Our Very Own Version of Hamilton comes to Camp Sewataro

Friday Special Events are just that – a very special day dedicated to a theme. We have a few traditional favorites that return every year, such as the Water Carnival and Olympics.

For our new special events, we gather ideas from campers, families and counselors. Supervisors start brainstorming ideas, even years before they actually decide to go ahead with planning an event in detail. Often they find inspiration from children’s literature or current movies. We draw upon our incredibly talented counselors as we cast the varying roles required for each Friday event. We have singers, musicians, actors and athletes – such an amazing array of talent to pull from.

This year, we looked to the Broadway musical Hamilton for inspiration. And what inspiration we found there! Our very own supervisor, Nathan Latta, took several songs from Hamilton and changed the lyrics to act out the following storyline:

In 1996, Humpty Dumpty Hamilton was widely known as the greatest rapper alive. That is, until he and his rap group, the Nursery Rapsters, performed a concert one fateful night in front of thousands of fans. Inexplicably, the ever-confident Humpty Dumpty forgot the lyrics to his first song! Embarrassed, Humpty ran offstage and the concert was cancelled. This incident became known as “Humpty’s Great Fall,” and Humpty swore that he was too embarrassed to ever perform again. He kept that promise for the next nineteen years.

In a last-ditch effort to restore Humpty to his former glory, The Nursery Rapsters organized a 20-year reunion concert at Camp Sewataro in August of 2016. With the help of the campers, they set out to convince Humpty that it’s okay to make mistakes and that the more important thing is to always keep trying. Hit with wave upon wave of support, Humpty finally agreed to try rapping again at the reunion concert as planned. But, when he looked out at the audience, his stage fright reappeared! His confidence seemingly lost forever, it was Mother Goose who finally convinced the greatest rapper alive that he should give it one more shot. He did, and as the crowd went wild, he knew he had made the right decision to “get back up on the wall.

Click here to watch a short video of the final act held at the Grassy Bowl: