‘Big Band Christmas’ brings community, culture to holiday season

Growing up, Rickie Rosales thought he and his mother, both singers, would end up being the next Naomi and Wynona Judd.

Everyone in the “Rosales Tribe” was musically inclined, be it vocally or playing an instrument. Rosales wanted to play piano, but his right and left hands always wanted to do the same thing. He thought the saxophone might be for him, but as a child he was so small that his fingers couldn’t reach all the keys.

So he stuck with singing, participating in choir classes and school shows wherever the military took his family. Though he also had some help outside of the choir room.

“I like to say Reba McIntyre and Cher gave me all of my lessons,” he said. “So I know how to feel a song and how to make it deep.”

As he got older, Rosales tried out for all-state choirs and regional groups, thinking he would head to Broadway. Instead, he joined the Air Force.

During his 15 years in the Air Force, Rosales completed two tours with the branch’s entertainment troupe, Tops in Blue. With the troupe, Rosales traveled to 39 countries, often setting the stage and breaking things down show by show.

He was twice named the top vocalist in the Air Force and once earned the title of entertainer of the year.

Near the end of his time in the Air Force, Rosales began doing community theater in Mississippi. “The Laramie Project,” a show about the murder of Matthew Shepard, a gay man, was the last piece he worked on there.

“Taking a very deep and personal, important story, which, during the time of ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ in the military, was also risque and dangerous to do,” he said. “I was on my way out anyway, so I was very, very much in part of Mississippi and the South, where it’s also frowned upon to be gay and it’s not a safe situation. But I was like ‘It’s an important story to tell.’

“I was multiple characters in that, and one of them was the guy who actually had Matthew Shepard get into his truck and killed him. To play those roles and to be somebody who is on the other side and would have been Matthew was gut wrenching.”

After his time in Mississippi, Rosales moved to Arizona, where he met his husband. His husband knew Rosales could sing and encouraged him to try out for various productions. Rosales toured a few states with a Broadway revue, but when the pair had their son, his focus turned to fatherhood.

The anxiety of becoming a parent, coupled with a fear of how people would react to a gay couple with a child, led Rosales to stay close to home for several years, bringing his performance career to a halt.

In 2023, now living in Spokane and wanting to get back into theater, Rosales auditioned for a Spokane Valley Summer Theatre production and quickly realized he found his community.

“The communities are always the same places,” he said. “I found my community in high school, in the choir room, the choir hall with the musicians and the actors. You find your people where you’re safe, and then you learn where you are safe, who has your back.”

Rosales debuted with Spokane Valley Summer Theatre in “South Pacific” and also appeared in last year’s “A Big Band Christmas.”

He’ll appear in this year’s Christmas performance, too, alongside Bee Aaron, Andrea Bates, Joel Cummings, Carol Davis, Doug Dawson, Dan Griffith, Karlin Kahler, Alexandra Lewis, Grant Measures, Alexis Meeker, Dakota Moses, Shawn Mulligan, Gatieh Nacario, Andrea Olsen, Drew Olsen, Darnelle Preston, Landon Toth and Raelyn Toth.

The show is directed by Yvonne A.K. Johnson and written and music directed by Andrea Olsen. The year’s show features an “around the world” theme and showcases how different cultures around the world celebrate the holidays.

“A Big Band Christmas” runs for four shows from Friday through Sunday at University High School.

Rosales likes that “A Big Band Christmas” is a new show every year. The same holiday spirit, but told in a different way and with new songs. This year, Rosales is singing “Feliz Navidad,” and he’s excited for audiences to hear the cast’s rendition of “It’s a Small World,” complete with the new verse that was added to the song earlier this year to celebrate Disneyland’s 70th anniversary.

“It’s awesome that we are doing all the different cultures, especially in this specific climate, bringing awareness that we’re all one,” he said. “To be one during the season, don’t make it political. Don’t go on tangents on different people just because they’re here. We’re all here.”

While in the audience for Spokane Valley Summer Theatre’s production of “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat” earlier this year, Rosales overheard two audience members saying the theater must call in performers from outside of the Inland Northwest for its productions. He proudly told them that in fact everyone was a local talent.

Supporting that local talent, especially after Spokane Valley Summer Theatre announced the cancellation of its 2026 season due to scheduling issues with the Central Valley School District, is the only way to ensure productions like “A Big Band Christmas” can continue to take place.

“A Big Band Christmas” performer Gatieh Nacario was, like those audience members, admittedly surprised by the talent in Spokane after moving to town from the Philippines in 2019.

Nacario is a visual artist and dancer. Filipinos like to sing karaoke, he said, so he hit up a bar downtown shortly after settling in Spokane. There, someone who heard Nacario sing suggested he try out for a musical at Spokane Civic Theatre, so he went to the auditions.

“I said ‘Oh, crap, I underestimated Spokane,’ ” he said. “This is not just a walk in the park. They’re very talented.”

Nacario considered leaving the audition, but stayed and was cast in “It’s a Wonderful Life.” After that, he also performed at Spokane Children’s Theater.

Nacario, who has painted murals in the Garland Art Alley and Corbin Park and has shown work at Terrain three times, spoke with the Spokane Valley Summer Theatre team about a production of “The King and I” but COVID caused the theater to cancel the season.

After theaters were able to reopen, Nacario was cast in SVST’s productions of “Little House on the Prairie,” “Sister Act” and “A Big Band Christmas,” with this year marking his fourth in the holiday show.

In his first “Big Band Christmas” appearance, Nacario sang R. Alex Anderson’s “Mele Kalikimaka,” a cover of which was recorded by Bing Crosby and the Andrews Sisters in 1950. Two years ago, Nacario sang “The Christmas Song,” and last year, he was onstage for Jester Hairston’s “Mary’s Boy Child.”

Nacario had been thinking about how nice it’d be to bring a Filipino Christmas song to “A Big Band Christmas” and found out when it came time to prepare for this year’s production that Olsen had the same thought.

Olsen chose “Ang Pasko Ay Sumapit” for Nacario, a song he said is a classic in the Philippines. Getting to perform the song in Tagalog is a dream come true for Nacario, who also dances in the Kultura de Filipina Dance Company.

“This is very meaningful to me,” he said. “To be honest, I felt like ‘Oh my God, I’m going to be representing the entire Philippines in this really good Christmas concert,’ ” he said. “ ‘A Big Band Christmas’ for five years has been a tradition for me and for the locals that really are into the Spokane Valley Summer Theatre, and I felt like this is really very meaningful to make it because I’ll be representing (the Philippines).”

Nacario will also be singing a Filipino Christmas song in Tagalog at the Unity Spiritual Center on Dec. 24. In previous years, he sang Filipino songs in English but after preparing for “A Big Band Christmas,” he realized he can, and should, sing more in Tagalog or in Filipino, a standardized version of Tagalog.

He knows members of the audience might not understand the lyrics, but they can still feel the culture.

“It’s a message to myself to do that,” he said. ” ‘Hey, keep on singing Filipino songs in Spokane and tell the people to enjoy the rhythm. If there’s an opportunity for you to share what’s the message of the song, by all means share it.’ ”