoria's Judges Cuts routine, set to OneRepublic's anthem "Love Runs Out", began with Sos making a box float into the air, before making Victoria appear from that box. Sos turned the box, and Victoria, upside down, before restoring it to its normal position. When Victoria re-emerged from the box, she was wearing a new costume. After this trick, Sos & Victoria performed a set of their signature costume changes, which included Sos transforming his black suit into a red one, and Victoria's costume changing whilst she stood in the middle of a circle of sparks. The routine finished with Sos changing Victoria's dress into a red one in a shower of confetti.
I personally liked Sos & Victoria's decision to mix things up a little bit. The illusion with the levitating box is a standard of magic (Landon Swank performed a particularly memorable version on Season 6 on AGT), but Sos & Victoria performed it quickly and effectively, and their desicion to use costume changes allowed them to transition perfectly from this trick to the quick-changes which define their act. Like Steven Brundage in Episode 2 of the Judges Cuts, Sos & Victoria managed to introduce another style of magic to their act whilst retaining their signature approach, both demonstrating their versatility and highlighting their unique features at the same time. The Quick-Changes were also performed well. Although there are only a certain number of ways you can conceal a costume change (most of which involve covering the performer with a large bag for a few seconds), only the final costume change felt like it had been recycled from the first audition. Overall, this was a strong second performance, and demonstrated that Sos & Victoria have the potential to ensure their act feels fresh and exciting over multiple performances.
The judges generally focused on praising the speed with which Sos & Victoria performed their costume changes. However, Simon was critical of the performance, pointing out that the duo did not provide enough costume changes compared to their audition. In spite of this, the judges went on to put Sos & Victoria through to the Live Shows at the end of the episode. Ultimately, Sos & Victoria deserved their place in the next round, but they really need to provide a spectacular performance, especially with so many magic acts already through to the live shows.
How Did The Amazing Armando Do?
With so many great magicians competing at the Judges Cuts this year, it was only inevitable that we'd get a couple of bad ones, but The Amazing Armando made even Cecile & Mighty seem impressive. The Amazing Armando's audition went untelevised, but his signature shtick (according to his website and Facebook page, neither of which provide much information) is to portray himself as a magician from a fictional third-world country. In the hands of a professional, this approach could generate intelligent and amusing comedy, but, judging from what little we saw of him, Armando relied on an overly exaggerated delivery, making the act seem a little creepy and detracting from the magic instead of enchancing it.
The best part of The Amzing Armando's Judges Cuts routine (Below) occurred at the beginning, when he tricked Mel B into joining him on stage as a volunteer. After that, things went downhill rapidly. Armando performed a comedic trick where he promised to use sleight of hand to make a Chicken Nugget vanish from a handkerchief in front of her eyes, but actually made it vanish by throwing it over her head. This can be an amusing effect when performed by the right magician, but merely seemed silly and annoying when Armando performed it. Simon and Howie gave Armando an X, with Louis pressing Mel B's buzzer for her. Armando finished his performance by making a small black bird appear from within the handkerchief. However, this trick proved another failure, as Mel B saw Armando performing the sleights which allowed him to make the bird appear. As soon as the performance ended, Heidi gave Armando a fourth X, officially eliminating him from the competition on the spot.
Overall, The Amazing Armando's performance was a complete mess, and probably the worst performance from a magician in this entire season of AGT. The tricks which formed the routine were too small and generic to be impressive. Furthermore, Armando performed them badly, with a very annoying delivery and a number of errors. Things got even worse for Armando after his performance, as the pet bird emptied it's bladder on stage whilst the Judges were providing their comments (Heidi, who said that the performance was inferior to Armando's audition, was the only judge shown giving proper feedback). It was an appropriately embarrassing conclusion to what had been a very poor performance.
How Did The Clairvoyants Do?
