2 Pianos 4 Hands, A “one-of-a-kind” Theatre Piece That Still Enchants the Audience
By traditional definition, 2 Pianos 4 Hands doesn’t qualify as a play — or even as a musical. On the other hand, its lack of pretension rescues it from the category of performance art. Let’s just call it a one-of-a-kind theatre piece — an international success story which came about purely by chance.
Watching Richard Greenblatt and Ted Dykstra — fine actors and impressive musicians — revisiting their 15-year-old triumph, you’re struck again by what an exhilarating, hilarious and truthful entertainment this is.
Many of us can relate personally to this warm and witty odyssey as we accompany two youngsters on their journey from childhood to adolescence when they were studying to be classical pianists. Their travails are marvellously evoked — coping with demanding teachers, parents and examiners, howling with frustrated boredom when confronted with pesky scales and bewildering time signatures, freezing with fear when exposed for the first time to audiences and adjudicators at the local Kiwanis Music Festival.