PORT ANGELES — Imagine what happens when your black-and-white world disappears, to be replaced by a new world. One that blows your mind.
That’s the feeling the filmmakers were going for 73 years ago, and it’s the one about to fill the theater this Saturday night: the Land of Oz, complete with “Follow the Yellow Brick Road,” “We’re off to See the Wizard,” “If I Only Had a Brain” and at last, “Over the Rainbow.”
Yes, the sing-along “Wizard of Oz” movie will light the big screen the Little Theater at Peninsula College, 1502 E. Lauridsen Blvd., on Saturday.
This is the annual movie sing-along to benefit the Juan de Fuca Festival of the Arts, and it will start with a costume contest at 6 p.m.
‘Splenda the Good-ish Witch’
This “Oz” is not like all of the other sing-along screenings around the nation. It stars a witch of our own.
Her name is Splenda the Good-ish Witch, and she’s inspired by Oz’s Glinda the Good Witch. This one dresses in shimmering gold while waving her magic wand above the heads of the costume contest participants.
Splenda is created and embodied by Sarah Tucker, the Port Angeles artist, costumer and filmmaker. She’ll make her debut, and warm up her magic wand, around 5 p.m. Saturday during the holiday tree lighting to take place at the Conrad Dyar Memorial Fountain at First and Laurel streets. The visit from the Good-ish Witch will promote the “Oz” party, which has been moved back to 6 p.m. from its original start time to avoid conflict with the downtown festivities.
“I’ll have fliers,” Splenda/Tucker promised. As in the paper kind, not the monkeys in the movie.
‘Rich Goodwill’
When asked how she constructed her splendid outfit, she replied: “Our Goodwill [store] is a rich Goodwill.” And why does Tucker believe in Splenda? “We’re all good-ish witches, deep inside — even the Wicked Witches.”
Splenda/Tucker looks forward to meeting some wicked ones Saturday night. She also wants to meet Dorothys, Cowardly Lions, Tin Men, Scarecrows, Munchkins, Wizards — and her favorite Oz characters, the flying monkeys — in the costume competition.
She’ll wave her wand above each contestant’s head and, to determine the winners, Splenda will gauge the audience response. She’ll bestow prizes in three age categories: children 11 and younger, youths 12 to 17 and adults 18 and older.
The prizes will be fun and “ridiculous,” Splenda vowed.
In the sing-along “Wizard,” the lyrics of each song appear on the screen, but “unfortunately, there will be no bouncing ball,” quipped Dan Maguire, executive director of the Juan de Fuca Festival.
Everyone sounds good
Nobody should worry about vocal prowess, Maguire added. In the Land of Oz, of course, “everyone can sing, and even sing well.”
Splenda concurred, adding that the energy of the crowd just might transform people into channelers of Judy Garland, Jack Haley, Bert Lahr and Ray Bolger (aka Dorothy, the Tin Man, the Cowardly Lion and the Scarecrow).
“How often,” the Good-ish Witch asked, “do you get to see ‘The Wizard of Oz’ with a crowd that’s booing and cheering and laughing?”
Tickets to “Oz” are $12 for adults and $8 for children 12 and younger at Port Book and News, 104 E. First St. in Port Angeles; Pacific Mist Books, 121 W. Washington St. in Sequim, and via www.JFFA.org.
For more details about this and other events in the Juan de Fuca Festival season of concerts — including the Geoffrey Castle and Friends Celtic Christmas on Dec. 16 — see the Juan de Fuca Festival of the Arts page on Facebook or phone the festival office at 360-457-5411.