The Clairvoyants are not the first magicians on AGT to specialise in mentalism. last year, Oz Pearlman proved to be the most successful of the magicians in Season 10, finishing in third place, and Eric Dittelman from Season 7 also made great use of his apparent ability to read the judges minds. However, The Clairvoyants, a duo consisting of Austrian mentalists Thommy and Amelie, represent an old-fashioned but fascinating type of mentalism that seems totally unique to AGT. In their audition (above), The Clairvoyants performed a number of tricks in which a completely blindfolded Amelie correctly identified small items, such as a tube of lipstick, an iPhone, and a Bottle of Ear Drops, and revealed information about them (such as the brand of lipstick and the expiry date on the ear drops) which she could not have possibly seen even without a blindfold. The Clairvoyants had one of the best auditions from a magic act this season, but like Sos & Victoria, they needed to prove that their genre of magic could remain interesting once the novelty of their audition had worn off.
The Clairvoyants provided the last performance in the last episode of the Judges Cuts, and this meant that they were under pressure to bring the round to a memorable conclusion. Fortunately, they succeeded in doing this, as their Judges Cuts performance (below) allowed Amelie another opportunity to show off her unique abilities. Amelie was seated at the centre of the stage, some distance away from the Judges Table, where Thommy promised to "bring Las Vegas" to the Judges. Thommy gave Howie a dice, and asked him to roll it, then cover it. Even though Amelie was at the centre of the stage, and wouldn't have been able to read the number on the dice even if it wasn't covered, she correctly guessed that Howie had rolled the number "one". After this, Amelie put on a blindfold, which Louis had tested earlier, before Thommy gave the judges a deck of cards. He instructed Mel B to shuffle them and Louis to choose one. After Louis put his chosen card face-down in Thommy's had, Amelie was able to correctly reveal that Louis had chosen the Five of Hearts. For the final trick in the routine, Thommy promised to provide an even more impressive prediction. He asked Heidi to choose one banknote out of a set of bills provided by Simon. Thommy then pointed out that to correctly predict the serial number on that banknote would be "more impossible than winning a million in Vegas". However, Amelie was able to correctly guess all eight digits in the serial number, as well as the letter at the end of it. Overall, this was a solid performance. I liked the use of a theme to tie the routine together, and the manner in which the predictions became increasingly impressive. Furthermore, the mentalism performed by The Clairvoyants is always impressive to watch, and Amelie's often hesitant delivery makes her abilities stand out even more. However, The Clairvoyants Judges Cuts routine was probably less impressive than their audition, as the mentalism they performed felt a bit more conventional. Correctly guessing a chosen card, or the serial number on a banknote, doesn't feel as unique or spectacular as the mentalism they performed in their audition. In spite of this, The Clairvoyants performance in the Judges Cuts was still fun to watch, and they are probably one of the best magic acts in this season of AGT.
The judges had nothing but praise for The Clairvoyants. Heidi praised the "mysterious" experience they provided, Louis called their act "mindblowing", and both Simon and Howie claimed that they had "never seen anything like it". Therefore, it was no surprise when, at the end of the episode, the judges put The Clairvoyants through to the Live Shows. Hopefully, they'll provide even more incredible feats of mentalism in the next round.
Which Acts Made It Through?
In addition to Sos & Victoria Petrosyan and The Clairvoyants, five other acts made it through Episode 4 of the Judges Cuts. They Were:
In addition to Sos & Victoria Petrosyan and The Clairvoyants, five other acts made it through Episode 4 of the Judges Cuts. They Were:
- Teenage Jazz/Soul Singer Jayna Brown
- Pop Choir Musicality
- Hip-Hop Dance Quintet Outlawz
- Acrobatics Duo ThroWings
- Juggler Viktor Kee
I Wish all of them the best of luck in the Live Shows.
P.S - With 28 acts making it through to the Live Shows via the Judges Cuts, and five acts gaining a spot in the Live Shows by earning a Golden Buzzer at the audition stage, three extra acts were needed to ensure that the Live Shows would feature 36 acts. One of the extra acts is Rubix Cube Magician Steven Brundage, eliminated the the Judges Cuts, but reinstated into the competition as a Wild Card act. I'm pleased to see Steven in the Live Shows, and he has gained a very passionate fanbase who should allow him to do very well in this competition.
Later this Week: The Live Shows begin, and we'll see how many of magic acts who made it through to the Live Shows can advance to the Semifinals.
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