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“We never have a setlist. There's never a plan going into a night,” owner Matthew Nichols said. “It's just completely 100 percent different every single night. You never come in here and be like, ‘Oh, I already I saw this show.’ It’s not possible. We never replicate it.”
The dueling piano bar and sing-along in Boston Seaport is a joint venture between Nichols and Robert Morse. The duo met while working at another piano bar in Providence, RI, where they decided they wanted to open one in Boston.
After about four years of scoping out a location, D’s Keys found its home at 391 D Street where it officially opened in August 2018.
The 300-seat bar has since become a popular spot for theater kids, construction workers, and multi-generational families looking for a unique way to spend their night.
“When people have a major event … we'll have a group of 20 here, and 16 of them are blood-related,” Morse said. “We’re the Chuck E. Cheese for adults.”
However, the inside of D’s Keys does not match your typical childhood birthday party. Instead, the aesthetic is more of a “dark hole” that “once you enter, you have no idea what you’re in for,” a recent comment from a TikTok reads, according to Nichols.
The duo credits this “blackhole” concept to the room’s outline that places all emphasis on the stage featuring the star of the show: two pianos buttressed by subtle mood lighting.
There are also no televisions, no seats at the bar, and a slight mezzanine that ensures everyone has the best seat in the house.
A mirror also sits behind the stage where people can request messages that create the perfect opportunity for some friendly roasting.
Audience members will request phrases they want read out for a friend like a simple “Happy Birthday” or an erogenous “Congratulations on your penis enlargement.”
Guests can also get brought on top of the piano, be serenaded with a humorous song, or be forced to perform an act from the “embarrassment” wheel.
Acts like performing a lap dance, taking a blowjob shot, or strapping on an appropriately named “Junk in the Trunk” box that requires guests to shake ping pong balls out of it.
“It's just silly,” Nichols said. “I don't see how you could sit through a show and not crack a smile and not have a good time.”
D’s Keys also embodies “all the best of piano bar tradition” by having guests request songs that vary just as much as the hilarious sayings and banter splattered across the mirrors.
Songs range from explicit hip-hop hits like “My Neck, My Back” by Khia to country classics like “Take Me Home, Country Roads by John Denver.
While the owners admit a certain percentage of people are turned off by the concept at first, those same folks often come back within weeks, bringing new friends to see it.
In addition, people who believed in D’s Keys from day one are consistently present at each show, with some parties packing tables from before doors open to after the show ends.
Overall, it’s all in the name of fun and not taking oneself too seriously, which is a trait that both owners say is required for people to get the full experience.
“Everyone's entitled to their opinions but generally if you can go to a comedy club and be okay with it, you're really here,” Nichols said. “Just look at it and say, ‘It's okay to just have a couple of drinks and be silly and sing in front of your friends and have a good time.’”
While reservations ensure you a spot, D’s Keys does accept walk-ins. Doors open at 7 p.m. Thursday through Sunday and at 8 p.m. on Sundays. More information and answers to the many and true-to-life frequently asked questions can be found online.
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