Audience gives 'Top Hat' top marks as cast receive resounding standing ovation at Birmingham Hippodrome
The show captivated audiences in Birmingham with tap-dancing, tale of love and mistaken identity.
You know a theatre production is fantastic when the entire audience leapt out of their seats to provide the cast with a resounding standing ovation at the end of a two and a half hour show.
That is exactly what happened at the conclusion of Top Hat - The Musical on Tuesday night (March, 3).
I wasn’t familiar with the tale, and it brought a funky American flavour to the UK.
A key standout of this production was amazingly choreographed singing and dancing that anchored the show. The music and lyrics were composed by Irving Berlin, and the show was directed and choreographed by Kathleen Marshall.
The charm of tap-dancing which was a key fixture throughout the show kept the audience bobbing their heads along to the rhythm of the tale.
In short, the tale is all about a mistaken identity, which definitely brought a comedic element to the stage. The story is based on the famous Fred Astaire/Ginger Rogers film, and brought a charming Hollywood flair to Birmingham.
It followed the tale of a dazzling American Broadway star called Jerry Travers (Phillip Attmore) who arrives in London to open a new show.
During this time, he meets a beautiful model, Dale Tremont (Amare Okereke), and they fall in love with one another, but there is a comedic misunderstanding that takes place as Dale mistakes his identity with Horace Hardwick who is Jerry’s agent.
By far, the stand out performance was James Hume who played Horace Hardwick, his comedic timing and one-liners filled the room with laughter. As well as Emma Williams who played Madge Hardwick, who brought an American flair to the show.
The music throughout the production felt genius, Irving Berlin’s score includes some of Hollywood’s greatest songs, such as: ‘Cheek to Cheek’, ‘Let’s Face the Music’ and ‘Dance and Puttin’ on the Ritz’, which was a delightful treat.
If you haven’t seen it already, I highly recommend you head down to the Hippodrome this week.
For more details, see here!