Travel around the world when New York Revels 2008 Presents 'THE BEST OF CHRISTMAS REVELS' December 6
Saturday December 6 at 3 PM & 8 PM
Church of the Holy Apostles, 296 Ninth Avenue (at 28th Street)
General Admission: $35; Benefactors Circle $100
Reservations: 718-399-9282 or www.nyrevels.org
And Especially for the Children:
December 6 from 1 to 2 PM - a Children's Mask-Making Workshop
The children will also learn the song "There Was A Pig went out to Dig" and will create a mask of one of the animals in the song. Participants attending the performance will then be invited to join the children's chorus for the song at the matinee performance. Workshop only: $15
A holiday tradition for 29 years, New York Revels will this year present "The Best of Christmas Revels" Benefit Concert at Church of the Holy Apostles, Ninth Avenue & 28th Street, for two December 6 performances of singing, mumming, dance, and stories in celebration of the Winter Solstice. Through song and dance, the large Revels company will draw from past Revels shows to take audiences to England, Ireland, Scotland, the Balkans, Scandinavia, Bulgaria, France and Italy - all to keep the dark away!
The cast includes:
Lisa Terry, viola da gamba
William Minifie, Lord of the Dance soloist
The Solstice Singers (adult chorus)
The Children's Waits (children's chorus)
The Modern Brass Quartet
Betsy Blachley, timpani
Half Moon Sword Dancers
Performance highlights include
* St. George and the Dragon
* 12 Days of Christmas
* the poem "The Shortest Day"
* Lord of the Dance
Nancy Petaja is producer, director is Jonathan Fluck, and music director is Cynthia Shaw.
Why the change this year? The current economic problems that are affecting everyone have seriously affected Revels as well, and a full-scale production in a large theater is not possible this year. But Revels has become such a part of New York's holiday season that the company wanted to make a presentation, albeit in a more modest manner.
Audience and cast lines blur at Revels as performers, and sometimes audience members, sing carols and rounds, both ancient and familiar. Act I traditionally ends with "The Lord of the Dance," which literally has the audience dancing in the aisles. Along the way, there'll be high art and low, including the jovial mummer play of St. George and the Dragon, traditional music from around the world, sword and Morris dances, poems, stories, children's chorus, and more.
Despite the word "Christmas" in the title, Revels is not a religious pageant, but rather a unique community celebration, with ten other Revels companies performing around the country. This year's Benefit performances for New York Revels will enable the Company to return to a full schedule of performance in 2009 and increase their outreach into the schools, libraries, and community institutions around New York.
As noted by producer Nancy Petaja, "Revels is engaged in creating rituals for today's world of blended cultures, families and backgrounds, reaching into the past to create jubilation and inspiration for the present."
More About the Children's Mask Making Workshop:
Children will learn the song "There was a Pig Went Out to Dig," which is part of this year's show. They will also make a mask of one of the animals referred to in the song, and when it is time for that song to be performed, at the Matinee show, the children at the
performance will be invited to join in with the resident children's chorus.
Church of the Holy Apostles is wheelchair accessible.
www.nyrevels.org
