On Friday, Dec. 2, Jazz I and II hosted the annual Rhapsody in Blue concert. Much like shows in previous years, students incorporated the entire auditorium to perform the songs and added details to every performance that encouraged the audience to laugh and have a good time.

“We started getting our sectional pieces together around early November and late October and practiced, practiced and practiced,” senior Bailey Carroll said. “Even though I’m so sad that this is my last one, I’m also relieved because this is definitely the best one I’ve been in due to all of that work.”

The show began with the song “In the Mood” by Glenn Miller in front of the stage, but audience members were met with screeching noises and off-tune sounds from Jazz I before it was revealed that everyone was purposely in the wrong seats for comedic effect. Once moved to the right ones, the show began.

The show also featured performances such as a Twenty One Pilots Medley with just tubas in the front and a ‘Through the Years’ performance at the back of the auditorium that featured songs like “Don’t You (Forget About Me)” by Simple Minds and “Burning Up” by the Jonas Brothers.

“My favorite part about this concert is just the diversity of repertoire we have in this particular show,” senior Cassie Arrigo said. “The song I loved most was definitely the ‘Olympic Fanfare’ that the euphonium section performed, it was so incredible.”

The last song before the intermission, “How the Grinch Stole Christmas,” which was originally arranged by Larry Clark, was performed on stage that encompassed the entire band and included a friendly polar bear wearing sunglasses on top of the keyboard to make the audience laugh. At the intermission, junior Alex Reily stood on stage in a Grinch onesie and informed the audience, in the character’s voice, that intermission would last 10 minutes while the audience laughed.

The show came to a bittersweet close with the entire band spreading out around the auditorium and performing the first movement of their halftime show called “Summer” for the last time. This performance was especially sentimental for seniors because it was not only the last time they would perform that particular halftime show, but it was also their last Rhapsody in Blue. Senior Isabella Guevara, one of the three drum majors, recalls the exact moment where she remembered this.

“At the very end where we were about to conduct the very last song, I remember thinking ‘Oh my god I’m never going to conduct this again,’ and it was so weird,” Guevara said. “I think the entire show went really well.”