Ý What is the Panto?	Source: Panto Bills London, 1931             Source: Panto Bills
Source: Panto Bills                     Source: Panto Bills, Leeds, 1938

The secret of the panto is the double entendre. There is sophisticated humour for the adults and slapstick comedy for the children. Pantomime had a long history. It started in the pre-Victorian era of the late 18th century, borrowing from ballet, commedia dell'arte and Greek and Roman comedy. But it is an essentially English tradition, taking theatre to all. It is always based on a fairytale and the essence of panto is the battle between good and evil.
(Source: Craig Jacobs, Sunday Times, 1 Nov 98)

Get more information on the history and tradition of the panto.

Into the cavernous, echoing lobby stream hundreds of families, all the generations mixed, coat-wrapped and scarf-wound, their breath clouding in the cold air. Christmas is in their heads and this is a peak of it: their anticipated celebration, familiar as Mass to a Catholic or pantomime to an English child. The happy thunderous babel of voices washes over you like a sea.

"The dragon with the big claws," says a very small boy insistently. "Will the dragon be there like last year?"

"Betty!" cries one mother to another, barely visible through the bobbing heads of her tribe. "I never see you except at the Revels !"

"Wouldn't be Christmas without it . ."

"Daddy's going to sing the carols," says a small confident girl.

"You sing. I'll listen," says her lugubrious father through his overcoat collar.

The lights go down, the voices hush, and the families are deep suddenly in reawakened echoes of winter festivals from two thousand years past: pagan and Christian, Celtic and Nordic, Anglo-Saxon and Hebrew and a dozen other cultures. A clear solo voice sings the lilting Hebridean "Christ Child Lullaby"; eerily horned dancers stalk through a fertility dance as old as Stonehenge; in a bright swirl of medieval costume, a procession of musicians and chorus sings its way through the house to the stage. The dragon duly cavorts; beribboned Morris men leap and dance; a troupe of players brings brave Sir Gawain to challenge the Green Knight. The audience roars, laughs, sings, and at last finds itself winding in an immense dancing, singing line through the crowded lobby, led by a smiling dark-haired man whose voice rises strong over the rest:

Dance, dance, wherever you may be,
I am the Lord of the Dance, said he.

We stand, John Meredith Langstaff and I, in the dim-lit theater among the empty seats, discussing a spring production of [Cambridge] Revels. He waves at the air: "I want a great forty-foot mast to go up, in Act One, right here. Men hoisting it, singing sea chanties the way they were meant to be sung."

"That's lovely, but it's crazy. We'll hit that chandelier."

"There's some marvelous material - windlass chanties, chanties for hoisting sail…"

"Too dangerous. And what about the sight-lines?"

He says craftily, "We could have the mast sway, in that storm at the end of your seal story. Wouldn't that be great?"

"It won't work, Jack. We might brain half the audience. It'll be too heavy. Too complicated. Too -"

Three months later, a thousand people cheer as a tall shining mast rises dramatically on the stage of Sanders Theater, bringing timeworn sea chanties vividly alive. When the artistic director of the Revels has dreams, they tend to come true.

John Langstaff, concert baritone and teacher, is probably best known … for his celebrated song collections and records for children. In New England many people also know him as the director of Young Audiences, an admirable organization which takes professional performing artists into the schools - but most know him as the man who makes the Revels.

Definitions of the Revels always sound terrible, like a biological description of the act of love. The Revels is not commercial theater; it isn't folksy; it isn't amateur; it isn't a concert - yet it combines certain strong elements from all these into a peculiar form of theatrical magic. The Christmas Revels is presented in December …; since the company (which, like the script, is different each year) has a professional core but an amateur chorus, there are never more than eight performances at a time. Each Revels blends song, dance, and drama into a celebration of the solstice. It is an answer to that submerged yearning for ritual, and for the marking of ancient landmarks in human life, which lies very deep in all of us and which very little in the American Way can satisfy. (In Britain that same yearning is probably the only reas[on] why the monarchy survives.) Telling signs of emotion appear in letters from the fiercely possessive audiences who buy out every Revels production: "I can't remember the last time I felt such a personal involvement in a performance," ran a typical example last year. "I left with an incredible glow of joy."

John Langstaff is the onlie begetter of the Revels; you might say he was born to it - on, suitably, Christmas Eve, into a family which has always celebrated the winter solstice with a splendid singing party. He was always a singer, beginning as a choirboy at Grace Church in New York. He was always close to the English traditions which form a bulwark of all Revels programs; at fourteen he was playing St. George in a Country Dance and Song Society production of an old mummers' play. Friendships with May Gadd, Douglas Kennedy, Vaughan Williams, and other champions of English folk song and dance sealed his fascination with the early roots of the performing arts. By the time he reached the concert stage, he may have been the only classically trained singer in the United States who was also a skilled Morris dancer.

