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Welcome to New Hampshire Public Television's encore.

Join us as we showcase the program from our archives as it originally aired.

Because here in northern New England, sharing our past will enrich the future for all of us.

Hi, I'm John Clayton, and this is New Hampshire Crossroads.

Theme Music Today we are at D.S.

Cole Growers in Loudon, one of the largest greenhouse operations in all of New Hampshire.

Chances are, if you have a holiday poinsettia in your home, it got its start right here.

We'll find out a lot more about this operation on tonight's program.

But we're also going to live in New Hampshire to meet some revels with a cause.

These are our friends.

These are the people we do something with.

We make music.

We make theater.

We reach out to broad audiences.

And in so doing, we form our own relationships that are transcending just the music.

And a lot of the people here are my permanent friends.

This is my Upper Valley community.

And then we'll celebrate Christmas in song.

O, poor little Jesus This world gonna break your heart There'll be no place to lay your head We’ll be coming back to Loudon a little later to learn more about these plants and their production.

But first, we're going to Lyme.

For the past 25 years, a group of revelers in the Upper Valley have gathered to celebrate rural culture through theater.

The group is known as Revels North, and this is their story.

(inaudible singing) we’re all the same, we’re all made of one clay So while we're here with our friends so dear we'll drive your care away Summer revels is a celebration of rural life.

Wow.

This is a totally different world.

I mean, it's it's just a different world to be in revels.

(women singing) Yeah, it's good stuff.

I wish every, every community had ways of doing this kind of stuff.

Where are the Spaniards, that made so great a boast If you feel like joining in, well, you're not alone.

In every land, oh The land where’er we go Hal-an-tow, jolly rumble O For more than 20 years now, audiences from throughout the Upper Valley have sung along and danced to the music of this community theater group called Revels North.

Long before the day, O To welcome in the summer To welcome in the May, O!

There's, there's a kind of a a group of core group of people who do this show year after year.

But there's always new ones, new kids coming in.

Music Summer Revels is the troupe’s summertime production.

It's a celebration of song, dance and community.

Music And this particular show is the influence of the Celtic countries and New England music.

So a lot of the music you hear will be adaptations or growth from the Celtic music that came from Ireland and Scotland, etc.

(singing ) Try taking off your ears.

One ear there, one ear there.

Hear the sound just as if you have microphones (inaudible singing) It's quite an experience to see it all come together.

In fact, it's a real community.

It's as diverse as any community would be.

But we have this unifying thing, this, this, this thing that we create together.

And it takes us, you know, three months.

We start about three months ago, we started rehearsing, That's how sharp you go.

And it's on the Amen .

Together, the cast and crew endured weekend after weekend of exhausting summer heat during rehearsals, which took place in Grantham.

There are lots and lots of people helping to put it together.

And fortunately, as I said, this is one thing about the revels community is that they're not only a community singing together, but they're a community working together.

(inaudible singing) (inaudible singing) I have to confess that when I moved up from New York City about ten years ago, I thought, wow, I'm going to be a little bit in the backwoods up here, you know?

And what it's it's it is proved to be really the opposite.

All kinds of talented people.

Band?

We're going to do the last verse one more time in f. That's different from directing in the big city, where people sort of sit back and take what the director has to say.

But up here, you have to defend yourself.

People want to know why.

And people do have their own ideas, and the show benefits terrifically from it.

And having new people come along keeps us fresh in terms of the themes that we do and also in terms of our sound.

Our sound is always sort of recreating itself because we have new people.

We’ll wheel him round and round o’ again and (inaudible singing) Many of this year's cast members were once members of the audience.

In fact, what they saw on stage inspired them and all felt the need to take part.

That's one of the things that intrigues me about being up here.

People are not overly impressed with other people.

It's like everyone is someone who has a job, and it doesn't make any difference whether you clean the streets or build the bridges or operate on hearts or direct musical shows, you're just another person who has a job to do.

And, and, that's pretty darn refreshing.

