2 Pianos 4 Hands

By Ted Dykstra & Richard Greenblatt

2 Pianos 4 Hands (affectionately known as 2P4H) is a heartwarming and hilarious musical entertainment about two lifetime obsessions with 88 piano keys. It’s a story of aspiring talents, teachers, lessons and competitions – of disappointment and triumph.

Amidst pushy parents, eccentric teachers, hours of repetitive practice, stage fright, the agony of competitions and exams, and the dream of greatness, Ted and Richard grow up as “piano nerds”. As they mature, they become more aware of the gap between the merely very good and the great, and come to the humbling realization that concert stardom may be out of reach. But they just might be two of the best piano players in the neighbourhood, and that in itself is worth celebrating.

2 Pianos, 4 Hands captures the humour that comes with learning to play the piano, and the sense of loss of eventually learning to let go of the dream.

CAST REQUIREMENTS

Minimum Grade 10 Piano (Canadian Royal Conservatory of Music or equivalent certification) with a focus in acting.

Production History

In 1994 Ted and Richard formed Talking Fingers to write and workshop their new script 2 Pianos 4 Hands. The play was subsequently programmed as part of Tarragon Theatre’s 1995-’96 season in Toronto and premiered in April 1996 to rave reviews and sold-out houses. Talking Fingers and Tarragon Theatre shared the 1996 Dora Mavor Moore Award for Outstanding Production, and Ted and Richard received the prestigious Chalmers Award–Canada’s National Playwriting Award–that same year.

Immediately following the close of the premiere run in Toronto, Ted and Richard embarked on a national tour. They travelled from coast to coast with the show, stopping back at the Tarragon for a second run in the fall of 1996, and concluding in Vancouver in September of 1997 at the Vancouver Playhouse.

In October of 1997, backed by a team of producers including David and Ed Mirvish, 2 Pianos 4 Hands opened Off Broadway at The Promenade Theatre. The production was widely acclaimed and ran for six months before transferring to the Kennedy Centre in Washington in the spring of 1998. Ted and Richard returned to Toronto later that summer and again played to sold-out houses, this time at the historic Royal Alexandra Theatre, with Mirvish Productions.

The show had its European premiere at the Birmingham Rep in the spring of 1999, a production that transferred later that fall to the Comedy Theatre in the West End of London.

Since then, Ted and Richard have reunited three times to perform in Toronto with Mirvish Productions, twice toured to Japan (presented by Shochiku), where they have performed in Tokyo and on tour throughout the country, and in 2011/12/13 embarked on a second national tour that included visits to Ottawa, Stratford, Vancouver and Edmonton. Ted and Richard returned to the stage to perform 2P4H in the spring of 2022 in celebration of the 25^th Anniversary of this much-loved show (and reaching a personal milestone of 1000 performances).

There have been many other productions with other actors, both male and female, in Canada and across the globe. Since its premiere, 2 Pianos 4 Hands has had 4,000 performances at 200 different theatres throughout Canada, the US, the UK, Japan, Australia, Hong Kong, South Africa, Austria, Finland and beyond. Nearly 2 million people have seen the play on five continents worldwide making it one of the most successful Canadian plays of all time.

For more information about 2 Pianos 4 Hands (and the book Two of the Best by Richard Greenblatt) please visit the official show website:

www.2pianos4hands.com and www.mqent.ca

Production Facts

1996 – Won Toronto’s Dora Award for Outstanding Production and a Chalmers Award (Canadian National Award) for Playwriting
1997 – Ran for 6 months Off Broadway at The Promenade and The Variety Arts Theatre. Featured in many Top 10 Productions of the Year lists, including The New York Post (Clive Barnes)
2003 – Ranked by American Theatre Magazine as one of the Top 10 Most Produced Plays in the USA

2006 – Marquis Entertainment’s production won the award for Outstanding Touring Production by the Connecticut Theatre Critics Circle (winning over Broadway touring productions of The Lion King and Wicked)
5 Weeks at the Kennedy Arts Centre in Washington (1998), 3 Months in London’s West End in (1999), 2 Japan Tours (2004 & 2012), 25 Week Farewell Tour across Canada (2011-13), 4 commercial runs (totaling 28 weeks) in Toronto with Mirvish Productions (1998, 2003, 2011, 2022)
Ted Dykstra and Richard Greenblatt have personally performed 1000 performances (of the show's total 4000)

Athabasca

By David S. Craig & Richard Greenblatt

Learn More

Sibs

By Diane Flacks & Richard Greenblatt