“Acting is remembering and the choosing to forget,” says Ben Platt as Amos Klobuchar in the new film “Theater Camp.”
In school, kids that do theater are sometimes viewed as weird. But everyone has things that are odd about them, and providing people with a creative outlet is extremely important in the development of children, even if not all ill become stars.
This film, a sort of mockumentary, is so strong because Platt and fellow Jewish actress Molly Gordon going all in here, including a wildly strange scene, where they sing together. Hen Joan Rubinksy (Amy Sedaris) is hospitalized, Amos and Rebecca-Diane (Gordon) decide that the original musical for the summer will be “Joan, Still.”
AdirondActs, located in upstate New York, feature talented children of different ages, including one who we hear has skipped a cousin’s shiva to audition. With Joan out of commission, her son Troy (Jimmy Tatro), a frat-type guy who claims to know about finances, takes over. He knows little about theater and is worried he might have to sell the camo due to the dire financial situation.
Caroline Aaron, who many will recognize from being Midge’s one time mother-in-law on Amazon Prime’s “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” is a similar character, here as Rita Cohen, trying to help run the camp. As a new staffer who lies about things including knowing theater combat, Ayo Edebiri is excellent as Kanet Walch.
But the show belongs to Platt and Gordon and it’s not fair to other actors that they are so good in these roles. The characters have been best friends who decided to teach at the camp after being rejected from Juilliard, though there are some surprises at the end of the film.
A past play was called a “Hanukkah Divorce” and for reasons that are unclear, Rebecca struggles to write the all-important finale for the musical.
There are some purposely absurd scenes, like when Rebecca claims to be able to channel the dead and Troy tells her something horrible that he did.
Do all teachers of acting wish they could be performers, instead? Does every writer wish that someone was writing about them? Perhaps to a certain degree.
In 2015, I interviewed Platt at the Jewish Theological Seminary in Manhattan after he sang a song in Hebrew. He said he was inspired by his time at Camp Ramah in Ojai, and said he thought his starring role in “Dear Evan Hansen” which hadn’t yet come to Broadway, was pretty good. I was shocked by how sensational his performance was when I saw the show, anchored by great falsetto and poer in the moving song, “Waving Through A Window.” I was not surprised that he won the Tony for Best Leading Actor in Musical for the role in 2017. He’s been nominated for his role of Leo Frank in “Parade” which ended its Broadway run recently.
In this film, he sports a beard. He is a quirky guy fighting off some insecurities with sarcasm and it’s splendid. Gordon is so graceful that even in some crazy scenes here, it somehow is closer to normal.
Directed by Gordan and Nick Lieberman, who wrote the script with Noah Galvin, who also stars as Glenn, the taken for granted staffer who must do all the grunt-work, (you won’t see the twist involving his character coming) “Theater Camp” is much more than silly hijinks. It’s a funny and heartwarming film that reminds you that no matter the age of a person, one still has dreams and desires validation.
Luke Islam knocks it out of the park as one of the actors with a booming voice, while Kyndra Sanchez, Mackenzie Thomas, and Devon Miller all shine brightly as the other child actors. A nice touch to the film is that there are scenes where a staffer does a skit or monologue before the campers go to bed, one philosophical one Platt’s Amos does, is hilarious.
A scene where the children stampede when the cast lists are up, is poignant. The friendship of Amos and Diane is put to the test in a real way, and you’ll be surprised how the emotions of the film creep up on you.
Among the tongue twisters Diane leads the children in, to improve their diction is this wonderous line they recite together: “Wolf Blitzer has a blister on his upper lip.” The Jewish CNN host appears to be fine in real life, so no worries.
“This will break you,” Diane says to the campers, discussing how hard their work will be. If you don’t require shootings, car crashes, sex scenes, toilet humor, and want a film with a heart, a soul and a great brain, it’s time to sign yourself up for “Theater Camp.”
