RHS Spring Musical “As You Like It” Streaming Online

from Ben Stuart, RHS Co-Director of Theatre and Dance Department

This Spring, Roosevelt Theatre is thrilled to bring you a musical experience unlike any other: a show that is part movie musical filmed around Greenlake and Roosevelt AND part live, real-time performance, streaming to your home! As You Like It is a modern musical update of Shakespeare’s classic comedy, full of soulful tunes and mistaken-identity hijinks! Performances are June 3, 4, 11, and 12. Tickets went on sale May 1 at rhstheatre.net.

After purchase, you’ll be emailed a receipt with a link to click the night of the show. Once you’ve clicked the link, using any device, sit back and enjoy.

We are already offered a free, invite-only preview for the Golden Grads, and tickets are now on sale for the remainder of the performances.

If you would like to help keep Theatre alive at Roosevelt, Patron of the Arts is Roosevelt High School Theatre’s annual fundraising campaign associated with the musical.

Our theatre productions are completely self-supporting because we don’t get any money from our school or district.

Student fundraising and ticket sales help underwrite the theatre and dance curriculum each year and gives students the chance to work with local and national guest theatre professionals. Funds also cover costumes, tech equipment, licensing fees, and more. Every dollar makes a difference in the type of shows we are able to perform.

Our goal is to raise $20,000 in patron donations from friends, family, alumni, and theatre lovers in our community.

To date, the students have raised $9,560 and could use a boost to get them across the finish line. Please consider helping us reach our goal by giving to our non-profit booster group, The Associated Friends of Roosevelt Drama (Tax ID 27-0604574)—employer matches welcome. Donate here: https://givebutter.com/POTA2021

Roosevelt High School Jazz Band Members Win Awards at 2021 Essentially Ellington Jazz Festival

By Paul de Barros Special to The Seattle Times

Members of the Roosevelt High School Jazz Band earned seven awards Saturday for solo and section work at the prestigious 26th annual Essentially Ellington High School Jazz Band Festival. Thanks to the pandemic, bands were participating virtually. The event was produced in New York by Jazz at Lincoln Center, and went from Wednesday through Saturday.

“It’s just wild how it’s all come together,” said Roosevelt band director Scott Brown after the awards ceremony. “To get everything popping the way they did was just a miracle.” Roosevelt band members who received outstanding soloist awards were Nathan Mesler (vibraphone), Eli Sullivan (alto saxophone) and Nick Mesler (trombone). Honorable mentions for solo work went to Owen Gwinn (tenor saxophone) and Javier Gonzalez (trumpet). Outstanding section awards went to the Roosevelt trombones and trumpets.

Essentially Ellington celebrates the music of Duke Ellington and other classic jazz composers and has been open to bands west of the Mississippi since 1999. Since then, Roosevelt has made the finals 21 out of 23 years and has won the competition four times.

In 2021, bands were critiqued but not ranked, so there was no winner. The audio tracks of Roosevelt playing two pieces by Ellington — the swinger “Old King Dooji” and “Pyramid,” a Latin-tinged tune co-written by trombonist Juan Tizol — were streamed live Saturday, as still photographs of the band appeared on screen. Their performance of “Old King Dooji” was the audition recording the band pieced together digitally earlier this year, when the pandemic prohibited students from playing together in the same room. “Pyramid” was recorded live.

You can hear the Roosevelt Jazz Band play at the 2021 Essentially Ellington festival below or by going here, starting at the 33-minute mark.

Paul de Barros: pdebarros@comcast.net. This report is supported, in part, by the Rubin Institute for Music Criticism, San Francisco Conservatory of Music, and the Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation.

Here’s how to see us on Facebook:
• Log in to your Facebook page.
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• Roosevelt Golden Grads will pop up as a choice.
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• Underneath the banner with our name, select
“Like” & “Follow”.
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Roosevelt Musical GOLDEN GRAD Free Preview Invite!

Dear Golden Grads!

RHS Theatre is thrilled to invite you to a special free Golden Grad Preview performance of our 2021 Spring Musical, AS YOU LIKE IT on Tuesday, June 1 at 7pm…online!  That’s right, we’re doing a musical and it’s a combination of student-made film and LIVE performance via Zoom!  Students all over Seattle will be warming up, getting into costume, and getting into character to perform for you LIVE in your living room!

AS YOU LIKE IT is a fresh musical adaptation of Shakespeare’s classic comedy.  You’ll enjoy LIVE singing and dancing, stunning student-made filmed sequences, and lots of delightful surprises throughout!  We also found a way to make it sound amazing—NOT like an office rendition of Happy Birthday over Zoom!  We hope you’ll join!

