Pianos can be fun in more ways than we ever imagined. Last April (2006), Hugh Grant, Drew Barrymore, producer Marc Lawrence (of “Miss Congeniality” fame) and their crew set up camp at Faust Harrison’s West 58th Street showroom in Manhattan to shoot scenes for their new movie, “Music & Lyrics.”

It was fast-paced, hard work for over forty people, many of whom were on site from early morning until late at night, but everyone had a good time. Hugh, Drew, Marc and their team graciously found some time to chat, laugh, and pose for pictures with the Faust Harrison staff. And then we learned that Hugh is interested in pianos. He played a few of them (especially the Mason & Hamlin that was central to one of the scenes), rehearsed his character asking about a “Mason & Pierson” piano, oops, “that’s a hairbrush isn’t it” – retake – and asked questions about the pianos between takes. He even joined Michael at the keyboard for a spontaneous duet. Marc and a few other members of the team were wonderful pianists and stayed after the shoot for a late night piano jam session.

Police barricades and trailers stopped traffic on the streets from our showroom down to Carnegie Hall, but one of the most exciting parts of the day was when the crew laid out a maze of futuristic, winding railroad tracks all around the set. The tracks allowed a giant camera to smoothly circle Hugh and Drew at the Mason & Hamlin while they did a scene of Hugh playing a tune and singing; enough to reveal a pleasant voice and some pretty good piano fingers. We’re told he learned to play a little just for this movie! In one of the scenes, Hugh’s character uses guilt to cajole his friend (Drew) into helping him with his career. He’ll have to work at the piano store if she turns him down! Well Hugh, we don’t recommend that you quit your day job, but if you want to come down and lend us a hand you’re always welcome.

The scouts for “Music & Lyrics” sought out Faust Harrison Pianos for its piano store scenes because they thought we have one of the most elegant looking showrooms in New York. Once their designers had their go at it, it also became a stunning movie set. We don’t know how much of it you’ll get to see in the movie so we thought we’d share some behind the scenes pictures here.

From everyone at Faust Harrison have fun and enjoy the movie!