Hidden around the corner of Wanida Thai Cuisine on H Street is the Bellingham Theatre Guild. The BTG has been providing community theater for over 90 years, with their rendition of Tony Beeman’s “Scarecrow for Hire” a part of their latest run. This was my first time seeing a performance at the BTG, and for one afternoon it helps you feel a little bit closer to Bellingham’s history.
In my experience, when you cram into a theater to see a play, you’re forced to squeeze past long lines, crowded staircases, accompanied by foolhardy parents only to be surrounded by people that are talking a little too loud to be out of earshot. But at the BTG, it takes about 30 seconds to make your way from the entrance where they check your vaccine status to your seat.
“Scarecrow for Hire” doesn’t have an intermission, making it a clean 80-minute production without an ounce of fat on it. The city of Oz is governed behind the scenes by the rich and powerful “West” family that has everyone under their payroll. Dorothy claims she’s being framed for the murder of one of the two surviving daughters of the West family, and she hires the eponymous scarecrow, or “Jack Straw,” played by Kris Erickson, as a private eye to help clear her name.
Erickson is a regular at the BTG. He delivers an accessible but engaging performance as an alcoholic detective who would be able to put all the pieces together, if he only had a brain. Dorothy is played by Lily Larson, a third-year student at Western Washington University, whose Judy Garland impression is almost spot-on. If you closed your eyes for a second you’d think the original from 1939 was playing in the background.
The actors’ makeup was one of the more immersive aspects of the production, consisting of hues of gray, black and white, making the noir come to life, with the colorful land of Oz being replaced by an industrialized and corrupt city. “Scarecrow for Hire” has no flying monkeys, and no distinction between the good witches and the bad witches — only broken people wearing beige suits.
The only slight fault is the script. Occasionally clunky and hard to follow, some of the jokes fall flat. It begins with an old Popeye short and an expositional video about the history of this new Oz before you’re thrusted into the world, and it takes a while to get your footing. Afterward, I overheard an ostensibly nice group of elderly women say that there was just too much going on to understand what was happening. I agreed with them, for the most part.
A lot of the emotional heavy-lifting is done by Truxtun McCoy’s “Nick Chopper,” the tin-man former cop who wallows in self-pity at being unable to do anything as his city succumbs to corruption. The tin-man is still supposed to be heartless in this interpretation, but McCoy brings a certain physicality to the role that the original tin-man was physically incapable of. His voice carries, and when his lines are plentiful the narrative is easier to follow.
One of the stars of the show is Virginia Wawner who plays “Esme West,” meant to replicate the Wicked Witch of the West. Her character is in constant flux, from heated contempt of Dorothy in one exchange to lonely and isolated mistress in another. Wawner is new to Bellingham, and if these kind of performances are commonplace, it shouldn’t be her last.
“Scarecrow for Hire” director, Brian Francis, hasn’t directed a show since his son was an infant. His son, Brendan, is all grown up now and plays the cowardly lion; depicted as a washed-up former boxer who is hired to kill multiple characters without ever being able to go through with it. The chemistry was clearly there, and it wouldn’t surprise me to see more productions between the two of them in the future.
The original Wizard of Oz provided on-screen color to an audience that had never witnessed it before. “Scarecrow for Hire” imagines what would happen if Dorothy was perpetually stuck in a place she couldn’t call home. The “Scarecrow for Hire” final run will be this weekend, from Feb. 3–6.
To find other upcoming events at the Bellingham Theatre Guild, go to bellinghamtheatreguild.com.
