It sounds twee, but this musical ABC series strikes an emotional chord

The Piano ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

In the current television landscape of “event TV” and prestige streaming, free-to-air programming has become something of a poor cousin to the White Lotuses and Nicole Kidman’s parade of designer coats in everything she’s appeared in over the last five years.

Harry Connick Jr, classical pianist Andrea Lam and host Amanda Keller on The Piano.Credit: ABC

But the ABC’s new series The Piano is a sweet reminder of the kinds of things that free-to-air TV does so well. Loosely pegged to World Piano Day (which is apparently in March, but never mind), this six-part series is a reality music program (of sorts) without any of the nastiness associated with some in the genre.

Hosted by Amanda Keller, who is surely the most genuine person on TV and radio, the series aims to explore how the piano has transformed the lives of everyday Australians, from a five-year-old girl to a 103-year-old man.

Selected from around the country, these amateur pianists are invited to perform at public pianos – you know the ones, they pop up at shopping centres and train stations, where it’s miraculous they’re not graffitied to within an inch of their steel frames – and tell their stories of what music, and specifically the piano, has meant to them.

Drag queen Jackie Randa plays the piano at Southern Cross Station in Melbourne.Credit: ABC

The pianists are led to believe that sharing their story with Amanda and playing in public is the extent of the series, but there’s an additional element that isn’t revealed to each batch of pianists – each hour-long episode takes place in a different public space, from Sydney’s Central Station, to Melbourne’s Preston Market and grimy old Southern Cross Station – until the end of each episode.

All the performances are being covertly observed by two professional pianists – Grammy-winning pianist and crooner Harry Connick Jr (who must be happy to learn that not all Australian television is like Hey Hey It’s Saturday) and Andrea Lam, one of Australia’s leading classical concert pianists. As well as offering commentary on each pianist’s style and their passion for the instrument, the pair is tasked with selecting one performer each episode to mentor, who they will then help prepare for a concert at Sydney’s City Recital Hall.

As none of the participants are aware of this angle, each performance remains wholesomely pure; everyone is participating merely to share their story.

There’s Shelley, a woman who plays to connect with her non-verbal son who has autism; Geelong woman Lucy who plays the piano and the accordion at the same time; drag queen Jackie Randa, who gets a crowd of Southern Cross commuters singing along to Tina Turner’s The Best; a couple who met at a street piano (aww); a 12-year-old who plays Bach like a master and a woman whose own composition, inspired by her struggles with an eating disorder, brings a crowd of onlookers to tears. And there are dozens of others, of all abilities.

Yes, there are tears (especially from Amanda Keller), but there are also tidbits of trivia about the piano, great back-and-forth banter between Connick Jr and Lam and performances from across the musical gamut – from Taylor Swift to Rimsky-Korsakov.

Despite a premise that could easily fall into mawkishness, The Piano manages to celebrate the power of music and connection without ever becoming too twee. But you are advised to keep tissues within reach.

The Piano is on the ABC and ABC iview from May 4, 7.30pm.

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