GENTRI begins love affair with Civic Music
Burlington Civic Music returned to Burlington Memorial Auditorium Saturday for a thoroughly satisfying concert by the tenor trio GENTRI of Salt Lake City.
What more could anyone want? Three dashing young men crooning high up there in the vocal stratosphere where many women never venture, lyrics awash in Broadway, American patriotism and songs of love.
Casey Elliott, Bradley Quinn Lever and Brad Robins were upbeat, happy and gosh-darned good singers.
GENTRI, derived from "gentlemen" and "trio," delivers three-part tenor harmonies with grace and power, and their music has often been described — accurately — as uplifting.
They're the kind of men you'd like to see your daughters bring home for supper.
Robins introduced the group and served as emcee.
"I understand the Hawkeyes got a big win today," Robins said to hearty cheers from the crowd.
The boys were accompanied on piano and tracks by music director Stephen Nelson, who could easily do a Civic Music show all by himself.
They opened with an original "On the Outside" from their 2018 album "Prologue," then swerved into a head-on mashup of 13 love songs — that's the number they gave at the outset, anyway — and we tracked them:
1 You Are So Beautiful
2 I Can't Help Falling in Love With You
3 When a Man Loves a Woman
4 Have I Told You Lately That I Love You
5 Wherever You Go
6 Stand By Me
7 Forever Yours
8 Todo Lo Que Haga
9 The Glory of Love
10 Can You Feel the Love Tonight?
This medley by Stephens is very well constructed — and performed superbly by him and the tenors — but where were the other songs?
Someone in the audience whispered that we don't know every good song in the universe, and they're right — and we were so absorbed by the superb singing that we kind of drifted away for a moment, mesmerized.
Check out "Love Song Medley" on YouTube and see if you can catch all 13.
After thanking the U.S. troops and God and America, GENTRI sang "God Bless the USA" which is so cliché it should be retired — but hearing these boys belt it out with genuine love for their country was downright refreshing.
GENTRI sang solos at times, and three-part harmony sometimes, and sometimes in unison. Unison is the true test of any small vocal group, and a sure way to identify totally talented singers is whether you hear one universal voice or each separate singer during unisons.
GENTRI does theater during their songs; it was a bit like watching a small group break away from a Broadway production to dance and sing on the sidewalk, just for you.
That said, they did a Broadway medley that included "If Ever I Would Leave You" from "Camelot," and "Some Enchanted Evening" from "South Pacific," and "Tonight" from "West Side Story," which embraced some brilliant vocal chording.
Are we going over the top if we dare say these boys are fabulous?
No, we aren't! Yes, they are!
The high point of the evening didn't incorporate the singers. Lever asked one member of the audience to randomly choose the theme from a Broadway musical while another member chose a hit song.
Thus Stephens was faced with the challenge of creating a third song from two unrelated pieces: "The Sound of Music" and "Fly Me to the Moon," and he had about one minute to do so.
Think it can't be done? Wrong: It was magnificent.
Lever, resplendent in red and blue socks, broke out a ukulele for the Israel "Iz" Kamakawiwoʻole version of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" which GENTRI proceeded to ramp up with their own stylings.
For their second set, the boys traded their snappy dark suits for slacks and sport coats.
Not all the songs were religious or patriotic: A surprise hit was their second song of the second set, Bruno Mars' "Just They Way You Are."
We thought Queen's "We Are The Champions" was the top number of the show until they did a "Phantom of the Opera" sketch that gave the crowd another dose of street fever.
Dylan's "Make You Feel My Love" prompted one wag to mutter, "Bob Dylan can't sing at all" to which another responded, "Yeah, but these guys sure can."
To introduce Sir Paul McCartney's Beatle masterpiece, "Let It Be," Lever said, "We can be an angel for somebody else."
They ended with "Believe" and a mashup of "Rise Up/I Lived," inspiring the audience to rise up for a standing O: "I'll rise up and I'll do it a thousand times again."
So, were GENTRI a hit with the Civic Music crowd?
"They're better than the Texas Tenors," one patron whispered conspiratorially while singing along in a beautiful operatic alto. "I hope they come back."
The next Civic Music concert is “Brazilian Nights: The Greatest Hits” on Thursday, Nov. 4, when the Brazilian All Stars present chamber orchestra versions of Brazil’s most famous songs including ballads and bossa novas direct from Rio de Janeiro.
Mask up, everyone, and get ready to dance.