Katie/Lindsay (Caitlin Singer), Actor One, Coop/Andy (Matthew Anderson). Photos courtesy of Garage Theatre.
Judging the film Wet Hot American Summer as either good or bad seems a little asinine. A flop upon its initial release back in the year 2000, Wet Hot is now deemed a cult classic and has become a standard from which so many films, TV shows and sketch comedy skits have gained inspiration. Wet Hot is now in the realm of those few movies no one can really judge as good or bad, it’s immaterial at this point. It doesn’t need your opinion to succeed. It already has, even in spite of itself.
It’s infinite.
It’s untouchable.
That is, unless you’re The Garage Theater, in which case, you clearly don’t give a shit. You’re gonna touch it, and you’re gonna touch it all over. Currently running through March 21st in a production written and directed by the brave Ryan McClary, Wet Hot American Summer… The Play? is a full-on theatrical adaptation of the material based not only on the Michael Showalter and David Wain screenplay, but also on the radio play adaptation by Ben Acker and Ben Blacker. Though it may not be the out-of-the-park, little-league-home-run you might have wished for, it is as ridiculous and laugh-filled as you would expect, given the source material.
Actor Two, Katie/Lindsay (Caitlin Singer), Actor Seven, McKinley/Victor (Gregory Cesena), Actor One, Coop/Andy (Matthew Anderson).
Both the film version of Wet Hot and the play take place over the course of one day: the last day of summer at Camp Firewood, a Jewish summer camp somewhere on the upper east coast. Being the last day of the season, the film’s characters, both campers and counselors, are trying to squeeze in all of their unfinished business. This includes getting laid for the first time, falling in love, performing in the talent show, saving the camp from a falling space rocket and coming to terms with wanting to hump a refrigerator.
The play adaptation is split into two exact halves, the first being a rehearsal for a play adaptation with scenes taken straight from the film, and the second being the actual adaptation itself.
The first half attempts to disassociate us from the film and its iconic cast by stripping the movie’s dialogue down to a few short essential scenes, casting characters in multiple roles, and continually reminding the audience that we are watching a play being rehearsed and not the film most of us are so familiar with.
Back: Actor Two, Katie/Lindsay (Caitlin Singer), Actor Three, Ben/Aaron (Anthony Galleran), Actor One, Coop/Andy (Matthew Anderson). Front: Actor Eight, Everyone/thing else (Karli Royer), Actor Seven, McKinley/Victor (Gregory Cesena).
While the concept is clever and achieves the goals of establishing the play as a separate entity from the film, the act is overly long and drags all of its Brechtian, meta-theatrical tropes out towards the end of their elasticity.
Of the three original characters created entirely for this adaptation that are not actors playing characters from the film, only one of them really works.
Ken Marino (an actual living actor who appeared in the film) appears here as our narrator and a drug-induced hallucination all in one. Played by Jacob Buras with perfect cheesy smarm, he nails his role, even when the weirdness transpiring around him doesn’t make much sense.
Ground: Actor Eight, Everyone/thing else (Karli Royer). Back: Actor Six, Henry/Gene (Thomas Amerman). Front: Actor One, Coop/Andy (Matthew Anderson).
The other two original characters, the “writer” and “director” of the adaptation we are watching, are devices that confuse the audience and feel the most out of spirit and synch with not just the source material but the rest of the show as well. The actresses that play them try to make sense out of things but ultimately their roles are too big and too underwritten to stand up against the rest of the material.
Although some fun laughs are to be had in act one, such as the swapping of dialogue between both Coop and Andy (played confidently by Jeffrey Kieviet) while frantically switching costumes with himself, the act would have better served the work as a short prologue. In 20 minutes or less the same effect could have been achieved and we could have moved on much sooner to the far more satisfying and consistently funny act two.
Actor Four, Susie/Gail (Alli Miller), Actor Three, Ben/Aaron (Anthony Galleran).
Unlike act one, act two is a full-on adaptation of the source material. Instead of doing a karaoke version of the film, it takes matters into its own hands and successfully creates a theatrical mood, tone and style for the material to breathe in. Without the preliminary context lesson and contrived rehearsal structure, the show felt both more confident and funny. It even took me by surprise. Though not everything came across at 100%, the pace moved so quickly and the jokes were so consistent that if at any moment I wasn’t fully invested, I was just a few seconds later. This was the show I was hoping to see, I just wish it had come sooner.
Since most members of the cast played multiple roles and there is not a seriously weak link in sight, it was a little difficult to keep track of who was playing whom and if I had obsessed over that while I was watching the show, much of its charm and laughs would have been lost on me.
There were definitely some standouts that deserve mentioning however: Thomas Amerman as both Henry and Gene managed to keep things funny in spite of dealing with some pretty heavy exposition and delivering a lot of the film’s most iconic lines. Alli Miller as both Susie and Gail likely had the best timing of the whole cast and should be commended for making us not only forget Molly Shannon but Amy Poehler as well. Lastly, Karli Royer totally destroyed as every unlisted character and thing that the script threw her way. She made bold choice after bold choice and almost none of them fell flat, earning many of the play’s most boisterous laughs all by herself.
Though there wasn’t much of a set to speak of and the costumes were pretty low key, both Robert Young and Cat Elrod turned out functional work that helped our imaginations just enough to be transported. Matt Richter’s lighting work helped carve out multiple playing spaces and moods with just the flip of a switch, an invaluable asset for as space as small as The Garage’s.
Ryan McClary not only wrote the script but he directs this production as well and the fact that he doesn’t drown under his own aspirations is a feat in itself. In fact, McClary really soars during the second act when he throws all of his explaining out the window and dives head first into his material. If Wet Hot is to have a future life, I would suggest that he consider this as a serious possibility. When he really trusts himself and his gut, he creates what I think he was really going for; something that evokes and celebrates the spirit of the film without just doing it lip service or trying to re-create its bizarre genius for the stage.
Taking any of Wet Hot American Summer . . . the play? too seriously is to totally miss the point however. This is not Shakespeare. This isn’t even Mama Mia. This is a deliriously silly show setting out to have a good time and ultimately having it. Expecting anything more from it would be to sell it short of what it really is, which is really, just that. So if your winter is feeling a little colder than you’d like it to, get yourself over to The Garage, have a beer or two and laugh out loud for a while. I promise that regardless of how much you take away from it, it’s likely more fun than whatever else you’d be doing. Plus, how can you resist a bunch of sweet, attractive people telling you that they want you inside of them? If you can resist that, you’re a better man than I.