It’s warm and overcast out, and looking to only get warmer as the week goes. We’re more likely to have a wet Christmas than a white Christmas, but I know the holiday is coming soon. Today my family and I celebrated the solstice with a matinée of The Christmas Revels. This is our (mostly) annual tradition going back to 2001. The Revels this year is set in Wales, a land of beautiful singing traditions, poetry, and mythology. I’ve never been to Wales but this show gave me a nostalgic longing for the place.
It should be noted that while Shirley Bassey and Tom Jones are famed Welsh singers, their was music was not represented in the show. There were familiar tunes for the sing-a-longs – “Cwm Rhondda” and “Hydrofol” – which as song leader David Coffin pointed out, “you know these songs just not with these words.” The familiar Christmas carol “Deck the Hall” was also sung by a choir of children, but in the original Welsh. The children – who were excellent as always – also performed scenes from Dylan Thomas’ A Child’s Christmas in Wales.
There’s a beautiful scene near the end of Part 1 where Coffin sings “Daffydd y Garregg Wen (David of the White Rock)” accompanied by Haley Hewitt, while Emma Crane Jaster performing as the legendary bard Taliesen. Jaster is lit from below and moves her arms like a harpist, casting large shadows on the roll-top desk ceiling of Sanders Theatre. My daughter imitated the gesture, waving her arms by her own imaginary harp. (And I was right in my memory that Taliesen is also the name of Frank Lloyd Wright’s estate in Wisconsin). Other highlights include a group of rugby supporter singing a rousing victory song, some fine clogging, and a retelling of “Froggy Went A-Courtin'” with the children.
No matter where in the world the Revels is set, there are the Revel’s traditions. There was a rowdy morris dance and “The Lord of the Dance” where we all spill out into the lobby singing and dancing (I can never get enough of doing that), there’s the haunting Abbots Bromley Horn Dance and there’s the mummer’s play, this year with the Red Dragon playing the role of the hero vanquishing the White Dragon of England for the Welsh. We sing rounds, we shout “Welcome Yule!,” we finish on “The Sussex Mummers’ Carol,” I weep. Tradition.
I was entranced as – for me – the Revels never fail to please. My kids were more antsy. Welsh-language songs make no sense, and my son said even the English was hard to follow. My daughter wanted to see a dragon and had to wait a looooong time for a four-year-old, but I think the dragon’s eventual arrival satisfied. They soldiered through and I think they enjoyed themselves, although they wanted cookies too.
Performances continue through December 27, so get your tickets and go if you haven’t already.
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