Music: Irving Berlin
Director: Kathleen Marshall
Choreographer: Kathleen Marshall
Originally written as a film starring Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire, featuring Irving Berlin’s Hollywood’s iconic songs, Top Hat the Musical is a spectacular depiction of the rich and famous in the nineteen thirties.
It’s a tale of mistaken identity, involving Dale Tremont an attractive model, an ill-fated theatre producer Horace Hardwick and his American Broadway star Jerry Travers. Also in the mix is an Italian high couture fashion designer Alberto Beddini, Madge a domineering wife, a droll man-servant in disguise and an abundance of wonderful songs that include Puttin on the Ritz and Isn’t This a Lovely Day?. There is tap dancing, romance, glamour and witty, amusing dialogue.
Directed and choreographed by Kathleen Marshall for the Chichester Festival Theatre in 2025, Marshall is a multi-Tony and Olivier Award winner on both sides of the Atlantic. She has created a new production of the musical that cannot fail to delight. The dance and song routines by the fourteen strong ensembles add greatly to the glitz and glamour of the performance with its numerous costume changes. The live band conducted by Luke Holman is first rate and adds greatly to the performance – the band and performers act as one.
Phillip Attmore as Jerry Travers is a talented tap dancer and singer, performing songs like No Strings (I’m Fancy Free), and with his dance partner, Cheek to Cheek, Top Hat, White Tie and Tails. For this performance the first cover, Lindsay Atherton, played Dale Tremont and she did so superbly. The infectious joy between the two dancers was captivating. Their dances were demanding but did not diminish their singing abilities which were clear and beautifully delivered.
Madge Hardwick played by Kirsty Sparks for this performance brought the comedy demanded of the part as the manipulative, money seeking wife to Horace (James Hume).
The story opens in New York but quickly moves to London then Venice all in the space of three days as the whirlwind romance and comedy unfolds. The set is ingenious, with a rich depiction of the nineteen thirties. There is a backlit semicircular arc and as the settings change the arc revolves revealing a hotel lobby area, bedroom, or Italian back drop. It transports the audience to different settings while leaving plenty of room for the dancing at the front of stage.
Ostrich feathers, swirling full length skirts, bow ties and champagne abound. There is Hollywood glitz conveying the heady atmosphere of the rich in the nineteen thirties. It was a different era. It is a chance to escape and imagine how the rich and famous lived, but of course true loves must win out.
For a captivating, enjoyable night out, this performance is not to be missed.
Runs until 24 January 2026
