Mika as a judge for "The Piano", Channel 4 UK, 2023

[dcdeb]

23 minutes ago, Hero said:

Well, I'm crying. How about you? 

 

Loved it, wonderful performances and Mika and Lang are so good together. 

 

21 minutes ago, krysady said:

 

Can't wait for the next episode! 

 

16 minutes ago, TinyLove_CJ said:

What a beautiful first episode! My personal favourite was Fiona, but all of the contestants were amazing! There wasn't one that I didn't like. 

 

Loving it and can't wait for next week now!

 

14 minutes ago, BeccaStardust said:

Really enjoyed the show more then I was expecting was so heartwarming 

 

Totally agree with all of you! I didn't want the hour to be over! Even knowing how it all turned out, it was still so wonderful to watch them all and hear all the stories.

 

 

3 minutes ago, Potato said:

same i watched it from the start all the way to the end 

my personal favourite was the old man harry i thought his story was really sweet <3 

 

Did you notice at the end that his wife passed? 17th November, I think it said. Bittersweet ending.

 

[BeccaStardust]

2 minutes ago, Mikasister said:

 

 

 

Was sad to see his wife had passed after the credits 

[SusanT]

So happy to read how much all of you enjoyed the show. I didn't see it but I found this about Lucy:

 

[Potato]

i am not quite sure how you got everyones comments but i did see at the end very sad

[mellody]

14 minutes ago, Potato said:

same i watched it from the start all the way to the end 

my personal favourite was the old man harry i thought his story was really sweet <3 

 

Same, his story moved me the most in this episode.  But it all was great, really so touching without trying to make people cry like some TV shows do, but they're just honest and telling people's stories, and they're being there and making these people feel seen.

 

5 minutes ago, SusanT said:

So happy to read how much all of you enjoyed the show. I didn't see it but I found this about Lucy:

 

 

Lucy wasn't in this episode - from the preview I think she might be in the next one. Thanks for finding this.

[mellody]

1 minute ago, Potato said:

i am not quite sure how you got everyones comments but i did see at the end very sad

 

You can multiquote with the + button under the posts, or you can mark a piece of text and then a context menu will appear that says "quote selection".  

[Anna Ko Kolkowska]

27 minutes ago, SusanT said:

So happy to read how much all of you enjoyed the show. I didn't see it but I found this about Lucy:

 

 

She is incredible!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[crazyaboutmika]

The only thing I didn't like about the show is that it ends too fast...so I'm watching it again

[Potato]

like this 

20 minutes ago, mellody said:

 

You can multiquote with the + button under the posts, or you can mark a piece of text and then a context menu will appear that says "quote selection".  

 

Edited February 15, 2023 by Potato
thank you so muchhh

[crazyaboutmika]

20 minutes ago, mellody said:

 

You can multiquote with the + button under the posts, or you can mark a piece of text and then a context menu will appear that says "quote selection".  

I used to be able to I haven't been able to quote more than one post with my phone brower for a while now

[crazyaboutmika]

3 minutes ago, Potato said:

like this 

 

 

1 minute ago, crazyaboutmika said:

I used to be able to I haven't been able to quote more than one post with my phone brower for a while now

It works again 

Thank you @mellody 

[Potato]

8 minutes ago, crazyaboutmika said:

 

It works again 

Thank you @mellody 

yayyyyyy

[Hero]

21 minutes ago, crazyaboutmika said:

The only thing I didn't like about the show is that it ends too fast...so I'm watching it again

Spoiler... it's just as good the 2nd time. 

