The Little Prince: This Year’s Junior Play

On February 24 and 25, RL’s youngest actors and crew—from Class VI through Class IV—came together to bring this year’s Junior Play, The Little Prince, to the Smith Theater stage.

The story follows a young prince who visits various planets, addressing themes of loneliness, friendship, love, and loss. Despite its style as a children’s book, The Little Prince makes observations about life, adults, and human nature. SaintExupéry’s most successful work, The Little Prince has sold an estimated 140 million copies worldwide, which makes it one of the bestselling books in history. The work has been translated into more than 500 languages and dialects and has been adapted to many and varied art forms and media.

Director Derek Nelson noted in the show’s program, “My first or second year at RL was the last time that, for the Junior Play, we mounted a stage adaptation of a book that the boys also read in one of their classes. That first time it was Lord of the Flies—in the Class V curriculum—and some of you may remember that the set looked more like a skateboard park than an island. Plus ça change, as the Aviator might say! Boys who take French read The Little Prince in the Class IV year, and I think it appeals to the philosopher, the poet, and the explorer in all of us. We have taken dramatic liberties with it (‘Really, Mr. Nelson—step ladders?’) because they seem appropriate, given how fanciful and lyrical the story is—and because the stars at night ‘sound like five hundred million bells.’”

From Le Petit Prince:

“All men have stars, but they are not the same things for different people. For some, who are travelers, the stars are guides. For others they are no more than little lights in the sky. For others, who are scholars, they are problems… But all these stars are silent. You—you alone will have stars as no one else has them… In one of the stars I shall be living. In one of them I shall be laughing. And so it will be as if all the stars will be laughing when you look at the sky at night… You, only you, will have stars that can laugh! And when your sorrow is comforted (time soothes all sorrows) you will be content that you have known me… You will always be my friend. You will want to laugh with me. And you will sometimes open your window, so, for that pleasure… It will be as if, in place of the stars, I had given you a great number of little bells that knew how to laugh.” —Antoine de Saint-Exupéry //

Glee Club Takes to Nashville and Memphis!

In the early morning hours of March 18, four members of RL’s faculty and 56 members of the Glee Club boarded a plane to head to two of America’s most iconic music destinations. First the group spent three days in Nashville, Tennessee—Music City! On Saturday, they spent some time getting to know downtown Nashville before heading to the legendary Grand Ole Opry. On Sunday, RL’s singers provided music for the service at Belmont United Methodist Church; performed at and visited the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum; and enjoyed a private concert by the versatile artist Ajaye at Ole Red. On Monday, the group worked with two choirs at Montgomery Bell Academy and performed at the all-school assembly that kicked off MBA’s Field Day. RL’s boys and faculty visited Vanderbilt University (thanks to former trustee Bruce Evans) and enjoyed a wonderful dinner and musical exchange with our friends, the French Family Band. (Camille, Stuie, and Sonny French— along with their bassist Joe Reed—were last year’s Berman Visiting Artists in Residence, performing two concerts at RL and working with student musicians in master classes and jam sessions throughout the school day.) RL’s students and adults were also honored to meet, hear, and perform with Jimmy Fortune of the Statler Brothers. Highlights of that evening included Tait Oberg (I) and John Austin (I) trading solos with Sonny and Joe, and Glee Club singers singing My Girl with five professional musicians as their backing band!

From Nashville, the group departed for Memphis, where they spent three days performing and hearing some great music, as well as learning about the history and culture of our country, including, in particular, the struggle for Civil Rights, and the Mississippi Delta region. On Tuesday, the group visited the battlefield where Union forces held off a Confederate charge at the Battle of Franklin. They then arrived in Memphis, where they performed at the Central Atrium of Crosstown Arts and heard a tremendous jazz concert presented by the students of Stax Music Academy. On Wednesday, the group headed downstream: First stop was Helena, Arkansas, where they performed at the Helena Country Club for the local Rotary and Kiwanis Clubs. They then went on to Clarksdale, Mississippi, where Tait and John once again got to jam with a pro: blues artist, Super Chikan. The day ended with a fun change of pace, as the group took in an exciting NBA game (with the hometown Grizzlies prevailing!). The trip’s concluding days began with a tour of the legendary Sun Studio, followed by time to explore Beale Street (which included some Latonics busking in the Land of the Delta Blues!), followed by a moving visit to the National Civil Rights Museum.

The weeklong trip was memorable, and included not only performing, hearing, and learning about music, but also taking in the sites, sounds, and tastes of another area of our country, rich in history and culture. Thank you to Mr. Opdycke, Mr. Pojman, Mr. Beam, and Mr. Pellegrini for chaperoning this year’s spring break Glee Club trip. //

Senior Concert Celebrates the Class of 2023

On Friday, April 21, RL’s singing and chamber groups celebrated the Class of 2023 in the annual Senior Concert. “This Class I,” said Mr. Opdycke, “has been the most numerous class in participation in Glee Club in my time at RL—40 men stand behind me with boutonnières on looking forward to the final weeks of their Roxbury Latin careers.”

