'Hairspray Jr.' Is a Sell-Out at Rogers International School

Student performers from the Rogers International School (RIS) Upper School presented their production of Hairspray Jr. to a sold-out crowd last week at The Leslie Padilla Performing Arts Center.

“While Hairspray Jr. has wonderful characters and music that illustrate America’s 1960’s lifestyle, the underlying themes in this play are very relevant to Rogers’ students today: citizenship, racial discrimination and integration, bullying, tolerance and diversity,” said Rogers’ parent Lynn Tusa. “I am thrilled my 6th grade son, and his classmates from 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th grades, have the opportunity to work with the outstanding and caring teachers who invested their time and energy to produce this play, especially Director & Choreographer Josue Jasmin (“Mr. Joe”) and Musical Director Josh Sette. These are the programs that make life-long memories for our kids!”

The show was cast in December after several days of auditions. Ninety-six students were selected to perform in one of two casts for the April 16 and 17 shows. The students had been rehearsals since January. The performance was directed and choreographed by Josue Jasmin, known by his students as “Mr. Joe.” In addition to his work at Rogers, Jasmin teaches dance at the Connecticut Dance Center and he is also the resident choreographer for Clocktower Theater in Westchester County.

Hairspray is a social commentary on the injustices of parts of American society in the 1960s. Jasmin selected Hairspray Jr. as this year’s musical because of the positive message it teaches students — to believe in themselves, stand tall against adversity, and to never give up on their dreams.

As has been the tradition, the opening night performance of the show was dedicated to Leslie Padilla, whom the Rogers auditorium was dedicated to after her battle with pancreatic cancer. Padilla was one of the original founders of the Performing Arts Program at RIS, and remains an inspiration to the Rogers’ community.

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Contributed photos: #1: The 96 Rogers International School students in the cast of Hairspray; #2: Corny Collins (played by Zachary Tusa) is surrounded in the “It’s Hairspray” number in the second act; #3: The cast gather back stage on the first night of Rogers’ Hairspray production. Credit: Terri Yaghmaie.