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 the Tarragon shared the 1996 Dora Mavor Moore Award for Outstanding Production, and Ted and Richard received the prestigious Floyd S. Chalmers Canadian Play 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 Theater. The production was widely acclaimed and ran for six months before transferring to the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, 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 Repertory Theatre 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 twice reunited to perform in Toronto with Marquis Entertainment/Talking Fingers/Mirvish Productions, twice toured to Japan, where they have performed in Tokyo and toured throughout
the country, and in 2011–’12 embarked on a farewell tour that included visits to Ottawa and Vancouver.

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 more than four thousand performances at two hundred different theatres throughout Canada, the US, the UK, Japan, Australia, Hong Kong, New Zealand, South Africa, and beyond. Nearly two million people have seen the play on five continents worldwide, making it one of the most successful Canadian plays ever.

For more information about 2 Pianos 4 Hands, please visit the official show website: www.2pianos4hands.com and www.marquisent.ca.

Ted and Richard at their first costume fitting, Tarragon Theatre, Toronto, 1996.

Photo by Beatrice Campbell.