Review: Top Hat at the Edinburgh Playhouse

The Chichester Festival Theatre’s revival of Top Hat has tapped its way into the Edinburgh Playhouse, bringing romance, farce, and Irving Berlin to brighten autumn nights. Directed and choreographed by Kathleen Marshall, with a book by Matthew White and Howard Jacques, this staging serves up a loving recreation of 1930s Hollywood glamour, mixing screwball comedy with high-gloss spectacle.

The story, adapted from Mark Sandrich’s 1935 RKO film – the first original vehicle for Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers – is feather-light but well-oiled. Broadway star Jerry Travers, played here with dazzling footwork and comic ease by Phillip Attmore, arrives in London and instantly unsettles both the locals and the heart of model Dale Tremont (Amara Okereke). Romance sparks, but a string of misunderstandings convinces Dale he is already married. From Mayfair apartments to Venetian canals, the plot ties itself in knots before love, inevitably, untangles it all.

Screwball foundations

The original film not only introduced standards like Cheek to Cheek and Top Hat, White Tie and Tails, it also helped fix the golden-age formula: a cocktail of comical misunderstandings, urbane wit, romance, and lavish musical numbers. Marshall’s production embraces that template, leaning into its escapism. If the narrative sometimes thins – Act II stretches the central misunderstanding rather thin – the dancing extravaganzas and comic skits are delivered with such verve that momentum never fully sags.

The look of luxury

Visually, the show is a glittering feast. Peter McKintosh’s peacock fan of a revolving set glides between sleek London apartments, art deco ballrooms and sun-drenched Venetian piazzas, bathed in Tim Mitchell’s starbrightF light. McKintosh and Yvonne Milnes’ costumes shimmer with satin, sequins and ostrich feathers, evoking period chic with unabashed relish. It is a production that understands opulence as spectacle, and Berlin’s melodies nestle comfortably within it.

“…the dancing extravaganzas and comic skits are delivered with such verve that momentum never fully sags.”

Leads at the centre

Attmore, making his UK stage debut, dazzles in the extended tap sequences — crisp, charismatic, and rhythmic, he’s a sensational mover. His “Top Hat, White Tie and Tails” is a genuine showstopper, lifted further by the ensemble’s immaculate timing, and inch-perfect choreography.

If his ballroom passages with Okereke are less accomplished, the pair more than compensates with sparkling comic timing and well-matched, light-footed charm.

**Amara Okereke** and **Sally Ann Triplett**

Vocally, though, he proves a little light: a rich, jazzy tone, but lacking power (or maybe he fell out with the sound techs), leaving him overbalanced in duets. Astaire’s modest pipes are one part of Top Hat that require no modern-day tribute.

Okereke, by contrast, sings with clarity, warmth and drive. Dale Tremont may remain an old-fashioned confection – a pampered damsel awaiting the right man – but Okereke injects bite and dignity. She and Attmore strike up a charming chemistry, their rapport propelling the romantic misadventure, but when they share a song such as “Isn’t This a Lovely Day,” her voice simply blows his away.

“Attmore, making his UK stage debut, dazzles in the extended tap sequences — crisp, charismatic, and rhythmic, he’s a sensational mover.”

Big numbers and strong support

The supporting cast provides fizz throughout. James Hume and musical theatre treasure Sally Ann Triplett make comic capital from Horace and Madge Hardwick’s marital sparring; James Clyde delights in valet – and unlikely spy – Bates’ endless disguises; and Alex Gibson-Giorgio’s Alberto Beddini parades across the stage as a flamboyant parody of continental machismo, earning some of the evening’s biggest laughs. Around them, the chorus gleams with energy, transforming each number into a whirl of precision and colour.

Indeed, for audiences just in pursuit of big song and dance numbers carried off with aplomb, this is the show for you. The all-singing, all-tapping ensemble goes big every time they are unleashed, as does the band.

Music in the pit

Under Stephen Ridley, said band swings Berlin’s melodies with compelling style. “Let’s Face the Music and Dance,” “Puttin’ on the Ritz,” and “Isn’t This a Lovely Day” are delivered with brio, their familiarity no hindrance to impact. The orchestra lends sweep to the ballroom and bite to the tap routines, matching the onstage sparkle note for note.

Escapism delivered

For all its froth, Top Hat works exactly as intended: a glittering escape into a world of elegance, wit, and rhythm. Its pacing may occasionally falter, and Attmore’s vocals lack weight beside Okereke’s, but the evening offers charm and spectacle in abundance. At its best – the band in full swing, the dancers gliding across a gleaming floor – it captures the silver-screen magic that helped to make Astaire and Rogers immortal.

For a few hours, the Playhouse becomes just that kind of portal: sequins, feathers, and melodies that lift the spirit. Dancing, as Berlin knew, still makes everything better.