John Langstaff's first Christmas Revels was performed at Town Hall in New York City in 1957. A production in Washington followed, and then a televised Revels for NBC whose cast also included his daughter Carol, inheritor of similar talents and values. It was Carol who initiated the Cambridge series of the Revels, enlisting the gifted young designer Raine Miller who still devises the striking costumes for every production out of a shoestring budget (the "nonprofit" designation of Revels, Inc. being all too accurate). Carol Langstaff now directs an offshoot Christmas Revels every year at the Hopkins Center on the Dartmouth College campus in Hanover, New Hampshire; runs a summer Country Revels in Strafford, Vermont; and takes a small performing company to summer farmers' markets in Vermont. In Cambridge Langstaff père is approaching his ninth Christmas Revels and fifth Spring Revels - and, for the first time in twenty years, taking the Christmas Revels to New York City again for performances at the chapel of Columbia University in December 1979.

John Langstaff hopes that the New York Revels, like the Hanover production, will become a strong annual institution with its own recidivist performers and audience. … Looking ahead, he sounds more like a missionary than a performer or director: "There's this need - the lack of opportunity in people’s lives to have any communal celebration. … What we try to do is to fill this gap that people feel but don't quite understand. We do it in two ways, I think: by the nature of the Revels material, which comes from things in their own cultural backgrounds that they can no longer remember or pass on to their children, and by getting them to participate. That's where the amateur chorus is important. The Revels has a core of professionals, yet the audience is able to feel part of it, not just through the sing-along element but by seeing people just like themselves up there on the stage so obviously having a good time. Given the right impetus, almost any community in America can develop a Revels tradition - college towns in particular have the mixture of professional and amateur talent built in. And the audience is always there, anywhere."

It's with this philosophy in mind that the future plans of Revels, Inc., include … workshop weekends and the sending out of production advisers to any community with the urge and resources to begin Reveling. Community is a key word. There are child performers in every Revels production, and children make up a marvelously responsive part of all Revels audiences. But both audience and cast are necessarily cross sections of all the generations. The Revels, like folk song and folk tale, is for folk.

My own first sight of the Revels was a kind of magical shock; suddenly I was faced, in the theater, with the same myth-haunted world about which I'd been writing a sequence of books for the previous decade. John Langstaff, who has the unerring eye of a recruiting sergeant for Revels-oriented artists, had already noticed the link; as a result, I now find myself writing plays, verse, stories, lyrics, and any other words that a Revels production may require. Singers, musicians, producers, and actors all become involved in much the same way. "So-and-so is a Revels person," one says, as if discovering a hidden member of some special sect, and before long, a skilled new manager is on hand or an electrifying Black drummer transporting Sanders Theatre into the African past. Perhaps, somehow, this too communicates itself to the audience: the indefinable sense of a family at work. …

Certain elements of the program are more or less constant: carols in which the audience can join; Morris dances …, a gripping choreographed version of "The Lord of the Dance," a song set by the Englishman Sydney Carter to the old Shaker hymn tune "Simple Gifts"; and John Langstaff's St. George and the Dragon, a mummers' play combining several traditional variants. In this blend of farce and gravity St. George, after most satisfyingly killing a large green dragon and a villainous Turkish knight, is - to the consternation of the younger members of the audience - himself killed by the pentangle of swords in a spectacular ritual dance. His subsequent resurrection, carrying with it endless echoes of the ancient, powerful myths of death and rebirth, is accomplished only by the magic and faith of the Fool - who … is one of the haunting archetypal figures upon whom the "feel" of the Revels depends.

A devoted audience is a conservative animal, enjoying repetition. But the Revels, like St. George, must constantly renew itself in order to remain properly alive; so each program differs, in one way or another from the one before. One Christmas Revels was set entirely in Victorian England, with street criers, waits, music-hall songs, a beautifully dressed house party, … with all the Victorian stops pulled out. …

On the final night of the [Cambridge] Spring Revels last year David Arnold, one of the most valuable members of the amateur chorus, was kept late at work. Rushing to reach Sanders Theater, he was waved down by a policeman.

The cop glared at him. "You're driving too fast," he said coldly, "you just shot a red light, and that inspection sticker on your windshield is out of date. That all adds up to quite a fine, buddy."

