JULY 13 • 2023 | 69

THEATER CAMP, A VERY 
KOSHER MOVIE; BARBIE 
AND THE HARDY BOYS

Theater Camp opens in 
theaters on July 14 and 
it is really a “tribe fest.” 
Here’s the capsule plot: 
The director and founder 
(Amy Sedaris) of a scrappy 
arts camp in upstate New 
York falls into a coma. Her 
“out-to-lunch” son takes 
over as camp director. He 
joins forces with a band of 
eccentric camp teachers 
to put on their big summer 
show.
The most prominent 
teachers are played by 
Molly Gordon, 27, Ben 
Platt, 29, and Noah 
Galvin, 29. Gordon, Platt 
and Galvin wrote Theater 
Camp, and Gordon co-di-
rected the film. Galvin’s 
mother is Jewish, and he 
identifies as Jewish. 
As noted in my last 
column, Gordon has a 
recurring role on the hit 
Hulu series The Bear. She 
plays Claire, the girlfriend 
of Carmy, the series’ lead 
character. 
You might know that 
Galvin plays a gay Jewish 
doctor on the hit ABC TV 
series The Good Doctor. 
He and Platt are real-life 
romantic partners, and they 
are engaged to marry.

Platt and Gordon have 
known each other since 
they were children in Los 
Angeles. Both had a strong 
Jewish background grow-
ing up. Gordon’s parents 
are successful directors 
(mostly TV). 
Ben’s father, Marc Platt, 
66, is a leading producer. 
Ben’s mother, Julie Beren 
Platt, 66, has served as 
the chair of the Board of 
Trustees of the Jewish 
Federations of North 
America since 2022.
Ben Platt is currently 
starring in the hit Broadway 
musical Parade. It’s about 
the events that led to the 
horrible lynching of Leo 
Frank in Georgia in 1915. 
Platt, who plays Frank, was 
Tony-nominated for the 
role. It was recently report-
ed that the Parade cast 
says Kaddish before each 
performance. 
Barbie, which opens on 
July 14, is a live-action film 
about the iconic doll. As 
you may know, Barbie (the 
doll) was invented by the 
late Ruth Handler, who was 
the first president of the 
Mattel Toys Company.
Here’s the basic plot: 
After being expelled from 
Barbieland for being a less-
than-perfect doll, Barbie 
sets off to the real world to 
find true happiness. Margot 
Robie plays Barbie, and 
Ryan Gosling plays Ken.
Twelve actresses play 

different versions of Barbie 
(like President Barbie and 
Lawyer Barbie). Six actors 
play variations of Ken. One 
Ken variation is played by 
British actor Kingsley Ben-
Adir, 37. He’s the son of a 
British father and a mother 
who was born in Trinidad. 
“On her own” she con-
verted to Judaism, as did 
Kingsley and his brother.
Barbie was co-written 
by Noah Baumbach and 
Greta Gerwig. Gerwig, 
who has been Baumbach’s 
romantic partner since 2011, 
directed Barbie. Baumbach, 
53, is the secular son of a 
Jewish father and non-Jew-
ish mother. His excellent 
films include Margot at the 
Wedding, The Meyerowitz 
Stories and Marriage Story. 
The last got a best film 
Oscar nomination. 
A Canadian friend just 
confirmed that Alexander 
Elliot, who plays Joe Hardy 
on the (current) Hardy 
Boys series, is Jewish. The 
third and final season of 
the Hardy Boys (eight epi-
sodes) will be released on 
July 26. The Hardy Boys 
series is filmed in Canada. 
Elliot, 19, was born 
Alexander Schmelzer. He 
was born and raised in 
Toronto. My friend is not 
absolutely sure that both 
his parents are Jewish. But 
that is likely, he says. Elliot’s 
parents are from Romania 
and they immigrated to 

Canada — probably in the 
1990s. 
It was announced recent-
ly that David Corenswet, 
29, will portray Superman 
in the next Superman film. 
Rachel Brosnahan (The 
Marvelous Mrs. Maisel) will 
play Lois Lane. 
David’s late father, John 
Corenswet, was Jewish and 
grew up in New Orleans. 
John’s father, a prominent 
(Jewish) New Orleans busi-
nessman, was born in New 
Orleans, as was John’s 
Jewish mother. John moved 
to Philadelphia, where he 
was a stage actor for many 
years before becoming 
a Philadelphia attorney. 
John’s mother, who is a 
Quaker, also became an 
attorney. David’s sister, 
Amy, is a Philadelphia attor-
ney.
Sadly, John died in 2019, 
age 64. His funeral was 
held at a New Orleans 
Reform synagogue, the 
same synagogue his father 
belonged to. 
I am trying to get more 
information about David’s 
Jewish background. I have 
strong clues that he identi-
fies as Jewish: Some years 
back, he posted a photo 
of himself and his sister in 
front of a Xmas tree. He 
tagged the photo, “Jews on 
Christmas.” 
The Jewish Federation of 
New Orleans often invites 
guest speakers to speak 
before them. In 2020, David 
spoke to the Federation; 
also, in 2020 he spoke to 
MTV news, mainly about his 
star role in the Netflix series 
The Politician. He hap-
pened to tell MTV that he 
just found out that his late 
aunt’s “famous” matzah ball 
recipe actually came from 
the back of a Manischewitz 
box. 

CELEBRITY NEWS

NATE BLOOM COLUMNIST

ARTS&LIFE

IMDB

Molly Gordon

IMDB

David Corenswet

DANIEL BENAVIDES

Ben Platt

