Well-Strung Loves Their Broadway in New Orleans & Beyond

By: Mar. 20, 2015
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Well-Strung has been establishing a growing presence amongst Broadway fans. The all-male, singing string quartet whose members are Chris Marchant, Daniel Shevlin, Trevor Wadleigh and Edmund Bagnell, was the brainchild of Manager Mark Cortale and Marchant. They first came on to BroadwayWorld's radar when they appeared onstage for the Opening Gala of the Walt Disney Theater in Orlando, part of the new Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts. The gala was directed by Richard Jay-Alexander and conducted by Mary-Mitchell Campbell, with members of the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra. But check out who they shared the stage with: Sierra Boggess, Deborah Voigt, Chris Mann, Norm Lewis & more. We then saw them at the Hirschfeld Theatre in another stellar line-up that included Rob McClure, Julie Haltson, Tituss Burgess, Lena Hall, Florence Henderson, Norm Lewis, Brian Stokes Mitchell, LiLlias White, Lily Tomlin and more Broadway favorites for Broadway Backwards, on March 9th, directed by Robert Bartley with musical supervision by Mary-Mitchell Campbell and conducted by Tim Rosser. The guys definitely impressed.

Jay-Alexander knew of them, but didn't actually see them until last summer, during their residency at The Art House in Provincetown in 2014 and immediately took a liking to them and was invited by Cortale and the boys to talk about possibly working together. They inked a deal and just spent a week together in New Orleans brainstorming two new shows. One will be called SUMMER LOVIN' which you can see this upcoming summer in P'town and another show called A WELL-STRUNG CHRISTMAS.

Last summer, they were musical guests, featured in Kristin Chenoweth's concert at Town Hall in Provincetown, with Kevin Stites as Musical Director.

The reasons they all convened in New Orleans, were simple: Cortale makes his home there and Well-Strung was scheduled for a show at CAFE ISTANBUL during the week, which presented an opportunity to "play" and "try on some new stuff."

The sold-out show received multiple standing ovations and word after the performance was very "buzzy" on what the future holds for them. Jay-Alexander talked about their week together and his admiration for them as musicians and performers and, although they are pretty well know for mash-ups of classical and pop music, he plans on developing the idea that their "dirty little secret" is that they all love Broadway. Richard is the one who developed the FROZEN Medley for them, with Mary-Mitchell Campbell, which they debuted in Orlando and has been getting a wild reaction in their live shows.

There first album Well Strung has done very well and they are currently in the studio, recording their second, entitled POPSSICAL. If you haven't seen them, they play 54 Below on March 27th. Click Here.

Here's their latest video "calling card" And here's a peek, from Orlando, when they debuted FROZEN, putting together two pieces composed by Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez from the monster-hit animated film.

Photos below are from Wednesday night's concert at Cafe Istanbul, provided to us by New Orleans' famed theatre photographer John B. Barrois



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