"I’m late," said David in a frenzy. "I'm in a show, and the curtain goes up in twenty minutes. Have you ever heard of the Revels?'

There was a pause. "I took my kids to the Revels last Christmas!" the policeman said. He looked at David. "What are you smiling about?"

"I'm smiling because you're smiling!" David said truthfully. The policeman said, "I'm going to give you my lecture." So he lectured David for two or three minutes, but he was still smiling.

"Go on," he said, "Get to the Revels."

There aren't many limits to the power of Jack Langstaff's dream.

David Jones Source: David Jones David Jones, international folksinger, is known for coaxing audiences into joining in for songs from North America and Britain Discography: From England's Shore Minstrel JD213 with Tom Gibney, Heather Wood, Jerry Epstein, Bill Shute. Ballads and songs Widdecombe Fair(WFA 102) Traditional songs for all ages Songs of Exquisite Taste(WFA 101) with Tom Goslin. A collection of humorous songs Easy and Slow (Minstrel 201) " . . . uncluttered, unpretentious, and unbeatable." -- Folkscene Also featured on: Blow Ye Winds in the Morning(Revels RS1084) Winner of Parents Choice Award, recommended by Booklist Wild Mountain Thyme (Revels CD1094) An Evening at the English Music Hall (Front Hall FHR-030) In Come for to Sing, Emily Friedman wrote that David's singing of "My Old Dutch" was possibly the recording of the decade. A Beautiful Life (Minstrel) Bermuda Quadrangle (Jeff Warner, Jeff Davis, Jerry Epstein, David Jones) Songs of the Tall Ships (Adelphi AD1025) with Starboard List Cruising Round Yarmouth (Adelphi AD1027) with Starboard List Sea Songs (Folkways FTS37313) Mariposa 1975 Festival Album See also Poor Old Horse.

Harry Cowgill Source: Fylde Folk Festival Harry Cowgill is one of many people inspired by the teachings of Sam Sherry and who now performs and teaches his steps to the highest standards. Harry Cowgill specializes in the style of step dancing lifted straight from the entertaining world of the Music Hall (Vaudeville was the American equivalent). His tutor/mentor/friend is Sam Sherry, who topped the bill many times as one of the famous ‘Five Sherry Brothers.’ The Five Sherry Brothers danced in the Lancashire style, as did the legendary Dan Leno, because it was ‘high on the toe’ (i.e. showy) that so impacted the English folk scene in the 70s and which Harry went to learn and absorb the Sherry Brothers steps and style from Sam. Three times winner of the Lancashire & Cheshire clog dancing championship (in ’91, ’92, and ’93), ‘Clog Harry’ is now regarded as Sam's master pupil and through his dancing aims to pass on the inspiration and enjoyment he received from watching Sam dance. Thus, Lancashire steps from the 19th century are taken into the new millennium in exhilarating style. Des Workman, “Bring them all in,” (2000: The Magazine, All Saints Parish Church of Kings Heath, Birmingham, UK) At August Bank Holiday we attended the Bridgenorth Folk Festival. It has only been in existence for four years but has established itself as one of the Midlands' leading festivals. Centred on a large comprehensive school with huge grounds (for camping and an outdoor music marquee) it offers concerts, ceilidhs, music workshops, dance and comedy on site and in pubs in Bridgenorth. Folk music now includes what is called World Music so you will have a Japanese Drummer, a Black Country Traditional Singer and a Celtic/African Rock group. It really is music of the people, some you will love, some you will like and some - well time to move to another venue. It is our second visit and we really enjoyed it. About 1200 people attend and on Sunday the beautiful Church on Castle Hill ( St Mary's ) hosts a Folk Communion. Joining the normal congregation are about 80 -100 folk festival attendees. The Communion service featured a display by Harry Cowgill, Britain's Champion Clog dancer from Lancashire dancing in front of the altar, two beautiful Celtic harp pieces by Andy Anderson from Wales (one played during Communion) and an absolutely haunting song by a group called Wild Welsh Women, "Bring Them All In". The lead singer told a story of how they had recently been invited to a huge festival in Estonia, a very poor former Communist country; unfortunately the organisers were over ambitious and no one got paid. She said at the end of the festival all the artists got together to sing this song, most in comparison to Estonians were well off, had never had to queue for food and - well - they had a good time even if they had not been paid. The repetitive main line seemed to some [sic] up for me a Christian message. Bring them all in, bring them all in, bring them all in, Bring in all the fishes, bring them all in, Bring in those in darkness, bring them all in, Bring in those who suffer, bring them all in. This haunting song by two women with great voices and backed by fiddles and guitars were one of the highlights of a superb Communion service. At the end of the service three dance teams danced from the church along Bridgenorth's High Street to a pub at the opposite end of the town. If only all services could be so stimulating - even the sermon was good!

