Christmas Revels Set for Scottish Rite Theater, Begin. Today

Oakland's beloved Christmas Revels ventures into Renaissance Venice this holiday season. Performances run December 11-13 and 18-20 at the Scottish Rite Theater on Lake Merritt. Performance days and times are Fridays at 8:00 PM, Saturdays and Sundays at 1:00 PM and 5:00 PM. Tickets are priced at $60, $45, $35 and $20. All patrons under 25 and groups of 10+ are priced at $45, $30, $20, and $10. For more information visit http://californiarevels.org/or call 510-452-9334.

2015 marks three decades of performances of the enduring, much-loved Christmas Revels in Oakland. This year's show brings together high and low art with vibrant costuming, glittering masks and even a gondola race as audience and performers join together in an uproarious Revels celebration of the Solstice.

It is 1620 in Venice, and the Doge's palace is abuzz with preparations for the annual Solstice Festival and Masked Ball. It is to feature the finest of elegant Baroque music and courtly masque drama as well as guest performers invited from around the Mediterranean.

Meanwhile. a threadbare troupe of Commedia dell' arte players arrives in the Piazza San Marcos, hoping to find employment in the Festival. They are fleeing a less-than-successful European tour and are hoping for an upturn in their fortunes.

The story continues as it follows the efforts of the Commedians to work their way into the formal proceedings using their wit and ingenuity, while the palace tries to fend them off. Add the sudden appearance of a group of castaway Morris Dancers, an audience participation Gondola race, choral music both sacred and secular, and a grandly danced masked ball, and there are all the makings of a traditionally exciting Christmas Revels. This madcap Commedia dell' arte production is sure to delight audiences as this year and every year they "Welcome Yule!"