AN LGBT-FRIENDLY MUSICAL FOR KIDS, COMISSIONED BY USDAN ARTS
THE HISTORY
In 2022, Usdan Summer Camp for the Arts approached Composer/Lyricist Ben Boecker to write an original musical designed specifically for Usdan Summer Camp for the Arts: a musical with plentiful ensemble numbers, zillions of small roles, and a potpourri of singing solos and dialogue lines for the students to share.
Thus, "Camp U: The Musical" was born.
THE THEME SONG
"You Can Be Anything You Wanna Be"
The theme song from "Camp U: The Musical" has since been dubbed an informal theme song for Usdan Summer Camp for the Arts, and has been performed every summer since at the camp's closing and opening ceremonies.
At right, you can listen to a video of Usdan students performing the theme song, from the original cast of "Camp U: The Musical"
THE STORY
Camp U tells the story of Fawn, a senior Camper at Camp U, and her final summer at Camp. Her goal is to fill her scrapbook up with pictures so she can remember this summer forever! Surprising obstacles pop up in her way, like an LGBT crush, a deadly rainstorm, and the awakening of a mysterious ghost... with a dangerous curse!
Will Fawn find a way to photograph her summer so she can remember her last summer forever? Or will her obsession with documenting every second of every day cause Camp U to fall apart?!