Competing somewhat head-to-head against Murray SawChuck as one of two remaining magicians in the semis, Michael Grasso made a sizable impression. Meanwhile, Murray Sawchuck ramped up the scale of his illusions (he had to follow-up a car and tiger in earlier rounds) and aimed for an emotional and inspirational connection.
First to perform, Michael Grasso presented his illusion with lots of style. For those who see lots of magic, there's a tipoff from the very beginning as to what is going happen, but the surprise riveted the attention of the audience and judges. Too bad that the editing wasn't better to protect the effect. One has to wonder if the judges of "America's Got Talent" are being trained to look over their shoulders each and every time a magician performs. You can watch the video here.
Inspirations and Trains
Judge Howie Mandell compared Murray's illusion to a David Copperfield presentation. 
Indeed, on his "Orient Express" magic special from decades ago, Copperfield levitated and vanished a luxury train car. Murray, on the other hand, vanished a train engine.
Most significant from the standpoint of his work thus far, Murray eschewed the Vegas glitz and dancers for an emotional build-up and payoff, ala classic Copperfield. While I admire Murray's work on the show, unfortunately, the presentation didn't resonate.
With Copperfield's classic routines, the illusion fulfills a longtime dream: having never seen snowfall or his Grandfather's lifelong wish for a special car. Steve Wyrick, in his now shuttered Las Vegas show, "Real Magic," successfully presented a relationship with his father that was combined with a dream of flying.
I got Murray's theme about leaving the family's traditional business to perform magic, all of which culminated in a simultaneous homage and large-scale illusion - the vanish of the train engine. But shouldn't the illusion have featured the production of a train engine?
The vanish was good, but didn't connect with the theme. And the relationship with his Dad, something that Copperfield is able to milk for all that its worth, in Murray's case, felt tacked on.
I suspect that there were lots of things out of Murray's control as his presentation felt rather rushed and disjointed. And the "proving," the hammering of the train engine to show that it was solid, was a distraction in the middle of the routine. You can watch the video here.
Whatever happens, the magic community can be proud of Murray and Michael Grasso. Both have been positive representatives for our art.
More Reading:
Las Vegas Magic Shows
More Magic on "America's Got Talent" (June 25, 2010)
America's Got Talent: The Las Vegas Eliminations (July 13, 2010)
Murray SawChuck Talks About Las Vegas Magic and Lance Burton
Comments
You said, “One has to wonder if the judges of “America’s Got Talent” are being trained to look over their shoulders each and every time a magician performs.”
I agree the illusion could have been shot and directed better in the control room. However, consider how it played live. Because of the way his routine was structured, I would be willing to bet that not a non-magician in the house could figure out Grasso’s method. Congratulations to him for making the top ten.
The urge to discover secrets is deeply ingrained within the human psyche. Even the least curious mind is roused by the promise of obtaining knowledge hidden from others – whether it is the ‘village gossip’, the boffin who discovers a new compound, or the detective who tracks down a criminal.
Thrillers, crosswords, and Suduko cater for the majority; solutions of secret codes may be the hobby of the few; but UNIVERSALLY, magic probably has the biggest allure, presenting mysteries in an engaging and dramatic way rather than simply presenting meaningless ‘fooled you’ puzzles that serve no purpose whatsoever.
I believe tapping into older effects is a very good thing. Putting some of the very best in front of a young and vibrant audience will once again stimulate the awe and wonder our ancestors had the joy of experiencing over one hundred years ago. The astonished gasps from the audience in Lord Webber’s ‘Love never dies’ is testament to this (Maybe Paul Daniels might come out of retirement and put a youthful show together for Ariann that would blow away all critics)
Derren Brown, one of Britain’s ‘New Era’, is presenting a show at 10 PM Greenwich Mean time on Britain’s ‘Channel 4’ next Wednesday (8th September). Derren is the guy who accurately ‘predicted’ the national lottery numbers ‘live’ as the numbers were drawn. He got them all correct! As an aside, I personally would have chosen the ‘off by one’ route on one of the balls to strengthen the validity – but that is just my personal opinion.
The BBC have currently chosen the ‘Red Button’ High Definition TV route for ‘making the missable unmissable’, whereas ITV have backed the Internet so it may well be globally aired on the net – I hope so.
If you want a sample of Derren Brown’s work then give the DVD ‘An Evening of Wonder’ a go. It won’t disappoint.
Be just and fear not,
Daniel