Theater Camp knows musicals are cringey – but it still shows the artform the respect it deserves
The IndependentThere are things that more or less everyone agrees are annoying. Another one, if less understandably, is musical theatre – both the quasi-religious art form itself and the skin-crawlingly earnest disciples we call “musical theatre kids”. It’s a very funny and often quite incisive look at the foibles of the musical theatre world, revolving around co-dependent teachers who must stage an original musical while the camp’s founder is in a coma. It helps that the movie’s writers – Gordon and Nick Liberman, plus Galvin and former Dear Evan Hansen star Platt – have a strong background in musical theatre. It also bears mentioning, of course, that musical theatre is one of our queerest popular art forms; it’s not a stretch to say that many people’s aversion to it may be rooted in homophobia or some form of gay panic.
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