And I like it.

I like it a lot.

Well, a lot of my friends who've been doing it for a long time.

Like, after kids have done it for, when you get around to doing it for at least three years, and people like your parents start being involved.

Green grass grew all around and the green grass grew all around my boys and the green grass grew all around Music, any kind of music, has an ability to bring people together And, and in something like revels, people join, people try out because they're interested in being part of it.

So it's a self-selected group, which on some level is guaranteed to, for some kind of success.

And with a kiss the ring was closed in the wedding it’s come on, from courtship’s cares they are released These two are joined in one These are our friends.

These are the people we do something with.

We make music, we make theater, we reach out to broad audiences, and in so doing, we form our own relationships, that are transcending just the music.

And a lot of the people here are my permanent friends.

This is my Upper Valley community.

(inaudible singing) Revels is, as I have said before, it's a community.

The woman who is the props designer who lost her husband this year and the revels chorus called me and said, May we sing at this, at the funeral service?

Now that's that's revels.

We're not just on the stage, but we're we're family and friends all the time, regardless of the situation.

And the green grass grew all around my boys and the green grass grew all around!

And the green grass grew all around, my boys, and the green grass grew all around What we’re really about is creating a family or community entertainment.

The tree on the hill and the hill sat still and the green grass grew all around This is a way you can give to an audience.

And the more you draw the audience, and the more you feel like you are then sharing some joy with them.

And the green grass grew all around my boys and the green grass grew all around.

And the green grass grew all around, my boys, and the green grass grew all around And so we we're loving each other and loving the audience and that's a big part of what the show is.

So of course I'm on there performing, on stage performing, and the audience is there receiving love and sharing love back.

To take you to my chamber, love, my parents would not agree.

But sit you down by yon bright fire and I’ll sit close by thee You kind of see people beaming up at you.

There's this, you know, there's this immediate connection, and that is extremely exhilarating.

And once you've done that, you always look for it again.

(inaudible singing) So I remember one year, a woman who I'd worked with in Brattleboro brought her sister up, who was dying of cancer.

And, it was it was extremely moving.

And she was sitting there beaming, and she died the next week, and, and, and she, this woman came to me later and told me how much that had meant to her sister to be there in the audience.

(inaudible singing) Without the audience getting involved, it's just another show.

But, originally Jack Langstaff and Carol, his daughter, when they were inventing this form, they knew that the audience participation needed to be a big part of it.

And it always is.

(inaudible singing) Well, it’s was just exhilarating You know?

It's just, I knew I knew this one loves to dance, and she loves music.

And so I knew she was really getting a kick out of it.

And, you know, if I can contribute to that, that's just a real lift.

(inaudible singing) It's wonderful.

Good stuff.

Hard to, well, it's hard to know why, why, I mean, New Hampshire's, I don't think they're probably a whole lot different other places except this sense of community.

It's not the low taxes.

I'm sure of that crown him, crown him crown him, crown him lord of all crown him, crown him, crown him lord of all And crown him lord of all Music We are back at D. S. Cole Growers in Loudon, and it's time to meet the man who makes this holiday garden grow.

Music Doug, these poinsettias are spectacular in this display.

How many do you have in the greenhouse?

Got, close to 20,000, right now.

20,000 plants.

There's not a big window in terms of sales of poinsettias, is there?

No.

That's true.

For us as a wholesaler, we start shipping just prior to Thanksgiving, and we'll be just about done by December 10th.

Then it's up to the retailers to get them out to the homeowners.

And homeowners who do get them, the shelf life of poinsettias is longer than most people think.

It's not just going to live through the holidays, right?

That's right, that's right.

It depends how they treat them, of course.

And depends how us, the growers, how we grow them, how healthy they are.

But all in all, they should be able to keep them well after Christmas if they keep them in a good, well-lit location.

Music Looking around, I see red plants, but a lot more colors than I expected.

There must be an awful lot of variety attached to these poinsettias.

Yeah, there's a lot of breeding taking place.

