On the fifth night of America’s Got Talent auditions, the Season 14 judges Simon Cowell, Julianne Hough, Gabrielle Union and Howie Mandel are treated to a romantic and dramatic performance by Verba. The dance troupe from Ukraine perform “shadow theater.” They tell moving visual stories in front of a giant screen in front of a giant light.
[Gabrielle Union’s AGT dress, $80]
Verba’s debut performance on AGT is about a young couple who falls in love, has a baby, and then the man is sent to war. The man survives the war, and so does the baby but the wife does not. The story is about heartbreak and hope as at the end we see the son become a man and marry with his father as a witness. And so goes the cycle of life.
The song heard in the beginning is a cover of Ellie Goulding‘s power ballad “Love Me Like You Do” by Boyce Avenue. Boyce Avenue is composed of three brothers — Daniel, Alejandro and Fabian Manzano of Sarasota, Florida. They formed the band (named after two streets where the Manzanos lived as kids) in 2004 when Daniel moved back to Florida after graduating from Harvard Law School. Goulding’s version of “Love Me Like You Do” was featured in the film Fifty Shades of Grey. America’s Got Talent airs Tuesdays at 8 pm on NBC.
