Top Hat Archives - North West End UK

26Nov

By Lou SteggalsNo Comments

North West

Top Hat – Opera House

Following a hugely successful revival in Chichester, Top Hat is bringing old-school Hollywood glamour to venues around the UK and is about to tap dance into the hearts of tonight’s audience in Manchester. Based on the iconic Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers movie with a sparkling Irving Berlin score, Top Hat – under the assured helm of the multi-award winning director/choreographer Kathleen Marshall - weaves its comedy via many classic tropes – mistaken identity, spying on each other, marital disharmony and love triangles – with lashings of charm, showmanship, and the breezy, effervescent joy that defines a true musical comedy. From the moment opening number ‘Puttin’ on the Ritz’ sparks into life, the stage erupts with breathtaking choreography and a surge of high-voltage energy from t...

Top Hat – Liverpool Empire

Glitz, glamour, sophistication and flair, Irving Berlin's Top Hat takes to the stage to reinvigorate and regenerate the musicals of times gone by. A magical reminder of the sheer talent and romance of the theatre. Adapted for stage by authors Matthew White and Howard Jacques and based on RKO's motion picture. Directed and choreographed by Kathleen Marshall. Get your toes tapping from the moment the curtain is raised and watch in awe of the perfectly timed and varied choreography (Richard Pitt, Carol Lee Meadows and Kathleen Marshall) as the dancers showcase some iconic footwork from the soft shoe shuffle to an exciting crescendo for the end of act 1 of precision dancing in a revolution of the stage as a company. The staging (Peter Mckintosh) was grand and took you straight back in ti...

Top Hat – Edinburgh Playhouse

Irving Berlin’s Top Hat taps into the Edinburgh Playhouse this week with more sparkle than a sequinned gin palace, and, in a rare feat, manages to float for two and a half hours without ever feeling heavy. Not just that, the sound is also extraordinary, and for a venue sometimes dogged by poor acoustics, this is a revelation: sound clear as a bell, band fizzing with verve, and an audience leaning in from overture to curtain. For context, Top Hat began life in 1935 as an RKO film directed by Mark Sandrich, a vehicle for Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, with Berlin supplying the evergreen numbers, “Cheek to Cheek,” “Top Hat, White Tie and Tails,” “Isn’t This a Lovely Day?”. The stage version we see tonight descends from the 2011 UK adaptation by Matthew White and Ho...