Review: These Well-Strung Boys Whip Out Their Pizzicatos Right On Stage For A WELL-STRUNG CHRISTMAS At Feinstein's/54 Below

Heigh-Ho, My Merry Rainbow Tribe! Bobby Patrick, your RAINBOW Reviewer here. Putting the silent T in cabareT to bring you all the T!

A string quartette of four hotties playing AND SINGING Christmas music... Is this gay heaven? This is the question we were asking ourselves last Wednesday night as the 4 Well-Strung "stringests" kicked off A WELL-STRUNG CHRISTMAS at Feinstein's/54 Below. Edmund Bagnell (violin), Chris Marchant (other violin), Trevor Wadleigh (the slightly larger violin), and Daniel Shevlin (that big violin that sits on the floor) are separately fine musicians and engaging singers but put them together and you get a pretty dynamite evening of musical entertainment. Sprinkle some tinsel over them and you have a Christmas MUST for the season. The mix of these diverse talents all with their own styles was remarkable to listen to. Edmund's lush orchestral sound flowed through the room, Chris's precise, focussed playing gave driving rhythm, Trevor's more relaxed bowing of his viola lent a casual, approachable almost Country and Western feel all while Daniel's pulsing low notes on the cello grounded everything pulling it all together in a mix that can only be described as real chemistry. This is the most essential element in putting together a group of musicians. All four are very handsome, gifted, and sensitive and all four are openly gay, so putting them in a room to mix together musically could lead to a devastating explosion OR electricity. As evidenced in their performing both on stage and in recordings (Check them out on the SPOTIFY) the mix they have found is as harmonious as the music they create.

Moving back and forth from the pop single LAST CHRISTMAS to Mozart's musical string imperative, DIVERTIMENTO all while singing and/or playing and/or both music of the season from the great American Song Book (SLEIGH RIDE) to country (SANTA WENT DOWN TO GEORGIA) and you basically wind up with something for everyone. The most fascinating of part of a Well-Strung experience is the flow of their performance within the group. Freely moving from solos, through duets and trios, and back to the quartette with such ease, the show became this lovely boat ride down a smoothly flowing river carrying the room from number to number with the boys paddling us ever forward with their charming and funny patter between songs. One of the musical treats that showed this group's beautiful blending as a singing and playing quartette along with the aforementioned chemistry was HARD CANDY CHRISTMAS from BEST LITTLE WHOREHOUSE... by double Drama Desk Award winner Carol Hall (and NOT Dolly Parton as was stated afterward). The chair dancing in the house evoked by the strains of Vince Guaraldi's LINUS & LUCY from A CHARLIE BROWN CHRISTMAS awakened the child in everyone present. Their naughty and uber gay rendition of SANTA BABY brought titters and snorts from the audience and their lush SILENT NIGHT brought us all back to reverent silence. In short, whether they were vocalizing, bowing or plucking their strings, or playing their concert instruments like guitars (Daniel with his cello in his lap strumming away was quite a sight) these four had everyone eating out of the palm of their hands from start to finish.

"OK, Bobby! We get it, they're great." we can hear you saying, but something extra special happened when Well-Strung performed WHAT ARE YOU DOING NEW YEARS EVE that must be reported. Now, Bobby has gone on a bit about their blend and chemistry and we really wrote all of that so we could write this... This song, number 15 on their setlist, stands out as the ultimate example of what can happen when all the elements of come together. This cheeky arrangement that had each of the boys taking turns leading the vocals was gorgeous, to say the least, but in the final lines where they sang together as a quartette, another sound entered the room. On rare occasions when voices join together in perfect balance another note, called an overtone, is magically created. It is a phonic anomaly that makes 4 voices into 5 and causes the ear (& soul) to really respond to what it is hearing. When it happened, this very simple old Christmas song by Frank Loesser, became transcendent.

So, in all, as you can tell my dear rainbow readers, Bobby just adored getting Well-Strung and at this festive season of the year A WELL-STRUNG CHRISTMAS is more than worthy of our

5 out of 5 Rainbows

A WELL-STRUNG CHRISTMAS Has 2 more performances for the season at F/54B

For Tickets TONIGHT 12/14 at 9:45 PM: CLICK HERE

And

For Tickets Tomorrow Night 12/15 at 9:45 PM: CLICK HERE

Get Well-Strung On Their Webby: HERE

Look up Their YouTubes: HERE

And Followe On Ye Olde FaceBooke: HERE

All Photos By Yours Truly - Bobby Patrick

To post a comment, you must register and login.