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Off to the Revels
For many years, we’ve gone to see The Revels about this time. I always try and get the performance closest to the actual solstice, and last night was the one.*
It is always a fantastic show. Each year they try and do a different culture/time frame. This year was England in the 1840’s. They’ve picked ones I like more than that. (The Balkans last year were beyond phenomenal.)
But, to say I like this one less that others is only to argue different flavors of perfection. There has never been one of their shows I wouldn’t go see again if given the chance.
Of course, the weather this time of year can be tricky, and this year is no exception.
Usually we take the subway into the city. But, strange as this may sound, that isn’t always the best for snow. We’ve been stuck on subway trains where the tracks froze and we could only go 5 mph on the way out of the city. It was a long ride home that night...
So, we drove all the way into Cambridge. Although some of the roads were very slick and I had to driving using vector analysis, most were OK.
We found a parking garage and set off for the restaurant my wife had picked.
Now, despite accidentally ending up in Kentucky once, I have a reasonably good sense of direction.
But, it doesn’t work in Cambridge. Don’t know why. I often attribute it to being the birth place of my mother and that messes up my senses. (Like in Lord of the Rings, no light would work in Mount Doom as it was the seat of Sauron’s power, even though he didn’t live there...)
So, we wandered around some. We left 4 hours early for the 45 mile drive, so we had time.
Harvard Square is well decorated at Christmas time. But, my favorite decorations were the colored lights in the tree.
About this time, we realized that the Thai place we were trying to find was no at the base of that tree as I thought it should have been.
The good part is you can’t spit in Harvard Square without finding a place to eat. So, mustering my saliva, we went into the building next to the tree.
It had a Japanese place, a Korean place, and Indian place, and some other place that said it was open, but didn’t look it.
So, we had Indian food.
It was very nice as it was on the second floor and we were given window seats to the show of Cambridge driving.
My wife had wanted Thai food, but agreed that it was better to get some food then circle Harvard square, spitting into the wind, and hoping to hit a Thai restaurant.
(Can’t you see how happy she is there? Also note, she’s wearing the bracelet I got her at the Met last spring. That’s a good sign.)
The food was very good. The couple next to us was very amusing. Watching the traffic made me thankful I wasn’t in it.
(Here we have one car double parked on the right, another on the left and a bus trying to get past them on froze roads while it is snowing. I don’t know why sports networks don’t cover this...)
Anyhow, after dinner, we set off across the Harvard campus to get to the Revels.
There had been a lot of snow.
The performance is in Sander’s theatre in the memorial hall.
The hall was built to memorialize the students from Harvard who died in the Civil War. Built more than a hundred years ago, it is tight and crowded on the inside. (The theatre is only a small fraction of the hall.)
As I said, the performance was wonderful, as always. You can’t take photos or video during it, so nothing there. (These all come from stills off of my new little video camera if you couldn’t tell. Great video. Only so-so for stills. But, easy to carry around in a pocket!)
It is very crowded there, and the seats they give you are only about 1 foot wide. I am wider than that. So, it is tight seating.
Several years ago, we bought an extra ticket for someone to go to it with us. They couldn’t make it. So, we started the tradition of buying 3 tickets for the 2 of us. Yes, it is expensive. But, it is our big holiday thing.
And, it is crowded in there.
We then had to get the car out of hock. I know parking in there is expensive. But, when the check out of the garage tried to bill us double, it was a problem. The woman who worked the register had to manually override the computer to get us the right cost. But then, the computer wouldn’t open the gate to let us out. So, she had to go over to the gate, open up the control box, and use the override to get it open.
The temperature was down in the teens as we drove home, and the roads were starting to freeze over. We got home about 11:30 and I was glad to be here.
But, it was a good time. I am, as always, happy to go to that show to kick off the Christmas time.
And we had a good time stomping around in the snow and eating Indian food too.
*Just before the second act, one of the musicians comes out to teach the audience its singing parts for the second half. He is VERY good and it is one of the high points of the show. This year as part of it he said “and, this is the actual longest night of the year. But, you knew that, didn’t you? That’s why you got tickets to the show.” I was very far from the only one in the audience who nodded yes to that.