The Glee Club opened with The Battle of Jericho, and offered an eclectic selection of favorites— several with accompaniment by student instrumentalists. The Junior Chorus presented three songs of its own, including The Lion Sleeps Tonight, and Coldplay’s Viva La Vida, while the Latonics’ two-part lineup included traditional pieces and pop favorites. The highlight of the night, however, was the Glee Club performing Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody. The performance was the brainchild of Tait Oberg, who accompanied on electric guitar.

Class I chose Rivers and Roads by the folk band The Head and the Heart as its Senior Song. Emmanuel Nwodo sang the solo for Lift Every Voice, joined by Tommy Reichard, Ryan Frigerio, and Alexander Sanzone for the Senior Quartet. //

The Boston Tea Party Was the Tipping Point

Each year the Dr. Joseph Warren Foundation honors “the life and legacy of America’s founding martyr” by awarding the Dr. Joseph Warren & Francis “Bunty” Warren & Lilly Lawrence Scholarship based on a personal essay that responds to the prompt below. Bunty Warren is a descendant of Dr. Joseph Warren, RL Class of 1755—a physician and hero of the Revolutionary War who was killed at the Battle of Bunker Hill in Charlestown in 1775. The recipient of this year’s award was Emmanuel Nwodo ’23.

In your opinion: Of all the pre-revolutionary events that transpired in and around Boston between 1760 and 1775, which do you think had the most impact on the colonists that led them to declare independence? Some examples could include the Stamp Act riots, the non-importation agreements, the Boston Massacre, the Boston Tea Party, the battles of Lexington and Concord, or Bunker Hill. Please explain why you believe the event you chose had such an impact on pushing the rebellion to revolution.

Several events between 1760 and 1775 such as the Stamp Act Riots, Non-importation Agreements, Boston Massacre, Battles of Lexington and Concord, and the Battle of Bunker Hill influenced the origin of the American Revolution, but the Boston Tea Party was “the straw that broke the camel’s back.” The Boston Tea Party caused the Americans to move from rebellion to revolution because it had a monetary effect on not just the crown but also on the East India Company. The Boston Tea Party was the first calculated and planned colonist attack on Britain and forced the British to take action.

The Sons of Liberty was a grassroots group of activists, including Joseph Warren, John Hancock, and Samuel Adams. Although the Boston Tea Party wasn’t their first act of rebellion, the Tea Party was the most defiant and impactful. They were fighting over the Tea Act. The Tea Act of 1773 was a ruling by the British Parliament to bail out the British East India Company. The BEIC had 17 million pounds of tea going to waste. They needed help getting rid of it and saw the colonies as a source of respite. The

Tea Act specifically gave BEIC a monopoly on tea because they didn’t have to pay taxes on it and could directly import it into the colonies. The American merchants who were importing tea still had to pay these taxes and therefore sold tea at marked-up prices. This Act angered the colonists because they were being pulled out of business for an act that only benefited the British government. This led to the Sons of Liberty and angry colonists taking charge and planning what we know as the Boston Tea Party. They dressed up as Native Americans and poured out the British tea into the Boston Harbor. The planning with the Native American disguise resembles a war tactic. This was a defining moment for colonists because many realized that they could not let the unfair tea taxation become the norm for all commodities. The colonists were not backing down and allowing the British to reap profits from them.

The British response to the Boston Tea Party invigorated more anger in the colonists, which further moved this altercation from rebellion to revolution. The British were economically stifled by the loss of the tea and also felt a social shift in the colonists. The British responded with the Coercive Acts, which were called the Intolerable Acts by the colonists. There were four of them: the Boston Port Act, the Massachusetts Government Act, the Administration of Justice Act, and the Quartering Act. The Boston Port Act barred any ships from docking at the

Boston Harbor. This would continue until the Massachusetts colonists paid the East India Company back. The Massachusetts Government Act took governmental voice from the colonists by making the royal appointees in power have complete control over governmental positions in the colony. This Act also prohibited more than one town meeting per year. The Administration of Justice Act let governors move trials to different colonies, in turn ruining the idea of a trial with peers. The Quartering Act gave troops priority in quarters or housing and applied to all the colonies, not just Massachusetts. All of these acts were tyrannical attacks on the freedoms of the colonists. The colonies tried to petition against these, but the Coercive Acts were not repealed, unlike other acts in the past, such as the Stamp Act. This was a clear attack on liberty and justice.

The British thought it might put fear in other colonies, but instead, it made the colonists indignant and made them want to fight back. These Intolerable Acts worked to unify the colonies. The Tea Party sparked all of these Acts and made the British act harshly, creating a martyr out of Massachusetts, and this idea gave other colonists the inklings of revolution. The Boston Tea Party was the first altercation between the British and colonists that the colonists initiated. This indicated a transition from rebellion into the beginning of a revolution, thus the Tea Party is the defining moment on the road to the American Revolution. //