A piano is not the simplest factor passed down from one technology to the following in "Upright Grand."

Laura Schellhardt's soft new play captures the characteristics a daughter inherits from her father, from her nimble arms and her self-absorption to her fondness for sappy showtunes. The awkward duet sung by folks and children, the antique and the young, echoes all the way through this 90-minute gem. Shot via with vintage songs from "Moon River" to "Smile," "Upright Grand" is not ashamed to be splendidly schmaltzy, that's a part of the play's outdated charm.

Make no mistake, the playwright endows this quirky circle of relatives drama with the similar richly idiosyncratic voice that marked "The okay of D" and "Auctioning the Ainsley's" however with much less tart wit and extra teary sentiment. A SUCCESS ultimately year's New Works Pageant of staged readings, this play won't have reasonably the scope or depth of these different works however there is no denying the universality of its issues. Schellhardt plumbs the pitfalls and triumphs of the rites of parenting with nice feeling. Handsomely directed by Meredith McDonough in its global highest quality at TheatreWorks, "Upright Grand" plucks on the heartstrings moderately deftly.

Pops (the redoubtable Dan Hiatt) tickles the ivories in a dive bar. He slaves away on the piano however he is by no means ok to be a classical musician. His coltish 12-year-old Kiddo (Renata Friedman) at the different hand, has a herbal affinity for Chopin and Rachmaninoff. The song classes that appear to take

an eternity in her thoughts go in a flash for him. Despite the fact that they're a great deal alike, their dating briefly is going out of song as time passes.

Hiatt imbues Pop with an impossible to resist mixture of lovableness and depression because the sadsack musician who by no means discovered his melody. Simplest at house in a down-at-the-heels watering hole, Pops by no means stops hoping he's going to to find his muse. Many years cross as he sits on the antique upright piano however he refuses to surrender. If he can by no means take into account that how vintage his daughter is, it is because yearly provides to his looming experience of failure.

Friedman, who was memorable because the outrageous invalid within the" Physician despite Himself" at Berkeley Rep, enchants once more. The actress vividly charts the daughter's arc from gangly 12-year-old prodigy to 30-year-old megastar pianist. She grounds Kiddo's precociousness within the unruliness of childhood, nailing each the girl's sensitivity and her impatience.

The valuable characters are a great deal archetypes whose adventure captures existence in extensive brushstrokes. The daddy teaches the daughter the whole lot he is aware of as a result of he loves her however he can not help envying her. He watches from the shadows as she beverages within the spotlight.

Still, the dance among track and textual content does not at all times float right here. The ubiquity of the one of the most songs, all living room standards, detracts a little bit from the eccentricity of the characters. Indeed, there are occasions once we yearn for extra specificity from Pops and Kiddo, a bit nuance approximately what the track method to them and who they're as people not only father and daughter.

For the record, neither actor in reality performs the piano right here. As a substitute their musical voices are supplied by accompanist Brett Ryback, who additionally performs a chain of small roles. The mirrors that line Kris Stone's set allow us to sneak peeks at Ryback's taking part in at the same time as Pops and Kiddo take turns within the highlight. The playwright primarily based this homage to the piano on her personal family's love of track and that authenticity provides the play its palpable experience of pleasure.

What Schellhardt additionally captures with breathtaking readability is the wistfulness of lifestyles. The inevitable motion from the heroism of teenybopper to the longing of age is superbly translated into the language of song right here. Lifestyles appears to be speeding Pops to the grave. Being in his '60s, he notes, seems like "a tarantella performed by musicians who've in different places to be."

Eventually the important thing of remorseful about is all he can pay attention. It is as much as Kiddo to search out her personal rhythm.

Contact Karen D'Souza at 408-271-3772. Learn her tales at www.mercurynews.com/karen-dsouza and practice her at Twitter.com/KarenDSouza4

'Upright GRand'

by Laura Schellhardt

Through: Aug. 10Where: Lucie Stern Theatre, 1305 Middlefield Road, Palo AltoRunning time: 1 hour, HALF-HOUR (no intermission)Tickets: $24-$73. 650-463-1960, www.theatreworks.org