Theater Feedback
New This WeekAround TownMusicFilmArtTheaterNews & FeaturesFood & DrinkAstrology
  HOME
NEW THIS WEEK
EDITORS' PICKS
LISTINGS
NEWS & FEATURES
MUSIC
FILM
ART
BOOKS
THEATER
DANCE
TELEVISION
FOOD & DRINK
ARCHIVES
LETTERS
PERSONALS
CLASSIFIEDS
ADULT
ASTROLOGY
PHOENIX FORUM DOWNLOAD MP3s

  E-Mail This Article to a Friend
Basic truths
Revels goes to Armenia and Georgia
BY JEFFREY GANTZ

The Christmas Revels
Directed by Patrick Swanson. Musical direction by George Emlen. Set by Jeremy Barnett. Costumes by Heidi Ann Hermiller. Lighting by John Ambrosone. Sound design by William Winn. Choreography by Judy Erickson. With David Coffin, Paula Plum or Rena Baskin, Haig Faniants, Ani Zargarian, Sam Johnson, the Ararat Chorus, the Solstice Mummers, the Arev Armenian Folk Ensemble, the Pomegranate Children, the Pinewoods Morris Men, the Cambridge Symphonic Brass Ensemble, and the Nor Secund Dancers. At Sanders Theatre through December 29.


" As our world gets smaller, may our understanding of it get broader, " writes Revels director Patrick Swanson in his program note for this year’s Christmas Revels — and that’s a fair statement of what his organization has been doing for the past 30 years. Revels’ celebrations of the winter and summer solstices have taken Boston (and, as the franchise has spread, much of America) all over the world. This year’s edition travels to Armenia and Georgia, the one bordering Iran and Turkey, the other Turkey and Russia; Revels was, executive director Gayle Rich explains in the program, inspired by the Armenian population of Watertown, the community where the organization is now housed. It’s typical that Revels should explore the world by beginning in its own back yard.

The central figure here is fabled 18th-century gusan (a mediæval Armenian troubadour) Sayat Nova, whose vocal prowess bests the ud and blul players he meets in " The Contest. " Revels always starts at the beginning, however, so before that we have an excerpt from the Noah’s Flood section of the Chester Mystery Cycle (remember that Mount Ararat, where the Ark is said to have landed, is in what used to be Armenia), with Noah and his Wife appearing as faces in Mary Azarian’s nifty woodcut-like panel. Sayat Nova’s songs take us through the first half of the show, where love blooms and a wedding is celebrated; there’s a puppet show, a slack-rope walker balances between old year and new, order and chaos, and the audience sings along on a round based on a melody by Armenian-American composer (and Somerville native) Alan Hovhaness. After intermission, Sayat Nova is invited to Tblisi and the court of the king of Georgia, where he falls in love with the king’s sister, Anna. We see the founding of Tblisi acted out, the Ararat Chorus sings hymns in Georgia’s unique polyphony (Georgian tuning and harmony are a wonder all their own), and the Revels does its version of a local mummers’ play in which at one point the Sun Child is wrapped in a Caucasian carpet. But the king is not about to marry his sister to a troubadour, so there’s sadness in the midst of joy.

All this is presented with Revels’ usual personality and professionalism and backed, as always, by a program booklet that’s beautifully designed and full of helpful information. (The song titles even appear in their original Armenian or Georgian Mxedruli script.) The talented local actress Paula Plum is a saucy narrator, weaving the story together (rugs, I presume Armenian, form the backdrop for much of the action), hamming it up as mother hen to the children in Sufi wise-fool tales and a Georgian story of a self-justifying jackal who sneaks into a chicken coop, then turning serious when Sayat meets Anna. (Rena Baskin alternates in this role.) Haig Faniants is a poignant Sayat with a powerful, resonant voice that fills Sanders Theatre (the sound system seems especially natural this year). Ani Zargarian is a sexy, winsome, independent Anna and another knockout singer. Funambulist Sam Johnson not only balances on the slack rope, he juggles clubs on it, rides a unicycle, and juggles clubs while riding the unicycle. The regular Christmas Revels features — " The Lord of the Dance, " the Abbots Bromley Horn Dance, the " Sussex Mummers’ Carol " — are minimally obtrusive, and there’s an exquisite sequence when after the Abbots Bromley Horn Dance the Boy Archer remains on stage as the Young King and he hunts a stag (an imaginative creation with a tree-branch head and antlers and two canes for forelegs) that after being shot falls into a magic lake and is reborn, just like the new year. But the real magic of Revels presentations is in the performers, especially the children, who are spontaneous without being undisciplined and always seem to be having a fabulous time. This is the basic stuff of life, and though it would be naive to think that Revels productions would speak to cultures that currently view singing and dancing with suspicion, somewhere down the line more Reveling will mean less war.

Issue Date: December 19 - 26, 2002
Back to the Theater table of contents.

  E-Mail This Article to a Friend

home | feedback | about the phoenix | find the phoenix | advertising info | privacy policy | the masthead | work for us

 © 2002 Phoenix Media Communications Group