Show me this one.

Well, here's a pink one.

It's, it's a newer variety from Europe.

It's a Peterstar Pink.

This one you can see there's a lot of green still to be shown.

These varieties are so different that some varieties come into bloom weeks before others.

And you can see this one.

It's attractive, but it's not really done yet.

This is going to take 1 or 2 more weeks to really come to its prime.

Some of the myths about poinsettias we should probably talk about, they are not poisonous in terms of being deadly, correct?

That's true.

Not that we would recommend them to be put on your salad.

No, we definitely don't want to recommend that.

But again, they're not poisonous.

So you don't have to worry necessarily about death resulting from having a nice poinsettia plant in your home.

And talking about all these different varieties that we've been able to pull a bunch of them together here.

Now next let's start with this one here.

What, tell me, what is that plant?

This is, a series called Freedom.

We think of plants in groups.

Breeding will get done, and we'll come up with a group name such as Freedom.

Typically the red would be the first variety.

So we'll come out with a variety such as Freedom Red.

And then from there.

in another year or two, we'll see Freedom White and Freedom Pink.

You'll see the growth habit is the same, but we'll come up with new colors.

While you talk about variety and changes, I have to ask you about this.

This is a poinsettia, but it looks like a whole other thing.

What is this?

Looks like a rose.

Yeah, it's called Winter Rose.

It was bred in California.

It's the hottest thing going now.

It isn’t like we're going to fill the greenhouse half full with them.

But it's a new introduction.

It's been pretty neat.

We were skeptical.

But the consumers are really looking at it and grabbing it.

Now Doug, just so we don't give people the wrong impression that poinsettias might be the only holiday plant they can have.

There's an awful lot more available, isn't there?

Oh yeah.

And these cyclamen that we're looking at now, these are these are an old time crop, actually, they were great because they love cool weather.

You know, 50 degrees.

There are some older varieties that we would actually grow best at 45 degrees.

They went out of favor at some point ten, 20 years ago, and people still grew them, but to no great extent.

And then the world of hybridization came along and we've come up with some great varieties since then.

Music Now, when you talk about these plants, Doug, and the variations, this eye here, is this a result of genetic engineering?

Yes.

This dark eye that we're looking at in the center of the flower, that's very popular now.

This is a variety called rose with eye from a French breeder, that's done a tremendous job in the marketplace.

We see a lot of interest in this, this eye form.

Music Now, let's take a look at an old fashioned Christmas, courtesy of New Hampshire home movies.

Music Music And in the end, these plants will find their way from D. S. Cole Growers to a market near you, and hopefully to a place in your home.

That's going to do it for tonight's episode of New Hampshire Crossroads.

On behalf of those of us who bring you this program, we do want to wish you Happy Holidays.

And in closing, a special treat, Christmas Spirituals from Robert Thompson at Phillips Exeter Academy.

Music Behold, that star Behold, that star up yonder Behold, that star It is the star of Bethlehem There was no room found at the Inn it is the star of Bethlehem.

For him who was born free from sin It is the star of Bethlehem The Wise Men came on from the East It is the star of Bethlehem To worship him the Prince of Peace It is the star of Bethlehem Behold that star behold that star up yonder Behold that star It is the star of Bethlehem A song broke forth upon the earth It is the star of Bethlehem The angel hosts all robed in white, it is the star of Bethlehem Glory to God, world without end It is the star of Bethlehem And peace on earth good will toward men It is the star of Bethlehem Behold that star Behold that star up yonder behold that star it is the star of Bethlehem Music O, poor little Jesus This world gonna break your heart There’ll be no place to lay your head, my Lord O, poor little Jesus O, Mary She the mother, O Mary She break down and cry, for there’s no place to lay his head My Lord O, poor little Jesus Come down, all ye holy angels Sing round him with your golden harps For someday he will die to save this world O, poor little Jesus O, poor little Jesus A video of this program is available for $19.95, plus $3 shipping.

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