Here’s how to watch the preview FOR FREE:

1. Go to http://rhstheatre. booktix.com/
2. Locate the “Presale Access Code” box toward the right, under the “ON SALE NOW” heading
3. Enter GOLDENGRADS (all caps, one word) and click APPLY
4. Select the quantity (one ticket per device you wish to watch the show on—usually just 1), click “PURCHASE TICKETS” and then click “ADD TO CART”
5. Click “CHECK OUT NOW” and then either enter your account password or create an account.  Be sure to use a good email address to retrieve your virtual ticket link!
6. Enter your contact/billing information (your ticket will still be free) click “CONTINUE” and then “PROCESS ORDER NOW”
7. Check your email inbox and spam/junk folders for a confirmation from Roosevelt High School Theatre Department.  Save this email!
8. On Tuesday, June 1 a little before 7pm, click the link in your email on the device you’d like to watch the show on.  Your browser will open to BookTix Live where the show will begin shortly after 7pm!

Thank you for your support of theatre, dance, and now film at Roosevelt!  If you are unable to “attend” the Golden Grad Preview, we invite you to purchase tickets to the regular public performances at http://rhstheatre.booktix.com/ on June 3, 4, 11, and 12!

Sincerely,

Ben Stuart and Katie Greve
Co-Directors of Theatre and Dance
Roosevelt High School
Seattle Public Schools

Class of ’62 grads will be marking their calendars for a 60th Reunion in September, 2022.

The RHS ’62 Class Reunion Committee has met to plan a 60th reunion luncheon for September 22, 2022. To find out more about the event, contact any one of the reunion committee members: Harley O’Neil, Erick Leithe, Marilyn Lombardini, Steve Murphy, Gary Schulze, Bonnie Zahn, Ann Borgersen, Gayle Anderson, Rita Peha, and Elizabeth Roberts.

Watch for more information about the reunion at their website http://rhs62seattle.org/.

New Date: THURSDAY, August 11, 2022
At: The Nile Golf and Country Club:
6601 244th St SW, Mountlake Terrace, WA 98043
Time: 11 AM TO 4 PM
Plated luncheon – $89.00 per person
(Cocktails – no host)

A formal invitation was mailed in January 2020 from Reunions with Class with registration information. If you did not receive an invitation, please contact Reunions with Class and update your information. Reunions with Class also has an email site where you can send your updated information: http://reunionswithclass.com/Update_Your_Address. asp or HackettPaminfo@reunionswithclass.com Be sure to include “Roosevelt 60” in the subject title. Reunions with Class’ phone is 1-425-644-1044.

The week of March 29, 2021, you should have received an email from Reunions with Class (or a postcard if we do not have your email) informing you about the change of date!! Look for information on Facebook: Seattle Roosevelt High School 1960.

Add memories and join in the conversations on Facebook. If you have questions, please email Judy Crossett Cromwell at juju942@hotmail.com, or Pat Wise Loftin oppatloftin@gmail.com We are looking for all of our Classmates!

We would appreciate any help you can give us. We need to update emails, phone numbers, and addresses so if you know any new contact information, tell us. Spread the word!! The 1960 Class Reunion Committee

Your Golden Grads dues are due each year by January 1st. But you can renew any time or give an additional donation.  Click here to download and print the form, then send in with your check or credit card info to RHS Golden Grads, PO Box 281, Edmonds WA 98020-0281.

With the closure of RHS due to the Coronavirus Pandemic starting Spring 2020, all the school’s programs were cancelled, and are finally set to start up again in 2021. To see what’s happening in the Fall, go to one of the websites below:

• High School
• Jazz
• Drama
• Orchestra
• Bands

For More on RHS Jazz Bands click here or visit the Jazz Boosters Calendar Page. For RHS Orchestra click here. For RHS Roughriders Band information click the Riders Band site. And for Roosevelt Drama events click here.

RHS Jazz Band Makes Finals for Essentially Ellington Festival Again in 2021!

Seattle’s Roosevelt High School Jazz Band has made the finals of the prestigious Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Essentially Ellington Festival for the 21st time in 23 years. The festival will be held virtually June 4-5.

Perhaps even more astonishing, thanks to COVID-19, this year’s Roosevelt band has never once played together as a unit and band director Scott Brown has never seen the students play as a band. “It’s crazy,” said Brown, who was elated when he received the news Friday afternoon. “Everything was done in their homes.” Through the magic of digital audio, individual tracks were overlaid, starting with the rhythm section, which did play together in person, in a safe, socially distanced setting, said Brown. Over the next three weeks, the saxophone, trumpet, trombone parts and solos were added and mixed with the help of an engineer who specializes in such work. (From the Seattle Times)

More great sounds from past RHS Jazz Ensembles

Please send your personal updates and info to your Class Representative (list in the Grapevine) to have published in the Class Reports section of the Fall Grapevine by August 27, 2021. The Class Representatives must have everything in to the GG Editor by Monday August 30. You may also send your input directly to the Grapevine Editor, Janet Sage Whalley.