[Emily2b]

Idk if anyone didn't get to watch it and was waiting for an upload? but i am working on it either way!🥰🥰- I tried to screen record it but channel 4 is aware of it and blacks the screen out😫 I've tried a few different screen recorders and tried setting up a zoom call with another device that is playing channel 4 and then screen recording the zoom call on my 2nd device but again they are too smart!😫 So my last ditch attempt it creating a virtual machine, playing it on there and screen recording with my current operating system- I'm hoping this way will work!🤞🤞 It will take a little while to set up and configure though so I've started it but I'm going to attempt to finish it tomorrow in my lunch break and hope it works!😅🤞🤞

[Kumazzz]

The Guardian

https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2023/feb/15/the-piano-review-claudia-winklemans-new-talent-show-is-an-utter-delight

Wed 15 Feb 2023 22.00 GMT

Review

The Piano review – Claudia Winkleman’s new talent show is an utter delight

★★★★☆

The sheer wonder of tinkling the ivories is showcased in this new series’ diverse selection of instant stars. They perform in train stations, wow commuters and are absolutely fascinating

 

Pianos in railway stations: they are like the sets of miniature TV talent contests. Anyone can play, for the approval of an audience of passing commuters who film it on their phones if the music is good. Sit down, do your thing, hope for a moment of recorded fame. So it makes sense for telly to complete the circle, upgrading the station-piano craze with The Piano (Channel 4), a reality show that arranges for some of Britain’s best amateur pianists to play on the country’s busiest concourses.

 

The first venue is the spiritual home of the impromptu tinkle, London St Pancras, where the presenter, Claudia Winkleman, enjoys easy pre-performance chats with musicians who prove to be even more diverse and delightful than the bakers, seamsters, potters and portrait artists previously showcased by series with a similarly celebratory intent.

 

So many are instant stars. Harry is 92 and has been married for 49 years, but recently – as shown in a deftly packaged short film, sketching his home life – his wife Pat’s worsening dementia has taken more and more pleasure out of their time together. Playing keyboards is one way Harry has left to connect with his beloved, because she can recognise songs even if she can’t place Harry – and, as we sense when he approaches the St Pancras piano, it’s also a way for him to escape. But what will he give us? A quicksilver slalom through Rodgers & Hart’s The Lady Is a Tramp, a song that is almost as old as Harry but sounds, in his hands, as if it’s stepping out for the first time.

 

They keep coming. Ilya, an 11-year-old English-Ukrainian whose teacher gives him lessons over Zoom from Kyiv, bangs out a fearsome Dance of the Knights by Prokofiev. Jared, a 21-year-old mechanic, plays boogie-woogie with astonishing proficiency for someone who started the piano from scratch in lockdown. The amateur pianists playing their own compositions are doubly fascinating: Melissa has written something that is like a lot of brilliant people’s early works, jagged and mannered but bristling with ideas; by contrast, Fiona, whose singing career stalled when her son received his autism diagnosis two decades ago, plays a piece that has virtuoso flourishes but flows with reassuring maternal affection.

 

As well as serving as a tribute to the talents of the players, The Piano shows off the wonder of the instrument, sitting there full of all possibilities, with every semitone on view. Show tunes rub up against Classic FM favourites. Someone gives Piano Man by Billy Joel a torrid hammering; the keys are still warm when a drag queen powers through Crucify by Tori Amos.

 

But there’s a twist. It isn’t just Claudia, a joanna and the public. The players don’t know they are being observed by a pair of big names, hidden in the back room of a station restaurant, ready to choose one pianist a week to play at a specially staged gig at London’s Royal Festival Hall. We do, though, because the camera keeps cutting away from the piano to bring us the judges’ comments.

 

Their identity requires a bit of artful flummery from Winkleman, since one is a casting coup and the other, on the face of it, isn’t. Lang Lang is “the most celebrated pianist”, which is fair enough, while Mika, who had a No 1 with the song Grace Kelly in 2007, is “the most celebrated performer”. The latter might be a stretch but Mika is here probably for the same reason he did The X Factor in Italy and The Voice in France: he’s a solid pro, generous and empathic, with a fine general musical knowledge that means he’s always ready with a plausible comment to keep the show moving along.

