‘America’s Got Talent’ review: Freckled Sky, Derek Hughes, Benjamin Yonatton audition

The second audition episode of “America’s Got Talent” came to us on Tuesday night, and in the process, we had the variety that we are hoping to see from the show the majority of the time. We had singers, dancers, magicians, and someone who squirted milk out of their eye. (We try to not discuss too extensively the acts that don’t get through; we don’t really have the stomach for it.)

So was there a Golden Buzzer used tonight? Read on for our take on the notable acts; we’d be willing to bet that at least a few of these make it through to the live shows a little later this summer.

DM Nation – Are they a dance crew responsible for sending each other direct messages? That was our first thought. Instead, though, this was an impressive all-female dance crew.

Wayne Hoffman –  He’s a mentalist, but not the Simon Baker kind since there were no crimes solved over the course of his audition. He has some talent, but we hope he shows something different in a subsequent appearances.

The CraigLewis Band – A very good performance of an overkill song in “It’s a Man’s Man’s Man’s World.” Were they better than the band from last week? We didn’t think so tonight.

Benjamin Yonatton – An elegant blind dancer who, while not perfect, had the sort of story and passion that you cannot ignore. In some ways, this helps to compensate for some of the deficiencies that were present.

Shirley Claire – The story here was mostly that she is an 87-year old woman who was ironically a better comedian than a singer, even though that was what she was on the show to do. Still, great for an audition act. We’re not sure we will see her again.

Xakary the Magician – We almost want to X him for the spelling alone. We don’t quite think that the “sawing a random woman in half” is that impressive by magician standards, but this worked mostly because he had a great presentation and banter on stage … for how much we could hear him over Howie.

Alicia Michilli – Hey look, it’s the standard “nervous singer” package. Still, Alicia’s a good singer. We’ve heard more powerful renditions of “I’d Rather Go Blind,” but she should make it pretty far among the singers this season.

Derek Hughes – Awesome. He was brilliantly funny, but at the same time a very good magician! He manages to bring a few new twists to a card trick we have seen so many times before. We didn’t even care that the trick has been done a lot when we were watching it because of how he shook it up at the end … even if it was a little disturbing.

Freckled Sky – At first, we just thought that this would be this season’s version of Blue Journey. While that was a stellar act, this one was even a step above. One of the most brilliant and beautiful dance auditions we’ve ever seen on this show. Howard pressed the Golden Buzzer! If we were him, though, we would’ve just hit it without any of the buildup. Makes for an even better TV moment.

Who was your favorite on Tuesday night’s show? Share with a comment, and click here to read our review of the premiere! Also, you can sign up now to get some other talented TV updates via our CarterMatt Newsletter. (Photo: NBC.)