Americas Got Talent 8 - Vegas Week

FOR BRITISH VIEWERS, THIS ARTICLE MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS.

This year, a record 60 Acts passed through Vegas Week and into the Live shows (There are no Youtube heats this year). Among the acts competing for those spots in the live shows (Now held in New York's iconic Radio City Music Hall) were a large number of magicians. How did they fare?

Automatic Decision.

This year, the judges put through half of the top 60 automatically, without waiting for another performance. One of these acts was Alexanderia the Great, the female escapologist. I'm pleased she got to bypass Vegas week and can't wait to see what she will do in the live shows.

Magic Category

Due to the fact that a large number of acts were advanced (And sometimes eliminated) automatically, there was no need to split the remaining acts into "Judges Favorites"  and "Standbys" as in previous series. Therefore, all the magicians competed in one group (Except for one who we will get to later).

R.J Cantu, whose audition was not televised, went first, and performed a standard levitation trick. It was only notable for the poor lighting, which presumably hid the method. I would have liked to have seen a more creative and original performance.

Naathan Phan was next, and performed a set of tricks which were mostly unseen, culminating in him making a bird cage with four birds inside vanish. The final trick was not executed perfectly (We can see a moving feather poking out of the table as he makes the cage vanish). Furthermore, his story line (about him hosting a cooking show) had promise, but the joke we saw, about not being able to use Samuel L. Jackson as a guest, was too vague to work. In short, it was a disappointment, and Phan didn't get a second trick in which to redeem himself.

After two underwhelming performances, it was time for a magician to knock it out of the park, and that magician was Colins Key. He used judge Howie Mandel's autobiography for his trick. Having the judges choose a page from it and memorize the first word on it, he made the page vanish from the book and appear in a sealed envelope, with the memorized word written across it. It's not difficult to figure out how he did it, but the presentation was great, and he made the trick seem unique and original.

Following Key's performance, there was a battle between two conventional illusionists- Ariann Black and Leon Etienne (Whose assistant, Romy Low, was credited as an official partner). Ariann went first, and performed a version of the Interlude illusion, where an assistant passed through her body. I was rooting for Ariann, but she botched her delivery and confused the judges. It was a pity, as I would have loved to have seen a female magician make the live shows.

Leon Etienne was the last magician in the category to perform.He did a trick in which he levitated Romy from the top of a metal pole. He then removed one of the two supports beneath the platform on which he did the trick, making the levitation seem even more impossible. It's a very old trick (In the film "Hugo", this is one of the tricks George Melies performed before he became a filmmaker) , but I liked Etienne's modern presentation.

Variety Category

The most unusual magician passed by the judges, Special Head was sorted into the variety category with other novelty acts, and was easily the best of them. He performed a trick in which he appeared to bend his body over backwards with out falling on the row of candles beneath him. While it is possible to doubt whether or not it was really a magic trick (Did he do it for real or did he lock himself into place?), it was still a very impressive feat.

So who advanced?

Four magicians have made the live shows this year. They are.

1. Alexanderia The Great
2. Colins Key
3. Leon Etienne (And Romy Low)
4. Special Head