On Saturday, December 9, The New York Revels chorus and the Greenwich Morris Men were featured on Garrison Keillor's Prairie Home Companion.

Background

We are the Strand Singers from the Christmas Revels currently playing at Symphony Space in Manhattan this weekend. The Christmas Revels is a celebration of the Winter Solstice with carols, dramas, and ritual processions presented each year by New York Revels, Inc. It is one of 11 such productions across the US. (other cities include: Cambridge, MA, Hanover, NH, Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, PA, Houston, TX, Chicago, IL, Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN, Oakland, CA, Portland, OR, Puget Sound, WA).

Each year the Revels productions feature the winter solstice traditions of different cultures bringing forward the music, dance, and rituals associated with the light and dark, death and rebirth, renewal and hope. Cast is a blend of Adults and children (amatuer and professional) and specialty performers from the countries and cultures featured. It has become an annual ritual in and of itself!

Our Radio Program

The Victorian middle class shaped the idea of "leisure activities" perhaps as an antidote to fears of politically instablility, labor unrest and the appalling problems of public health, as the tight controls of the Cromwellian era began to fade away, and the industrial revolution leads to the creation of a leisure class.

1. Miss Hoolihan's Christmas Cake. David Jones, soloist; The Strand Singers; Cynthia Shaw, piano. This is an anonymous seasonal ditty, described as "a capital Irish convivial song," made popular by Harry Melville, "The Irish Daisy."

The Musical Halls has its roots in the crude localised "free and easies," the entertainment of the working classes, which were often criticized by moral reformers (usually in the press), as representations of all the worst accesses of leisure -- namely, drunkenness, obscenity and sensuality. By the 1880s they had grown in respectability attracting a more respectable clientele. It was here that the concept of the "star" was born.

2. Winter Evergreen. The Strand Singers, Cynthia Shaw, piano. The proliferation of the piano in middle-class homes in the 19th centruy gave rise to a vast repertoire of parlour songs that fell easily within the reach of amateur singers and players. This one was composed by Stephen Gover, who alone wrote some 1500 songs and piano pieces.

3. Lilliburlero Morris Dance. This dance uses figures from the Fieldtown Tradition. The tune is Jacobite and is from the 18th Century. The Greenwich Morris Men, Paul Friedman, fiddle; Jerry Epstein, concertina; The Strand Singers.

Morris dancing is a form of ritual folkdance which comes from the Cotswold region in western England, between Oxford and the Welsh border. The purposes are obscured by the mists of time, as is much about the Morris, but they have something to do with fertility and the rites of agrarian society. The dancers usually wear bells at their knees and often wave hankies (to attract and welcome benevolent spring and summer spirits?) or clash sticks (symbolizing the eternal battle between winter and summer?)

Like many other rural traditions, it became endangered in the late ninetheenth century due to the social upheavals brought on by the Industrial Revolution, mainly the depopulation of villages in favor of increased economic opportunity in the cities.

Photos from the Radio Program at Town Hall     David Jones     Above: The Strand Singers     Below: The Greenwich Morris Men Hear David Jones and the Strand Singers Hear the Strand Singers and the Greenwich Morris Men

Liner notes from the Radio Program Tonight’s performers from THE NEW YORK REVELS are David Jones, the Strand Singers and the Greenwich Morris Men. Members of a local chapter of Revels, Inc., they participate in productions that preserve and share songs, dances, myths and dramatic vignettes that have evolved over many centuries to ward off the individual’s fear of isolation and to celebrate humanity’s common bonds. Traditions presented to date have come from Appalachia, Western Europe, and the Baltic region. A typical Revels cast consists of professionals, student performers and adult amateurs. The interactive nature of much of the Revels material encourages rapport between the cast and spectators and has made the NYR winter solstice production a part of New York’s family holiday ritual. They will perform at Symphony Space in New York City tonight and twice tomorrow.

The Revels' new director, Debra Baron*, is a veteran professional, with many years' experience. She holds over 100 directing credits including "Annie", "The Miracle Worker", "Fiddler on the Roof", and "Rosencrantz and Goldenstein are Dead". She's an associate member of the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers; a member of the Frederick Loewe Fellowship (1997); a member of Actors Equity Association, American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, Screen Actors' Guild; as well as on the faculty of the American Music and Dramatic Academy, the City College of the City University of New York, and the Usdan Center for the Creative and Performing Arts.