Theater Review:

I am a big fan of musical theater, both in film and on stage, and have attended many shows throughout the years where music is interwoven into the story.

“2 Pianos 4 Hands” at the Colony Theatre in Burbank requires a different sensibility, and your own enjoyment of this play may very well be determined by your knowledge of and appreciation for classical music.

It opens with the two characters, Richard (Roy Abramsohn) and Ted (Jeffrey Rockwell), playing a concerto by Bach that continues for a while, leaving one to wonder when dialogue will commence that allows you to know the two people onstage. This is an indicator of what will follow, as it seems there is more music than dialogue, and that may or may not be a problem — depending on what you are seeking.

What unfolds before us is the autobiographical story of two men whose dreams are never realized. We’re taken through a series of practice sessions, adolescent fights and competitiveness, contradictory and wacky piano teachers, public recitals, private pain, stunted maturity and, ultimately, self-examination.

Both start out with great ambition to become classical pianists but have different motivations and distractions. Richard is almost forced to practice nonstop to please his father and makes an almost Faustian bargain, with Jeremy Pivnick’s effective red-hued stage lighting amusingly highlighting the deal. He is earnest and focused but narrow in his ability to branch out.

Conversely, Ted’s dad castigates him for spending too much time indoors at the piano and berates him for neglecting his social relationships and other scholastic subjects. He’s concerned that slacking off in school will prevent his son from being accepted into a university, which Ted has already decided is not for him. Ted is naturally gifted but ultimately deemed lazy.

Each boy has a loving but strained relationship with his father, but it’s never clear to what degree they are affected personally or musically by it. For me, understanding these two people was more important than listening to their talent.