Missoula Children’s Theater to stage ‘The Wizard of Oz’ Friday and Saturday

OTHELLO — Missoula Children’s Theatre will present “The Wizard of Oz” on Friday and Saturday at Bailie Memorial Youth Ranch, starring 64 local children from Adams and Franklin counties. 

“They have people from Warden, Royal (City), Othello, Mesa, Pasco, Kennewick, Hawaii and, I think, Idaho,” said Charity Miller of Othello, the mother of one of the young actors who will be participating. “We have kids from all over the place.” 

MCT, based in Missoula, Montana, does week-long trips to towns all over the U.S. and occasionally Canada, casting local children 5-14 years old into a musical performance of a well-known story. 

“They send a two-person acting (team), and they have all the props and the stage in the back of their truck,” Miller said. “They have auditions starting on Monday, and at the end of two hours, each kid is cast in a role.” 

Depending on the role, the children rehearse as much as four hours a day Monday through Thursday and finish up with two performances, she said. 

The story of “The Wizard of Oz” is well known to just about everybody: A Kansas girl is swept up in a tornado and deposited in a magical land. With the help of a scarecrow, a tin woodman and a cowardly lion, and pursued by a wicked witch, she seeks out the eponymous wizard in the hope that he can send her home. The 1939 film version has been a staple of TV for decades, and most people can sing at least some of the songs from it by heart. 

The songs in the MCT production aren’t the same ones, according to MCT’s website, but they’ll strike a familiar chord anyway. Songs like “Rainbow,” “Raspberry Muffins” and “Follow Your Feet” tell the story and are easy for kids of all ages to memorize and sing. 

MCT is a regular staple of the Columbia Basin Allied Arts season in Moses Lake and had come to Royal City in the past as well, Miller said. But this year the Royal Parent-Teacher Organization found the tour too expensive, much to the disappointment of Miller’s 10-year-old daughter Taiya. 

“I spent two months trying to find somebody who wanted to do a project and bring Missoula Children’s Theatre to our area, and everyone was like ‘Oh, that sounds like a fabulous idea, but not this year,’” Miller said. “Finally we talked to Sally (Cottrell, administrator of Bailie Memorial Youth Ranch) and she opened up her gym to us and ended up funding it as well.” 

“The Wizard of Oz” will be performed at Bailie Memorial Youth Ranch on Friday at 6 p.m. and Saturday at 1:30 p.m. Bailie Memorial Youth Ranch is located at 131 Memorial Lane, just off Sagehill Road between Othello and Basin City.