Gentri Christmas at the Eccles 2023

Last night I went to my first Christmas concert of the season and I definitely picked a good one!  The Gentlemen Trio, or Gentri as they are more commonly known, was established when Casey Elliott, Bradley Quinn Lever, and Brad Robins were cast in a production of Les Miserables at HCT (they recently reprised their roles of Jean Valjean, Enjolras, and Marius, respectively, in another HCT production) and then continued singing together after the run was over.  My sister Marilyn is a huge fan so we went to their Christmas concert last year and we loved it so much we decided to make it a tradition!  This year's show at the Eccles Theater was amazing!  They began with "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" and the arrangement included snippets from "Carol of the Bells" and I really liked it.  They continued with "Little Drummer Boy," "Gesu Bambino," and an incredible arrangement of "Still Still Still" with snippets from the score of the movie The Mission (I love this song because I sang it in choir in college).  They were joined by vocalist Yaphet Bustos for "Angels We Have Heard on High" and by the Rise Up Children's Choir for "Do You Hear What I Hear?" and "What Child Is This?" (which featured the Christmas story acted by several members of the choir in costume).  The first set ended with a bluesy mashup of "Go Tell It On The Mountain" and "Joy To The World" with Brad Wheeler on harmonica.  After the intermission, they performed "We Three Kings" with another guest vocalist, Ellie Barry, and then "I Saw Three Ships."  Next they had their music director Stephen Nelson arrange a piece on the spot from a movie score and a Christmas song suggested by the audience (they did this last year as well).  Our audience picked the score from The Lord of the Rings trilogy and "Mistletoe" by Justin Bieber and, believe it or not, the result was really good!  Next they performed an original song called "Somewhere In Your Silent Night" which is very moving.  A mashup of "Coventry Carol" and "Poor Wayfaring Stranger" with dramatic themes played by a cello was definitely my favorite of the night but a close second was their arrangement of "O Holy Night," which is my favorite Christmas song, featuring the Rise Up Children's Choir.  The concert concluded with a powerful rendition of "O Come All Ye Faithful" with Bustos, Barry, and the children.  Both Marilyn and I loved this show and it was the perfect way to begin this holiday season.  There are a few tickets available for both of the shows today (go here) and I highly recommend getting one!

Note:  I always hope that I will hear "O Holy Night" performed live at least once during the holiday season and I am so happy that I got to hear it last night!