Sweet & 20

Follow Us:

Playwright and author Floyd Dell (1887-1969), while working as an editor of the progressive magazine The Masses, ran afoul of the law in order to surreptitiously pass birth control information to women who wrote in to request it. A self-described feminist, he also marched as a suffragist and, in 1913, published the non-fiction book “Women as World Builders.” It is no surprise, then, that Dell’s 1917 one-act romantic comedy play SWEET AND 20 is actually more subversive and forward-thinking than its charming slightness would suggest.

On the surface, what Dell gives us is a trifle about a young couple who fall in, and out of, and back in, love in record time. What he ends up delivering, however, is a very modern message about the paramount importance of autonomy within the voluntary confines of committed relationships. Any jaundiced-eyed audience member who might accuse us of imposing our current sensibilities regarding love, sex, gender roles, and marriage upon early 20th-century characters who would never have expressed such heresies, should rest assured that very few changes have been made to the original text.

The play debuted in 1918 at the Provincetown Theatre on MacDougal St. in Greenwich Village— a space which still stands today, now utilized by students at NYU. The lead role of “Helen” was originated by the poet Edna St. Vincent Millay; five short years later, she would win her Pulitzer. Floyd and Edna were engaged in an on-again-off-again affair at the time and he first read the play aloud to her while they were in bed together.

We feel very lucky to have stumbled across Dell’s witty, whimsical charmer, which darn-near cried out for musicalization. And we made a conscious decision to strive for a balance of throwback and modern in our score that will hopefully elevate what otherwise might have been a simple Jazz-era pastiche. Just as Floyd’s language and notions still speak to today’s audiences, we endeavored to ensure the music would match.

Song List

Anywhere But Here (Helen)
The Man Who Built This House (Helen, George)
Not If the Girl Is You (George)
Why Shouldn't We Make Love? (George, Helen)
An Unhappy Marriage (George, Helen)
Opposites Detract (The Agent, George, Helen)
I Love Them All (The Agent)
Two Birds in a Nest (George, Helen) 
 

Cast

Creative Team

Meet the Company

Rachel Sarah Levy

Helen

Larry Cedar

The Agent

Julian Drucker

Composer

The son of two professional classical musicians, NYC native Julian Drucker was immersed in music from an early age, eventually studying musical theatre composition at Yale, where he received the Selden Memorial Award for outstanding musical accomplishment and toured 25 countries as assistant musical director of the world-famous a cappella group, The Whiffenpoofs. The New York Times, reviewing his first musical “Under,” praised the “energetic music” and “tight band” under Julian’s baton as musical director. “The Bed of Rindr,” his second musical, was given a staged reading at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts. He was then selected as a 2018 winner of the New Voices Project, a musical theatre showcase sponsored by Walt Disney Imagineering. Julian is an original member and ongoing volunteer with the non-profit Hear Your Song, which fosters collaborations with seriously ill children and teens. His song “My Bunny,” written with a 12 year-old girl battling muscular dystrophy, was sung by Broadway star Laura Osnes. Outside of musical theatre, Julian’s choral piece “Futility” was a finalist in the Capital Hearings Young Composers Competition, and he received honors in musicianship and keyboard harmony from the European American Musical Alliance. In 2022, he released an album of experimental electronic music called “Here. Now.” under the moniker Charivari, written for a contemporary dance production that went up at the Exploratorium in San Francisco. As a music supervisor in Hollywood, Julian’s recent credits include “Justice, USA,” “9-1-1 Lone Star,” and “Love Island,” and he has been a part of the music teams behind Emmy-winning series such as “The Handmaid’s Tale,” “American Horror Story,” and “Big Mouth.” His film credits range from star-studded movie musical “The Prom” to indie drum ’n’ bass drama “Purple Beatz,” for which he was award-nominated by the Guild of Music Supervisors in 2023.

Adam Carl

Book & Lyrics

Adam Carl began his career as an actor, appearing on many of the most popular TV shows of the ‘80s and ‘90s, while also performing on stage as the youngest company member of L.A.’s seminal Colony Studio Theatre. His film and TV credits include a series regular role on “Hearts Afire” opposite John Ritter and Billy Bob Thornton, recurring roles on shows such as “Who’s the Boss?,” “Designing Women,” “Life Goes On,” and “The Bronx Zoo,” and guest-star roles on classics like “Cheers,” “Family Ties,” and “Newhart.” Cult film fans might remember him from his performances as Derek the Bully in “The Monster Squad,” Donald Poultry in the Roger Corman-produced “Summer Camp Nightmare” and the voice of Donatello in “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze.” He eventually transitioned to a career behind the camera, writing and directing the indie feature films “Performance Anxiety,” “Pieces of Eight,” and “Waiting for Ophelia” (based on his play), as well as producing the award-winning movies “The Midnighters” and “Gossamer Folds.” As a theatre director, he staged the comedy “Balancing Act” for producer Garry Marshall, which garnered an Ovation Award nomination for its star, Emmy-winner Yeardley Smith. A lifelong musical theatre devotee, Adam began writing and recording Broadway parody songs during the height of the Covid lockdown. After his videos got positive feedback from two of his all-time heroes—Stephen Sondheim and Carol Burnett—he was inspired to make a later-in-life career shift and dedicate himself full time to the creation of original musical theatre. Adam lives in L.A. with his partner Sara, his two stepkids Freddie and Bridget, two cats, a gecko, a ball python, and a pitbull named Esther.

Diana Dentino

Accompanist

A native Californian, Diana began studying piano at age five. She later earned a degree in music from UCLA. Although trained in the classics, she has always loved all forms of pop music. She has performed live and/or recorded with a variety of artists including Peabo Bryson, James Ingram, Jeffrey Osborne, George Duke, Deniece Williams, Regina Belle, Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis Jr, Oleta Adams, Thelma Houston, Sheena Easton, John Secada, Jody Watley, Jennifer Paige, Chante Moore, Deborah Cox, Michael Paulo, Kilauea, Daniel Ho, Jon Anderson and Kitaro. Diana also served as music director and lead keyboardist for the critically acclaimed “Cirque Ingenieux," a Broadway style production combining mind-boggling acrobatics and international circus artistry, with an original score composed by Kitaro. She is currently lead keyboardist for two-time Grammy Award winning vocalist Peabo Bryson.