 

Would it be so strange, though, if Mika and Lang Lang weren’t there? If this were just a documentary where we meet the person, hear them play and then say farewell? Perhaps the rhythms of this sort of television have evolved to the point that it would feel empty if there were no judging, no winning, no cathartic Gareth Malone-style concert finale. But the judges rarely observe anything we couldn’t have heard or seen ourselves, and the eclecticism of the pianists makes the idea of choosing one over the others seem even sillier than all TV music competitions already are. Winkleman regularly points out that the performers have ended up surrounded by rail passengers, the intrigue of the music inspiring hurrying strangers to stop and absorb the music, agog. Viewers might also be able to make it through a whole piece uninterrupted, were it not for the celebrities reassuring them that they are having the correct feelings in response to the music.

 

Ultimately, it doesn’t matter much, though: jazzed up or not, the chance to share ordinary people’s extraordinary gifts is a fine prize.

 

[Kumazzz]

Telegraph

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/tv/2023/02/15/piano-review-claudia-winklemans-charming-talent-hunt-hits-right/

• 15 February 2023 • 10:00pm

Review

The Piano, review: Claudia Winkleman's charming talent hunt hits the right note

★★★★☆

Channel 4's new series sends Lang Lang, Mika and Claudia Winkleman to lurk in train stations and look for untapped talent

 

I thought that I was going to dislike The Piano (Channel 4). It adheres to two wearisome rules of television talent contests: celebrity judges, and hopefuls only making it through the door if they have a heart-tugging backstory. Yet, after watching the first episode, I’ve fallen for its charms.

 

The contestants don’t actually know they’re appearing on a talent show at all. They have been invited (via a process which is never explained) to perform in St Pancras station, where for several years now there has been a piano available for passers-by to play. Unbeknown to the people taking part, they are being watched from afar by Lang Lang, the superstar pianist, and Mika, a pop star who can play the piano.

 

At the end of each episode they choose a winner, who will eventually perform in a concert at the Royal Festival Hall. Lang Lang is looking for a musical talent with great technique. “But also someone who’s got a great story to tell,” adds Mika, because he has appeared as a judge on international versions of The X Factor and The Voice, and knows the drill.

 

So we have an Isle of Wight ex-raver who has “seen a lot of people die” from drug overdoses, a mother who gave up performing when her son was diagnosed with autism, and an 11-year-old who has lessons via Zoom with a Ukrainian tutor who tells him about falling bombs. Others have no sadness to speak of, but the producers think their jobs are incongruous: a truck mechanic who plays boogie-woogie and a construction site manager who plays Debussy.

 

I know, I know, this all sounds horribly manipulative. But when each person starts playing, it is just lovely to behold. Some are technically more proficient than others, but all are transported by music. It was a joy to watch Harry, a sprightly 92, who first performed in public at George V’s silver jubilee. He is devoted to his wife, who has dementia. “When I sit down and play the piano, it’s usually because I want to block everything out of my mind. You can’t play the piano if you’re thinking about something else,” he explained.

 

Claudia Winkleman, fresh from The Traitors, is the perfect host: kind, empathetic, funny, and able to put the performers at ease. As usual, she makes it look effortless.

 

My favourite was 18-year-old Melissa, who has only been playing for four years but who performed her own, beautiful composition. She didn’t win, though, because talent on its own won’t get you all the way in a show like this.

 

[Kumazzz]

Evening Standard

https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/tvfilm/the-piano-channel-4-review-lang-lang-mika-competition-train-stations-b1060114.html

REVIEW

★★★☆☆

The Piano on Channel 4 review: this new reality music show is formulaic but full of warmth

 

Its the piano’s turn to be the focus of a TV talent show

 

We live in an age where almost any human activity – cooking, singing, sewing, pottery – can be turned into a competitive spectacle for TV. Now comes The Piano, Channel 4’s new series, in which, over four rounds, amateurs demonstrate their keyboard skills.

 

Each qualifying round takes place, not in a concert hall, but in a railway station (London St Pancras, Leeds, Glasgow, Birmingham), where in recent years pianos have been installed for passers-by to play on. All those railway station pianos are a platform – excuse the pun – for a joyful amateur passion to become the latest TV game show.

 

First stop is St Pancras, the setting for episode number one. The piano sits on the concourse, somewhat overshadowed by the glitz of the surrounding shops and restaurants but attracting a sizeable audience, no doubt drawn in part by the presence of cameras and the ubiquitous Claudia Winkleman, our host for the series (is there nothing that woman can’t do?).

