Christmas Revels' 27th annual performance brings regional talent to Hanover

Posted 12/12/00

This year's celebration of The Christmas Revels comes close to home as villagers in a Northern New England setting celebrate a blend of Old World and New World traditions.

The production, an annual re-creation of Winter Solstice traditions, opens Thursday, Dec. 14, for six performances running through Sunday, Dec. 17, at the Hopkins Center at Dartmouth College in Hanover, N.H.

It's December, the time of the Winter Equinox, in the mid-1800s, a few years before the start of the Civil War. On this bitter cold night, a storm rages so fiercely that all the villagers gather together in the meeting house for warmth, safety and companionship.

Among those seeking shelter from the storm are Pierre Chartrand, Québecois step dancer, and a group of families visiting from Québec. A troupe of Morris dancers arrives along with a company of Mummers. Other villagers, mostly European emigrés, have brought along their musical instruments and their singing voices, and soon a multi-cultured celebration erupts.

Chartrand dances and others join in, the Revels Chorus sings, the Ompompanoosuc Orchestra provides spirited accompaniment, the Ingalls & Morgan Singing & Dancing Society entertains and the Heritage Brass provides a stirring underpinning to it all.

In this 26th annual production of The Christmas Revels, many familiar elements reappear including the perennially popular The Lord of the Dance, one of the production's most festive moments when the entire audience joins in the dance, weaving up and down the aisles and through the doorways of the Hopkins Center's Spaulding Auditorium.

The production is once again conceived and directed by David Gay of Woodstock, the Revels North artistic director.

A longtime organist and choirmaster for congregations in Boston and throughout New England, Gay has also been associated as vocalist, musician and composer with several noted early music ensembles including Alexander's Feast and Quadrivium.

Robert M. Eddy of Randolph, who has appeared in several previous Revels productions, is the master of ceremonies. Sherry Merrick of Thetford is associate producer; Joyce and Dan Ian of Grantham are set designers; Lois Jackson of Chelsea is the costume designer; Judy Wagner of Lyme is stage manager.

The 69 members of the adult Revels Chorus come from towns throughout the Upper Valley region and beyond, from Alstead to Piermont in New Hampshire and from North Springfield to Brookfield in Vermont. The children's chorus is made up of 22 youngsters from the region.

The production is dedicated to Wolfsong, a Vermont-born Abenaki storyteller who contributed to the concept of this year's Revels and was scheduled to appear as a special guest artist before his untimely death Nov. 24, 2000, at 47.

Pierre Chartrand, the guest step dancer, is from Montréal where he is well known as a dance historian-ethnologist, a choreographer and master step dancer, and an artful dance caller.

After studying dance at the Sorbonne in Paris, Chartrand founded the Centre Mnémo, an archival center of traditional French-Canadian dance and music. He won an international dance medal for his show A Pied Levé.

Chartrand teaches dance at the Université du Québec in Montréal.

Performances of The Christmas Revels are at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday, Dec. 14 through 16; and at 7 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 17. Matinees at 2 p.m. are Saturday, Dec. 16, and Sunday, Dec. 17. Admission is $18 for reserved seats; $9 for children 12 and under; and $5 for Dartmouth students.

Tickets and information are available from the Hopkins Center Box Office, open Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturday from 1 to 6 p.m. for window sales and for information and/or telephone orders at (603) 646-2422.

All Hopkins Center events are wheelchair accessible. Details are available from the Box Office. Assistive listening devices for those with hearing impairments can be reserved through the Box Office.

Participants in The Christmas Revels this year come from 31 communities on both sides of the Connecticut River, extending from Alstead and North Springfield in the south to Piermont and Brookfield in the north.

In both the adults' and children's choruses, the largest numbers come from Norwich, Vt. The breakdown follows.

From Norwich, members of the adult chorus are Holly and Kathleen Foltz; Katie Kitchel; Betsy Maislen; Deb Pelton; Krysta and Milton Frye; Karl and Bill Schults; John Wallis; Jane Finlay; David Webb; Allison, Jim and Ben Sargent; and John Severingham.

Also in the adult chorus: from Alstead, Miriam Langner; from Bethel, Jinny Cleland; from Bridgewater, Effie G. Mahon; from Brookfield, Marvin Rogers; from Canaan, Sonya Carter and Simon Dennis.

From Claremont, Maggie North; from East Corinth, Robert Metz; from Etna, Susanne and Sharon Haseman; Alison Fanning; Josephine Henderson-Frost and Harold Frost.

From Fairlee, Darby Hiebert and Sharon Lee; from Goshen, Judy Filkins; from Hanover, Laura Brown; Emily Ulrich; Rich Brown; Stephen Alden; Bill Harper; Michael Tsapakos.

From Killington, Barbara Abraham; from Lebanon, Megan and Matt Yannie; Sheila Moran; Eleanor Coffey and Jeffrey Saxon Vogel; from Lyme, Caroline Alden; Joanne and Peter Coburn.

From Newfane, Christopher Wesolowski; from North Springfield, Pamela Quinn; from North Thetford, Barbara Mason; from Piermont, Kristi Medill and Alex Medlicott; from Post Mills, Emily Scott; Priscilla, John and Sarah Hall; Sam Perry and Ridge Satterthwaite.

From Quechee, Helen Maurer and David Clark; from South Strafford, Heather McKinnon; from Strafford, Marc and Eric Chabot; from Thetford, Thomas McCosker; from Thetford Center, Hugh MacArthur, Patrick Faurot-Pigeon and Aaron Wieler; from Windsor, Daniel Hertzler.

Norwich youngsters in the children's chorus are Eleanor Crawford-Cripps; Jack Higgins; Richard and Woody Olsen; Lillian and Sohier Perry; Anna Schults; and Ania and Jahn White.

Also in the children's chorus: from Hanover, Nicholas Harper; from Hartland, Nicholas Cooper; from North Thetford, Emily Mason; from Sharon, Zoe Livingston.

From South Royalton, Cassady Clark; from South Strafford, Lily Chesnut; from Strafford, Christopher Chabot, Anna Chute, Patty Shields, Fiona Tilles and Jessica Wolfe; from White River Junction, Emily McDermot.