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Also: Yeah I too have major problems driving Cambridge, as well as Dedham / Hyde Park - last year and this year I went to a dinner party in Hyde Park and both times driving in I got totally lost and disoriented in exactly the same area, being an hour late both times and nearly losing my mind. Then, trying to find my way back to (128/95), I got lost again as last year and ended up somehow back on the highway but at a different point. This year I somehow ended up in Roxbury, then had to backtrack into Dedham...I don't know how I did it.
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The real problem I have with Cambridge is lack of experience. My mother avoid the place growing up. My father only took me to where the T stops are. So, I can get to all of the bookstores from T stops. That doesn't help driving.
(Remember, my father's hobby of buying text books just to send corrections to the author...)
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We, too, buy an extra ticket- FAR more comfortable.
I think the place you parked might be the place we usually park- was it right by the square with the lighted tree? If we haven't driven a particular route a number of times, we always get lost in Cambridge, too.
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It was still good. And, it had an energy because it was the first show. But, it wasn't the same as on the longest night.
We parked sort of near the tree:
But, we walked through the square first trying to get to where I thought the place we were looking for was located. We gave up at the tree, and that did turn out to be fairly close to where we parked...
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One year there were 2 performances on the Solstice, and we went to the evening one, and that turned out to be the wrong call- the afternoon was the one with all the energy... Oh, well. Even at less than optimal, it's fabulous!
And it's nice to hear from others who make it a point to hit the Solstice performance whenever possible!
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While there might be some advantage to seeing it in a smaller crowd, especially for the seating, there is an energy for the larger crowds that can't be beat. And, the Solstice is the best of them
Especially the group singing. I'm not surprised they've never put Donna Nobis Pachem on any of their albums. It wouldn't be the same...
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I don't think we've ever been when it's been less than mostly sold-out; even the year we couldn't make the Solstice one because J's son- who was visiting, and we were SO thrilled to be able to share Revels with him!!!!- got stomach flu and spent the day barfing instead (so he still hasn't been; we're planning on hijacking him one of these years), so we ended up going after Xmas. And it was still pretty much full.
But there's such a difference when it's experienced Revels enthusiasts, vs. more random people!
I think we have "Dona Nobis Pacem" on some CD or another, but now that you mention it, I'm not sure. It is SO much prettier when everyone knows it! :)
We've been trying to figure out how long we've been going- it looks like between 13-20 years, best guess. J (my husband) found a site that had the themes from 1995 on, and we could list at least 4 that preceded it. I wish the Revels site had such a list from the beginning!
The first I ever heard of Revels was when I was listening to public radio while running errands, and a station had an interview with Langstaff that was just fascinating. K (my daughter) was an infant then, so a performance wasn't really possible... but then, when we decided to do something that was more meaningful than a candlelight Xmas Eve church service (Unitarian- we ARE pagan, after all!), we tried it and fell in love. I figure K was at least 5 then, and maybe as much as 8 or 9 (she's now 24). So we're still trying to figure it. :)
One really fun thing we've done occasionally is Props Day- they get volunteers to come in and help make the props for the performance. Since J and I have NO performing skills at all, but are pretty handy, we've really enjoyed that! It's so fun to point to some prop or other in the performance and say "I made that!" I hope they're still doing it; we didn't hear about it this year. :(
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We've gone to some of their other events too. Usually the sea songs ones.
It was Saturday we were there, but the evening show, not the afternoon.
So, we had to shovel ourselves.
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I'll ask J about the url of the site that had the themes starting in 1995- it was pretty cool to have them all in one place.
The only other events we've been to are the Props Days- but they are so much fun! We keep thinking we should do more, but we always end up with so much more to do than time to do it in... plus, we don't really know anyone else going, so that's a bit of a drag.
I did miss one year in our span- I was ill- but J and K went, and I think she brought a friend along. Disappointing for me, though...
I did quite like this one- it was really coherent, which some aren't. It was also nicely seasonal. While I liked the gypsy one as a show, for example, I didn't think it was especially seasonal, and the stock pieces didn't fit very well. (Unlike the pre-Columbian one, which was amazingly coherent, we thought, despite the vast cultural spread; they did an amazing job of integrating it all, esp. the symbols.)
My absolute favorite, though, was the Lapp/Finnish one- I think it was the third or 4th year we went. Just- breathtakingly magical. They had these AMAZING and varied puppets... Although I do love many of them!