It’s bigger than “Big.”
This month marks the 25th anniversary of the comedy hit, and it’s hard to tell whose career did better in the years since — star Tom Hanks or the jumbo floor piano at FAO Schwarz.
“People love trying to play ‘Chopsticks’ because of the movie,” said inventor Remo Saraceni, who conjured up the “walking piano” at his Philadelphia studio.
“Even if you don’t know how to play the piano with your fingers, you can play it with your feet,” he said. “The piano is a welcome mat. You come in and create music, and everybody has a smile on their face.”
Each day, hundreds of people line up to boogie on the keys at once — and to watch the Fifth Avenue emporium’s performers play songs including the “Super Mario Bros.” theme song and Bach’s “Toccata and Fugue in D Minor.”
The $250,000 instrument is 15.8 feet long and 3¹/₂ feet wide. It has 48 keys, four octaves and can withstand 1,000 pounds of pressure per square foot.
FAO Schwarz first installed the colossal clavier in 1982 and has upgraded it with new versions ever since. Early next year, Saraceni will install an advanced model that teaches people songs as they step.
Still, it’s the movie’s piano — now stationed at the children’s Please Touch Museum in Philadelphia — that people remember most.
Director Penny Marshall had a special keyboard made for the scene where Hanks and Robert Loggia, who plays his toy company boss, dance to “Heart and Soul” and “Chopsticks.”
“There was a piano [at FAO Schwarz], but it didn’t play the right notes. It just made noise. So that was useless to me,” Marshall told The Post.
“I went to the creator of the piano and said, ‘I need something workable for this many notes.’ And the guy made me a workable piano.”
Once that was in place, Hanks and Loggia were given huge cardboard piano keys to practice with at home months before the shoot.
But when they arrived on set the day of filming, they were surprised — and, in Loggia’s case, annoyed — to find that the producer had professional dancers standing by.
“Robert didn’t want it. He played tennis. He was healthy,” Marshall said. “[The producers kept asking] me, ‘Do you want dancers?’ I said no.”
The final version is all Hanks and Loggia, but that doesn’t mean they got there easily, as Hanks once said that every take was “like jumping rope for 3¹/₂ hours.”
“Tom and Robert had been practicing that for weeks, but when they saw the real piano, it was mind-boggling,” said co-star Elizabeth Perkins, who starred as Hanks’ love interest.
“They were exhausted. You can practice in the studio or whatever, but when you’re actually there, pulling off ‘Heart and Soul’ on a giant piano — that was an amazing feat. It’s simply joyous when you’re watching the scene, but it was an enormous amount of work.”