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Review: Top Hat, New Wimbledon Theatre

Rating

Unmissable!

Tap your troubles away in a wondrous world of spectacle, exotic locations, sumptuous costumes, breathtaking dancing and unforgettable numbers. A scintillating box of treats!

There is a grand tradition of musicals created specifically for the cinema, and RKO, in the years after the great Depression, deliberately commissioned them from the great composers of the day. They even had ready-made stars with international reputations – in the case of Top Hat, Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. Irving Berlin was coopted to rejig his numbers and write new ones specifically for the film, including ā€˜Putting on the Ritz’, ā€˜Cheek to Cheek’ and ā€˜I’m in Heaven’.

Fast forward to 2025 and Chichester Festival Theatre’s production of the stage show inspired by the film matches that vibrancy, joy and, frankly, sheer escapism to a tee. Kathleen Marshall expertly directs and choreographs, with a stunning design from Peter Mackintosh and musical supervision under the evergreen doyen of MD’s, Gareth Valentine.

Now, with all these confections the story is no Ibsen play but I have to say the strands are teased out to a reasonably engaging plot with sufficient tension and dramatic stakes for the performers to get their teeth into. In brief, Jerry Travers (Philip Attmore), dancing star of Broadway, is hired by long-suffering London producer Horace Hardwick (James Hume) to headline a show in the capital. At his hotel he meets and falls in love with American model Dale Tremont (Lindsay Atherton), who is due to go to Venice to showcase the creations of renowned designer Alberto Beddini (Alex Gibson-Giorgio). Travers races after Tremont to Venice where Hardwick’s happy-go-lucky wife Madge (Sally Ann Triplett) is frittering away her husband’s money. The drama is triggered by Tremont mistakenly believing her suitor to be called Hardwick not Travers. Hardwick’s butler Bates (James Clyde) accompanies his master and is assigned to spy on Tremont’s movements – with hilarious consequences, as they say.

What is fabulous is that the dialogue is pretty snappy, with laugh-out loud gags and punchlines, helped not least by some wonderful comic performances. Chief among these is Hume as Hardwick, who, like a desperate Leonard Rossiter, faffs his way along as he deals with the twists and turns of his fate, accompanied by Clyde, who emerges from his sepulchral John Hurt persona and squeezes into all manner of farcical costumes and scrapes in his farcical quest to trail the elusive Tremont. Triplett as Madge ups the energy and volume, offering big gestures, big laughs, and culminating in a wonderful comedy duet with Hume, executed to perfection. Let’s also not forget Gibson-Giorgio as ā€œthee-ya Italian-a faaashion-a deesaignaā€, who equally delivers in his big number, ā€˜Latins’.

All this mayhem is given strong star quality and solidity by Attmore as Travers. And big shout out to Atherton as Tremont, who was standing in for the disposed Amara Okereke.

The night is explosively set off by Travers dazzling us with his magic dancing toes, tapping breathtakingly around the stage in the first big company number, while Atherton is graceful and poised in her smooth numbers with Attmore and then gives us the oomph in the great syncopated numbers she has – plus an excellent voice in her solos. The highlight is definitely the eponymous ā€˜Top Hat, White Tie and Tails’tap extravaganza, which was greeted by wild whoops of delight from the audience, and rightly so. Stunning!

At this point I have to applaud the ensemble, brilliantly marshalled by MD Stephen Ridley: superb diction, unflagging energy, accompanied by a twenty piece band delivering that authentic big band wow factor, trumpets and saxes, with some beautiful string playing along the way.

What a night folks – toe-tapping entertainment to transport and sweep you off your feet. Be there or be square!


Directed & Choreography by Kathleen Marshall
Set Design by Peter McKintosh
Costume Designers by Yvonne Milnes & Peter McKintosh
Musical Supervisor: Gareth Valentine
Musical Director: Stephen Ridley
Lighting Design by Tim Mitchell
Sound Design by Paul Groothuis

Top Hat runs at New Wimbledon Theatre until Saturday 18 October, and tours until April 2026

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