America's Got Talent Season 15 has been full of twists and changes, many of which no one could've seen coming. The NBC competition was forced to go audience-less and then virtual due to pandemic protocols, then it lost Simon Cowell after he broke his back on an electric bike. Now, one of its front-runners has an act that the show has never seen before. Spoken word performer Brandon Leake has blown away the judges and audiences with his powerful poetry, but how would it translate to Vegas?
It's a valid question considering a Las Vegas residency comes with the $1,000,000 prize, so Brandon Leake shared his vision for what a stage show would be with CinemaBlend. It turns out that he has an idea for exactly what it would look like if he wins America's Got Talent, and I'll admit, it sounds very exciting. He shared via email:
I think people don't see how much of a creative I am YET! A Vegas show for me would be wildly entertaining, imagine going to musical theater except with spoken word. Digital interaction, heart wrenching story lines, animation, TOP NOTCH PERFORMANCE ART MIXED WITH TOP NOTCH WRITING ABILITY. That is what my show would be, it would be a movie displayed in front of your eyes.
Brandon Leake's description of his show does sound like a Las Vegas-worthy performance, especially considering that the pared down version he has been performing on America's Got Talent is widely acclaimed. Leake has beaten out acts who are doing stunts, acrobatics, and high energy dance routines with poetry.
If he could take the power of his performances and pump it into a stage show with visual effects and the other things described, he could indeed be very successful. Even these limited performances on stage would arguably be enough, and lend to the power of Brandon Leake's words as he recounts the painful and most vulnerable moments of his life. Take a look at his latest performance!
It's moving on a level that America's Got Talent can rarely deliver. The fact that Brandon Leake can get on stage and talk about such personal matters is worthy of applause, let alone the fact that he can pull you into his world and make you feel it as well.
What Brandon Leake has accomplished in Season 15 of America's Got Talent is incredible regardless of whether he wins the competition, but there may be some who feel he benefitted from the circumstances of the season that allowed him to perform without an audience. Leake commented on the absence of an audience for his appearances in Season 15:
I don't know if it played any role haha. I've done shows in front of thousands where you could hear a pin drop during and after a piece. I think the lack of audience may only play in my favor because the inception of my poetry career was with minimal audience. I was performing my heart out in coffee shops with 5-6 people in it and there I learned that no matter the audience size you put your heart on stage and do your best. So it may have played a factor, but I don't think it would have changed the result.
Brandon Leake seems to have a lot of confidence that he would perform well in a normal season and, judging by his first outing on the program, it's hard to argue otherwise. Coming into America's Got Talent as a brand new kind of act is almost unheard of at this point, so it's welcome to see someone breaking the mold and shaking up the competition in a big way. Hopefully, Leake only encourages more unconventional acts to audition for the series.
America's Got Talent airs on NBC Tuesdays and Wednesdays at 8:00 p.m. ET. If you're a fan of Brandon Leake be sure to cast a vote for him to advance by 7:00 a.m. ET on Wednesday, September 9. Continue to stick with CinemaBlend for more on the competition, and for the latest happening in the world of television and movies.
