Theater Camp

When they ask at the end of the year what films deserved a wider audience in 2023, my go-to answer will be Theater Camp. This little indie is a hilarious gem of a comedy. Yet it tragically played in less than 600 U.S. theatres. Hopefully, it will find the reception it deserves when it debuts on September 14 on Hulu.

This mockumentary follows a geeky drama club of teachers and students in upstate New York. The only thing more eccentric than the summer camp kids are the neurotic teachers. These include flamboyant costume designer Gigi (Owen Thiele), drolly sarcastic choreographer Clive (Nathan Lee Graham), awkward audio-visual expert Glenn (Noah Galvin,) and Janet (Ayo Edebiri), a counselor completely out of her depth because she lied on her resume.

The acting collective is appropriately named AdirondACTS, and that punny riff on the mountain range is just a mere sample of the wit in store. Unfortunately, when the camp’s founder, Joan (Amy Sedaris), falls into a coma, it’s up to her clueless son Troy (Jimmy Tatro), a wannabe social media business influencer, to keep this thespian paradise running. He joins forces with two of the camp’s “try hard” teachers, Amos (Ben Platt) and Rebecca-Diane (Molly Gordon), to run the drama camp for children. This presents a cast of affable young talent that earns genuine laughs and recalls the very best Christopher Guest comedies like Waiting for Guffman and Best in Show.

The plot is a series of related sketches that serve a deeply layered story. Amos and Rebecca-Diane have decided to put on an original musical about Joan’s life called Joan, Still — a memorial of sorts to the very much still living founder’s life. The fact that the duo hasn’t even written the play before announcing it to the entire camp isn’t going to deter them from making it happen. This turns out to be an ongoing gag. ** Spoiler Alert ** When the company ultimately performs the finished piece during the film’s climax, it delivers a satisfying finale. The powerful and emotional experience caps a film that never ceases to be entertaining throughout its efficiently paced 93-minute runtime.

This is one of the funniest movies of the year. Molly Gordon and Ben Platt wrote the screenplay with director Nick Lieberman and Platt’s partner, actor Noah Galvin. They clearly love theater, but even if you don’t come from that background, there’s so much intelligent humor to enjoy. There’s one part where Troy is trying to get the attention of a distracted auditorium of theater kids to no avail. To the rescue, Amos steps up and confidently sings into the microphone, “Oh, what a beautiful….” This gets the audience of youngsters to perk up and respond in unison, “Morning!” That lyric from Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Oklahoma! is a clever moment. There are many jokes that draw on a rich tradition, but they’re amusing even if you don’t have a knowledge of musical theater. What shines through is a hopeful feeling of camaraderie. A group of likable misfits that found a passion to unite them all.

07-27-23