A Young Man’s Fancy was a 1947 play written by Harry Thurschell and Alfred Golden that ran from April 29, 1947, to Feb. 14, 1948, at the Cort Theatre and Plymouth Theatre in New York City.
The three-act play was a comedy set in a boys’ bunkhouse at Camp Freedom in Connecticut.
The world famous San Diego Zoo has a show imagining what it would be like if zoo animals went to summer camp with a seal for a head counselor and zoo staff as CITs.
Wegeforth Bowl has been transformed into an imaginary summer camp! Birds, sea lions, four-legged critters, domestic animals, top predators, and humans gather here for song and surprises. Meet a new critter and be part of the fun at the Camp Critters show!
The show runs daily at 11:30 a.m. at the zoo’s Wegeforth Bowl. You can get a taste for the show with this video posted to YouTube:
A new documentary that debuted on PBS on Jan. 1 tells the story of the Jewish community’s influence and contributions to Broadway and unsurprisingly there is a segment that speaks to the role summer camps have played as a training ground for some of the biggest names in musical theater history.
The segment of Broadway Musicals: A Jewish Legacy (it begins at the 24-minute mark of an 83-minute film) lists a few but certainly not all of the big name Broadway summer camp alumni, including Oscar Hammerstein II, Larry Hart (who was known as Shakespeare at Camp Paradox because “his trunk was crammed with books instead of clothing), fellow Camp Paradox alum Richard Rodgers, Jerry Herman, John Kander, Charles Strouse, Stephen Sondheim, Leonard Bernstein and Adolph Green.
Among the anecdotes shared is a story of how composer Leonard Bernstein (pictured above) met best friend and collaborator Adolph Green at Camp Onota. Bernstein’s daughter, Jamie, and Green’s daughter, Phyllis, recount the story of Bernstein playing an impromptu game of name that tune with Green and having no success stumping him until he made something up on the spot.
“They were best friends forevermore,” Jamie Bernstein says in the film, which was directed by Michael Kantor.
The movie is embedded below. If you can’t view it, check out the PBS website HERE.
Watch Broadway Musicals: A Jewish Legacy on PBS. See more from Great Performances.
Camp Rolling Hills is an original musical with music and lyrics written by Adam Spiegel, a New York-based composer, singer, actor and pianist. The show has recently been submitted to the New York Musical Theatre Festival (NYMF),
New York Children’s Theatre Festival, The Bloomington Playwrights project, and The Stanley Drama Award at Wagner College.
You can listen to demos of the songs on Adam’s website HERE. You can also keep tabs on the show on Twitter and Facebook.
The official description:
Camp Rolling Hills is the story of a group of tweens (played by adults or kids) who escape from the rigors of school and everyday life and spend the summer together. They have the summer of their lives as new friendships are made and young love blooms. And in the meantime, there are activities, raid wars, dances, campfires, and a curious case of missing underwear.
The fictional camp name Rolling Hills, incidentally, was also the name of the camp in ’80s horror movie Sleepaway Camp II: Unhappy Campers.
A new play about middle aged Jewish parents visiting their son at sleepaway camp opened Wednesday night at Magic Theatre in San Francisco. The play, written by Anna Ziegler and directed by Meredith McDonough, runs through Dec. 2.
The official description:
Let the Nadelmans help you find Another Way Home in a funny, moving, and uplifting examination of what it means to be a family in this world premiere by Anna Ziegler. While visiting their son at summer sleep away camp, obsessive middle-aged Jewish parents Lillian and Philip are compelled to question everything they thought they understood about their children, their marriage, and their true desires.
For more on the play visit magictheatre.org/season/another-way-home and check out this article from J Weekly.
Krayon Kids Musical Theatre Company in Oregon City, Oregon, is going to summer camp for their annual fall production with the original musical Return to: Camp Itchabite slated to play at the community theater Nov. 2-18.
Here’s the description from the Krayon Kids website:
What’s your favorite memory from attending summer camp? The games, the songs, the activities, or just spending time with your friends in the great outdoors?
This November, join the Camp Itchabite Counselors, as they relive their former adventures with a whole new set of “over privileged” kids. Although much has changed since the counselors experienced Camp Itchabite, the friendships, fun and life-lessons of camp are alive and well for the next generation!
Audiences of all ages will appreciate the humor and heart-felt sentiments of this original production. You’ll be amazed at the fast-paced entertainment, extravagant costumes and the talents of the cast, which features nearly 50 talented children from the metro area between the ages of three and eighteen.
