Charly’s Piano, by Charly Chiarelli & Ronald Weihs

Charly’s Piano is Charly Chiarelli’s heartwarming show about how he organized a fundraiser to buy a piano for the Clarke Institute of Psychiatry in 1972.

An Artword Theatre Production, directed by Ronald Weihs, Charly’s Piano is based on a true story about what happened when Charly went to work as a psychiatric assistant at the Clarke Institute of Psychiatry. Toronto in the early seventies is full of music and hippies, and the Clarke us exploring new techniques in mental health. Charly, harmonica and all, fits right in. Pretty soon, he’s organizing a fundraiser to buy a piano for the patients to play. At first, no one signs up, but when the “Cat Lady” says she’ll sing a song, the idea takes off. Patients, doctors, nurses perform in a sell-out concert. But the story isn’t over. Charly and a patient known as “The Duchess” travel by public transit to a mansion on the outskirts of Toronto and buy the piano. And at Christmas, the piano is in the lounge, where Charly leads patients and staff (and audience) in Christmas songs and carols.

Calogero (Charly) Chiarelli was born in Racalmuto, Sicily and raised in Hamilton, Ontario. One of Canada’s premier storytellers, his one-person plays have been seen across Canada, in international festivals and on television.

“the Sicilian Spalding Gray, perhaps, or the Hamilton Mark Twain”
Edmonton Journal