Thanks to Mike Dicianna for this blog post about his interview with Roosevelt Credit!
SCARC had a special opportunity to interview one of OSU’s most enthusiastic alumni, Roosevelt Credit, Class of 1990. Roo’s claims to fame are his rich, baritone voice and an effusive personality which have served him well in a career in the music industry. He is our “Beaver on Broadway”, appearing in two Tony nominated musicals, The Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess and Hal Prince’s Show Boat. A complete listing of all the productions he has been involved with is available online. Credit is currently appearing in a national tour of Porgy and Bess.
Roosevelt Andre Credit hails from the Bay Area of California. He made his choice to become a Beaver based on two factors: OSU had the top rated Engineering School in the nation and Corvallis was far enough away (yet only a bus ride) if he got homesick. As a new student, Credit was cast as the lead in OSU’s production of Le Nozze di Figaro. His only problem was, to be a lead actor, you had to also be a Music major. Much to his parents’ chagrin, Roo changed his major from Engineering to Music! And he never looked back…
Roosevelt prefers to have his friends call him “Roo,” and I dare say everyone he meets soon is enveloped in his larger-than-life personality and hearty laugh. They are immediately friends – I certainly was. We only had a small slice of his time for an interview for the OSU Sesquicentennial Oral History Project (OH150) and you can see the full interview on the web site soon. We learned about his early years and interests in music, his time at OSU, and some wonderful stories about his life on the “great white way.” I even persuaded Roo to sing for us. In true Beaver fashion, Roosevelt sang our Alma Mater “Carry Me Back to OAC”, which he says is one of his favorite songs.
Oregon State University has entered into an institutional partnership with the Grammy Museum in Los Angeles, CA. The celebration of this partnership included a special concert featuring Roosevelt Credit and the OSU Choir at the Memorial Union on Friday, April 25th. This concert brought Roo home to OSU, for only a short one-day visit. It was an incredible concert and he directed the choir in a rousing rendition of our Alma Mater.
SCARC’s time with Roosevelt Credit was short, but he definitely left an impression on all who met him.