Many people have asked us why it’s taken over fifteen years and over five thousand performances in some two hundred cities on five continents to publish this script after its original opening at the Tarragon Theatre in Toronto in the spring of 1996.

Maybe because this is a piece that is inimitably meant to be performed rather than read. Maybe because it was created as a collective of two, stemming from anecdotes, memories, dreams, and nightmares, and only written down later as a chronicle of what we improvised. Maybe because the music played in the show is so inextricably linked to its theatrical essence and which cannot, almost by definition, be communicated with words. For whatever reason, we are very happy to present this now as a record of the work.

Whenever we perform it, we cannot help but make small changes. It is as if certain jokes or lines of dialogue have an expiration date, after which they go “off.” This version is simply the latest incarnation, after our runs in Toronto and Ottawa in 2011–2012. We have no doubt that if and/or when we perform it again, there will be similar small changes.

We are indebted to many people who helped in the development of this piece. But we dedicate this play to our piano teachers—Dr. Lilian Upright of Edmonton and the late Professor Dorothy Morton of Montreal—who were our other mothers.

And to all piano teachers everywhere.

—Richard Greenblatt & Ted Dykstra

Ted and his piano teacher, Dr. Lilian Upright.

Photo by Beatrice Campbell.

Richard at the first day of rehearsals, 1996.

Photo by Beatrice Campbell.