Theater Camp

AdirondACTS, a ramshackle theater camp in the woods of upstate New York, becomes the center of the universe for a brief moment, and we’re all better for it.

Theater Camp lovingly presents the performing arts at their dorkiest level, which also might be their most fun.  The beating heart of the film is the dynamic between co-dependent bestie counselors Rebecca-Diane (funny enough in name alone) and Amos, played by Gordon and Platt respectively. They play off each other naturally as overwrought, unconventional, and demanding teaching-artist types. Rebecca-Diane leads the children in a “past lives workshop” and tells one of them they were President Taft, while Amos asks a camper what their character’s allergies are, and is aghast when they hesitate to respond. Together they shine, caught between their highbrow aspirations and underwhelming realities. 

The scenes, true to their content, have the sizzle of improvisation, almost in the style of a Christopher Guest mockumentary. Most of the laughs come from the seriousness with which the characters approach the seemingly low-stakes situation of putting on a musical at a summer camp, like when Amos ponders whether or not an elementary school kid has the “sexuality” to pull off the role of Lola in Damn Yankees. There’s also the fun fish-out-of-water dynamic of Jimmy Tatro’s character Troy, the finance-bro influencer son of the camp’s former director (now in a coma) tasked with taking charge of the camp, despite not knowing what The Music Man is. The young cast of campers is also impressive, making star turns out of the hilariously underwritten and age-inappropriate show-within-the-show. 

It delivers on the promise of theater kid attitude and in-jokes, but won’t leave outsiders too much on the outside, with plenty of charm to keep the uninitiated involved. The result is somewhere between High School Musical: The Musical: The Series and Wet Hot American Summer, with plenty of earned laughs and a real pulse of earnestness. The tone can be a little uneven comedically – not always sure when to be sincere and when to be satirical – but isn’t that characteristic of theater kids themselves, caught between goofy and honest?