CHRISTMAS REVELS 1998

The 1998 Christmas Revels took us on a Dickensian journey through Victorian England and the wonderful music, songs, dances and carols of that lively and colorful era. Featured performers included British folk singer/tradition bearer David Jones; pianist Jacqueline Schwab, a frequent music collaborator of documentary film maker Ken Bums and a member of Bare Necessities; actors Patrick English, Sarah deLima and Richard Snee; the 40-member Revels Chorus; a merry company of music hall "artistes"; the Pudding Lane Waits; the Dingley Dell Dancers; a magnificent parlour orchestra; the Cambridge Symphonic Brass Ensemble; a double-dose of morris dancers from The Pinewoods Morris Men and the Rose Galliard Northwest Morris; and even British "royalty" in the guise of the (aptly-named) "Pearly" King and Queen!

Revels audiences were treated to an old-style British "panto," a comical take on the fairy tale "Cinderella"; a traditional "St. George and the Dragon" mummers play; loads of familiar carols and rounds, including the ceremonial "Boar's Head Carol" from Oxford; Susan Cooper's solstice poem, "The Shortest Day"; and a spectacular rendition of the "The Twelve Days of Christmas."

Photos by Roger Ide