• Taking a Toddler to Christmas Revels
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• related page: Christmas Performances and Shows

The Revels sounds like such a fun Christmas show - is it fun and appropriate for a toddler? In other words, is it the sort of event where the audience needs to be quiet? It sounds so participatory and active I thought I could take my 16 mo. old but the box office sounded dubious. The recommendations on the web don't mention young kids. Thanks, Charis

For 4 year olds on up, the Velveteen Rabbit is a better choice and captures kids imagination longer. Christine

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If it's not too late, I wanted to recommend the Christmas Revels, a yearly holiday celebration performance. We saw the performance last Sunday and liked it a lot.

Here's a bit from their website www.calrevels.org :

THE CHRISTMAS REVELS, an annual celebration of the Winter Solstice, returns to Oakland's Scottish Rite Theater for ten performances, December 13-22. This year, journey with Revels to the Galician region of Spain at the tail end of the Renaissance. ...Our winter Festival will draw on musical and dance traditions from throughout Spain, from popular Flamenco dancing to the little-known Celtic roots of Galician folk music.

   and here's their contact information:
California Revels
510-452-9334
calrevels@calrevels.org
www.calrevels.org

Tickets for the 1998 Christmas Revels (a very much beloved winter solstice event, not to be missed) are on sale beginning today (10/15/98). This year there will be two weekends of performances: Dec. 4-6 and Dec. 11-13. The box office phone number is 510-893-9853 (893-YULE for those of you who like letters better than numbers), and they have a fax number, too (510-452-9335). On Friday, Dec. 4, every seat is $12, a savings of up to $18 over the most expensive seats other nights/afternoons.

This year they are combining "the Renaissance era with...contemporary interactive technology" (I'm just quoting the brochure; don't know for sure what they have up their sleeves). I think this is one of the premiere cultural events that we are lucky to have nearby (it's at the Scottish Rite Theater near Lake Merritt). See earlier raves on the parents' web page. This is truly an event you can feel good taking your kids to. Melissa

RE: winter solstice celebrations Have you heard of the San Francisco Bay Revels? We've gone for the last four years and it's becoming something of a tradition in our family. It's hard to describe - they call it a "Celebration of the Winter Solstice with Traditional and Ritual Dances, Processionals, and Carols." It's music, singing, dancing - audience participation is assumed. It's something like a holiday pageant or musical put on by local professional and amateur musicians, actors, and dancers. Every year there's a theme - last year was "Victorian Christmas" and this year it's "Celtic Brittany" with people playing bagpipes and stuff like that. I first heard about it because a friends' kids were singing in it. It's mostly families there - babies, kids, grandparents; a lot of people dress up like they're going to a party. My boys (12&15) say they think it's boring but they go with me anyway! It happens at the old Scottish Rite temple in Oakland - a really beautiful theater - for 2 weekends in December. This year it's December 6-14. It's expensive but it's one of those things that you don't do very often and really worth it in my opinion - It is so much fun singing Christmas carols in a big crowd, watching dancers and seeing little skits. Tickets are $12 for kids and $12-25 for adults. Ginger