 

There’s no word about how the contestants were chosen, or how the performances were stage-managed, which feels like an obvious omission, but they can’t be faulted for diversity: the oldest pianist is 92, the youngest 12, and the playing styles are equally varied.

 

None of them is aware that, as they play, they’re being judged by singer-songwriter Mika, and by the leading Chinese artist Lang Lang, billed by Winkleman as “the greatest classical pianist of the modern era”; well, perhaps. They’re tucked away in a back room in one of the restaurants, watching the performances on closed-circuit TV.

 

The choice of repertoire is wide, and usually with an interesting story attached: Zethan, a 28-year-old construction manager, likens playing Debussy to building a high-rise tower. Jared took up the piano during lockdown but pumps out muscular boogie as if he’s been doing it all his life. Fiona can’t remember ever not playing the piano; she gave it up when her son’s autism was diagnosed, took it up again when he asked her to play for him, and delivers a lilting melody that she wrote herself.

 

Half-Ukrainian, 12-year-old Ilya is taking Zoom lessons from his Ukrainian teacher; he gets plenty of energy into The Dance of the Knights by Prokofiev (born in what is now Ukraine). And so on: there’s always more to it than the short piece we get to hear (usually interrupted by cutaways to the two judges’ running critique, which sometimes overrides the music).

 

After all the performances, the contestants gather for the big reveal. First, they learn that they’ve been judged by two major celebrities; then that the winner will perform in a concert at the Royal Festival Hall (presumably that’s the finale); and then the judgement itself, delivered by Mika and Lang Lang in a pale imitation of the Gregg Wallace and John Torode style. Hopefully they will warm up a bit over the course of the remaining episodes.

 

It’s all rather formulaic but the contestants’ excitement seems as genuine as their talent; Mika and Lang Lang are thoroughly engaged, their comments perceptive and supportive, and Winkleman makes sure that she doesn’t hog the limelight. The series may not change the face of piano-playing, but, in this opening episode at least, there’s a pervasive warmth not always felt in TV competitions. The X Factor this is not, and thank goodness for that.

 

The Piano is streaming now on Channel 4

[dcdeb]

I managed to record it, and I've uploaded it to YouTube -- it's blocked in some countries, particularly the UK, but the rest of you should be able to see it, I hope.

 

 

[MartaH]

Thank you! It works fine in Thailand. I overslept and didn't see the first 20 minutes. It is broadcast 04:00 am thai time 😴

[Chiara 83]

2 hours ago, dcdeb said:

I managed to record it, and I've uploaded it to YouTube -- it's blocked in some countries, particularly the UK, but the rest of you should be able to see it, I hope.

 

 

 

Thank you so much @dcdeb🙏🏼

I am watching the episode right now, it's absolutely stunning

[Kumazzz]

Thanks a million @dcdeb You are amazing !!!!　

[Mikasister]

Mika RT

 

 

[Anna Ko Kolkowska]

4 hours ago, dcdeb said:

I managed to record it, and I've uploaded it to YouTube -- it's blocked in some countries, particularly the UK, but the rest of you should be able to see it, I hope.

 

 

 

Thank you very much, Deb!

I recorded only some small pieces with my mobile. I will replay your video with a big pleasure!!!

Edited February 16, 2023 by Anna Ko Kolkowska

[Vero Bott]

4 hours ago, dcdeb said:

I managed to record it, and I've uploaded it to YouTube -- it's blocked in some countries, particularly the UK, but the rest of you should be able to see it, I hope.

 

 

Thank you, Deb! 

[Happymika_by_celine]

4 hours ago, dcdeb said:

I managed to record it, and I've uploaded it to YouTube -- it's blocked in some countries, particularly the UK, but the rest of you should be able to see it, I hope.

 

 

 

Thank you very much Deb. 

I had not had the opportunity to be able to watch this incredible show. Thanks to you, in France and in other countries, it is now possible. You are amazing!