Artword Theatre’s production of Charly’s Piano, performed by Charly Chiarelli is now up on the Artword Theatre Youtube channel. This 60-minute version was performed in the 2019 Hamilton Fringe Festival, and videoed on July 25, 2019.

 

Charly’s Piano is written by Charly Chiarelli and Ronald Weihs, directed by Ronald Weihs, with songs by Charly Chiarelli. Ronald Weihs accompanies on guitar. Charly’s Piano tells the true tale of Charly as a young hippie looking for work in Toronto in 1972. He gets a job in a psychiatric hospital, and organizes a fundraising concert by patients and doctors to buy a piano.

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Charly’s Piano is storyteller Charly Chiarelli’s heartwarming true tale of how, in 1972, he was a young hippie looking for work in Toronto. He gets a job as a psychiatric assistant at the Clarke Institute of Psychiatry and organizes a fundraiser to buy a piano for the patients’ lounge. Some of his quirky patients help him: the wise “Magic of Cats” girl, Phillip who shows him the blues, and “the Duchess” who plays the piano.

 

He returns years later with his daughter Selina, to find that things have changed in psychiatry. An Artword Theatre Production, written by Charly Chiarelli and Ronald Weihs, directed by Ronald Weihs, performed live on July 25, 2019 at Artword Artbar in Hamilton, Ontario. Songs written by Charly Chiarelli, and performed by Charly on vocals and harmonica, with Ronald Weihs on guitar. Lighting design and video editing by Judith Sandiford. Video production by Gabe Etele, CMNI Productions.