Master of ceremonies since 1991, David Coffin made the obligatory “Occupy Sanders’’ joke at Saturday afternoon’s packed performance, while rehearsing the attendees for their role in singalongs. They didn’t need the practice, as a show of hands revealed that most were Revels veterans.
This 41st annual show sets us in a French fishing village in the 16th century, as villagers prepare their annual play about the Three Kings. Mark Jaster, Sabrina Mandell, and Tim Sawyer play members of the Guild of Fools who lead the festivities. When a Death figure called Boney (Linnea Coffin, David’s daughter) steals the light of the sun, moon, and stars, the Fools must get it back. All four performers are terrific, from Mandell’s chatty, Lucille Ball-esque Etoile to Linnea Coffin’s eerie, silent, modern-dance-style creeping about as Boney.
Director Patrick Swanson and his design team have outdone themselves, from the celestial calendar backdrop to tableaux such as the one that showed the three Fools afloat in a small boat on a sea of fabric waved by the cast. Sawyer’s resplendent costume as Soleil at the finale is worth the price of admission by itself.
Under music director George Emlen, the show was held aloft by the work of the Cambridge Symphonic Brass Ensemble, guests The Sharq Trio and the Bandelette of Strings. Nearly everyone in the house seemed to thrill to every moment.
A little heresy is sometimes required of a reviewer, though. As the show passed the 2 ½-hour mark (including intermission), some of the music and dance numbers began to seem less than essential. No one’s saying cut the singalong to “Sussex Mummers’ Carol’’ or other revered traditions, but even a Fool could trim 20 minutes.
Joel Brown can be reached at jbnbpt@gmail.com.
