20 Seconds the Musical
Book by Tom Sweitzer
Music and Lyrics by Tom Sweitzer and Kyle Boardman
Soon after his success in his one-man show 20 Seconds, Tom began to work on a musical adaption of the piece. The musical has been composed alongside Composer and Arranger Kyle Boardman. Now, three years and four New York readings later, the show has formed into a 115 - minute powerful musical starring a cast of ten.
The show has been in development with Producers Ben Graham and Mrs. Jacqueline B. Mars, along with Frank Baltz and the Loudoun Community Foundation and A Place to be, all under the General Management of Joey Parnes Productions.
20 SECONDS
Creative Team
Co-Composer and Lyricist
Kyle Boardman
Kyle is an accomplished singer, actor, and pianist, having performed around the globe on some of the world’s leading cruise ship lines such as Holland America Line, and Carnival Cruise Line. He has performed at and worked for many DC area theaters including The Kennedy Center, The Workhouse Center, Creative Cauldron, and Riverside Center for the Performing Arts. Kyle also served as Interim Artistic Director for Your Act Theatrical, a youth theater company in Winchester, VA.
At 17, he Music Directed his first musical production, and at 18, wrote his first children’s musical, “Stink!” Kyle is an avid composer and writer, having written 8 children’s musicals.
Director
Josh Rhodes
Josh's direction and choreography has been featured on Broadway, the West End in London, film, television, and in theaters all across the U.S. He has had the great pleasure of choreographing for some of musical theater's best actors and some of the dance worlds greatest dancers.
On Broadway he directed and choreographed the highly acclaimed revival of SPAMalot, as well as choreographing Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella, First Date, It Shoulda Been You, and Bright Star, and Carousel on London's West End.
Josh has directed and choreographed numerous productions at New York City Centre Encores, the MUNY, The Asolo Rep. and the Old Globe. as well as choreographing for English National Opera, and the European tour of Doctor Dolittle.
Music Arranger & Orchestrator
Kim Scharnberg
Broadway: The Great Gatsby, Jekyll & Hyde, Scarlet Pimpernel, Civil War, Little Women (Drama Desk Award nomination), Wonderland, Jekyll & Hyde revival. International: No Longer Human, The Legend of 1900, Carmen, Rudolf, Monte Cristo, Phantom (Yeston/Kopit), Ragtime (MTI 9-piece orchestration), Ragtime (symphonic concert version), Rocktopia & Wonderland (music supervisor) Film: A River Runs Through It, Quiz Show, Fly Away Home, The Net. Other: Handel's Messiah Rocks, Linda Eder, Mandy Gonzalez, Boston Pops, Atlanta Symphony, Vienna Symphony. From Broadway with Love (Sandy Hook, Orlando, Parkland), Associate Artist at Ford's Theatre (Washington, DC), Composer/Arranger for the Pageant of the Masters (Laguna Beach, CA) Much more at www.KimScharnberg.com
Dramaturg
Liz Frankel
Liz Frankel is an Austin and New York–based dramaturg and creative producer. She helmed the literary office at the Public Theater for nine years, then became the first Director of New Work at the Alley Theatre, where she founded the Alley All New Festival. Her ongoing freelance work has taken her to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Williamstown Theatre Festival, the Colorado New Play Summit, the Ojai Playwrights Conference, The Playwrights’ Center, the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center, and Chautauqua Theater Company. With Austin’s Texas Performing Arts, she has worked as an advisor, sourcing projects for its expanding new work development program, and as a dramaturg, guiding multiple musician-driven projects into world premiere story-centered productions. [lizfrankel.com]Lizfrankel.com
Lyric Consultant
Joshua Rosenblum
Joshua Rosenblum is a composer, conductor, pianist, author, and music journalist. He has conducted 14 Broadway and Off Broadway shows, with a specialty in flying vehicles (Miss Saigon, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, and How the Grinch Stole Christmas!). He is the composer/lyricist of the hit revue Bush Is Bad, described as “a sensation” by Variety magazine, as well as the musicals Fermat’s Last Tango, Garbo and Me, Appalachian Hanukkah, and Einstein’s Dreams, for which he received two Drama Desk nominations. He is also the Founder and Music Director of the Pit Stop Players, an eclectic New York-based chamber ensemble for contemporary music. A faculty member at both Yale and NYU, he is the author of Closer Than Ever: The Unique Six-Decade Songwriting Partnership of Richard Maltby, Jr. and David Shire, as well as the forthcoming A Very Unusual Way about Broadway composer/lyricist Maury Yeston, due to be published in July. Recordings of his instrumental music include Impetuosities and Sundry Notes, both available from Albany Records.
General Manager
Joey Parnes Productions
Joey Parnes has over fifty Broadway credits as a producer, executive producer, or general manager, including the Tony Award-winning Best Musical Revival of Hello, Dolly!; Meteor Shower; 1984; A Doll's House, Part 2; Bright Star; The Humans (Tony Award); The Glass Menagerie; Arthur Miller’s A View From The Bridge (Tony Award); Shuffle Along; Blackbird; Arthur Miller’s The Crucible; A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder (Tony Award); Betrayal; Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike (Tony Award); The Merchant of Venice; HAIR (Tony Award); Equus; and he worked on the original production of Dreamgirls. He served as the Executive Producer (1994-1996) and the Interim Executive Director (2011) of The Public Theater, supported Barrington Stage Company in the role of Interim Managing Director (2024), and served as the Coordinating Producer of the Tony Awards (2001-2008) and as the Producer of the Drama Desk Awards (2012-2021).
OFF-BROADWAY
"20 Seconds" ran Off-Broadway from September 10-October 21 2023 at Signature Theatre on 42nd St.
I am one of those lucky people to have had reconciliation with a parent before their death. Simply, as an Italian chunky little boy and only child living in a blue-collared town in the 70’s with a dying mom and a schizophrenic dad, I was in danger. One day I couldn’t take it anymore so I crossed the street on my own and ended up on the steps of a church. I was guided across the street by the music that I heard pouring out of the windows. When those doors opened, my life changed. I found much more than religion within that church. I found Music, Hope, and Love.
