"The Christmas Revels" always takes us somewhere fun for the holidays. – Chad Jones, Oakland Tribune  December 11, 2006

Sometimes it's merry old England under the reign of Victoria or Elizabeth. Sometimes it's a more exotic locale like Galician Spain or the realm of the Black Madonna in Italy.  This year, "Revels" - now in its 21st season - sticks to our own continent and heads north to early 19th- century French Canada.

Now, you might not immediately associate fun with Canada, but this "Revels," which opened Friday and continues through Sunday at the Scottish Rite Theater in Oakland, is bursting with holiday spirit.  In fact, it may be that we're underestimating our neighbors to the north. They may be having more fun than we are.  Judging from all the reels and clogs and jigs we see onstage, the Canucks certainly seem to be a merry band of folks. Could be that has something to do with all the references to drinking.

The setting is Trois Rivieres (Three Rivers), an outpost in the Quebecois wilderness (rough-hewn timber set by Peter Crompton) where the French- speaking pioneers brought their customs from Mother France and began marrying them to the rigors of North American life and the culture of the native Cree, Ojibway and Huron.  Director David Parr and music director Fred Goff work their usual magic, folding in traditional "Revels" elements - the dance-along "Lord of the Dance" Act 1 finale, the wonderfully peculiar Abbots Bromley Horn Dance, the sing-along "Dona Nobis Pacem," the reading of Susan Cooper's "The Shortest Day" and the show-ending Sussex Mummers Carol - with all the distinctive elements of the early Quebec settlers.

Callie Floor's rustic costumes are part Dickens, part Davy Crockett with a smattering of "Little House on the Prairie" thrown in, and choreographer Ray Price keeps the more than 80-strong cast swinging and twirling and stomping for a little more than two hours.

As usual, the youngest cast members nearly steal the show. They act out all the parts of a folky band in "Bonhomme Bonhomme" (with the assistance of the wonderful Goff), and their retelling of the Christmas story in "D'ou Viens-tu, Bergere? (Where Have You Been, Shepherdess?)" has all the charm of an elementary school Christmas pageant with the added bonus of being charmingly sung in French.

Special guest dancer Pierre Chartrand combines all the tap-happy dazzle of Gene Kelly with the clogging mastery of Michael Flatley on a medley of lively dance tunes from the Ottawa Valley. He is joined in his merry dancing by Sarah Brug and Kalia Kliban.  Chartrand, playing a simple townsman, and Kliban, playing the Devil, do the French-Canadian version of "The Devil Went Down to Georgia" to "Le Violon Accorde comme une Vielle" as they battle for the souls of some "voyageurs" (travelers) who made a deal with the devil so they could be home for New Year's Eve.

The voyageurs' story is based on a Canadian legend about a flying canoe, which we see acted out with the aid of some nifty shadow puppetry.

The Golden Ring Morris Dancers are great every year, but this year's crew Bill Batty, Jim Brug, Sarah Brug, Randall Cayford, Rhonda Cayford, Ethan Hay and Dan Pellegrini deserve special recognition for the "Rapper Sword Dance," which features some dazzling moves involving bendable swords and seven bodies moving in remarkable tandem.

One aspect of this highly enjoyable spectacle that didn't quite work on opening night involved sing- alongs with songs in French.  We all did just fine on "Angels We Have Heard on High" and "The Lord of the Dance," but those are in English, and we know them.  It was much harder to sing along with "Aupres de Ma Blonde (Next to My Sweetheart)" and "Allons Bergers, Partons Tous! (Shepherds, Let's All Go!)" and "C'est la Cloche du Vieux Manoir" about a clock in the old manor, especially when we'd barely heard the melody.  That's a minor complaint from someone who relishes the "Revels" sing-alongs, and I really shouldn't complain because during "The Lord of the Dance," I ended up dancing onstage (along with hundreds of my fellow audience members) for the first time.

That's part of the "Revels" magic  even if we don't end up on stage, we're still part of the show, part of the celebration.

You can e-mail Chad Jones at cjones@angnewspapers.com