Revels is a contemporary series of American seasonal stage performances, initially given at Christmas time as the Christmas Revels at Town Hall in New York City in 1957, which involve singing, dancing, recitals, theatrics (usually as brief skits, often humorous), and usually some audience participation, all appropriate to the season. Performers are usually local, often non-professional, and frequently young.
The events were founded by John Langstaff as Christmas entertainments and the present organization, Revels, Inc., produces events in ten cities across the United States, including many others in the spring and summer in many locations.
Langstaff and his daughter Carol started producing "The Christmas Revels" again in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1971, at Harvard University's Sanders Theater, where it has frequently played to sold-out houses. Revels troupes are active across the United States, with four in the northeast region of the U.S.
Read more about Revels: Format, Other Cities
Famous quotes containing the word revels:
“Our revels now are ended. These our actors,
As I foretold you, were all spirits, and
Are melted into air, into thin air.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“Luxury spreads its ample board before their eyes; but they are excluded from the banquet. Plenty revels over the fields; but they are starving in the midst of its abundance: the whole wilderness has blossomed into a garden; but they feel as reptiles that infest it.”
—Washington Irving (1783–1859)
“Our revels now are ended. These our actors,
As I foretold you, were all spirits, and
Are melted into air, into thin air.
And, like the baseless fabric of this vision,
The cloud-capped towers, the gorgeous palaces,
The solemn temples, the great globe itself—
Yea, all which it inherit—shall dissolve
And, like this insubstantial pageant faded,
Leave not a rack behind. We are such stuff
As dreams are made on, and our little life
Is rounded with a sleep.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)