Review Round-up: Top marks for Top Hat?

{Top
Hat::L16629529} combines some of Irving Berlin’s greatest hits, including “Let’s Face the Music and Dance” and “Cheek
to Cheek”, with a celebration of 1930s ballroom and tap.

Tom
Chambers (Holby City and Strictly Come
Dancing winner) plays the irrepressible Broadway sensation
Jerry Travers who dances his way across Europe to win the heart of
society model Dale Tremont, played by triple Olivier Award nominee
Summer Strallen (Love Never Dies, The
Sound of Music and The Drowsy
Chaperone).

Directed by Matthew
White and choreographed by Bill Deamer,
Top Hat is currently booking to 26 January 2013.

Michael Coveney
Whatsonstage.com
★★★

“It’s
pointless trying to replicate the sheer style and effortless gaiety of
the original … Instead, a perfectly enjoyable tourist class version
evokes the movie instead of breathing the magic … Chambers … is a little
prosaic and earth-bound … and we’re more overwhelmed by Strallen’s
extraordinary high kicks and Ginger-like back bends than we are by any
marked sexual chemistry between the couple; it’s less top hat and white
tie than flat cap and muffler … The show’s microphoning is far too harsh
and steel-edged, but the band under musical director Dan Jackson is
terrific, Bill Deamer’s choreography witty and disciplined, and
there’s a pleasing art deco line to both Hildegard Bechtler’s grey
designs and Jon Morrell’s colourful costumes. There are strong second
act ‘turns’ from Vivien Parry as the producer’s wife and Ricardo
Afonso as a deluded Latin lover, Beddini … A high old time is had by
all, even if, with Beddini, we can also say, ‘I don’t like your
altitude.’”

Michael Billington
Guardian
★★★

“The
evening can be quickly summed up as ‘great songs, daft book’ … A silly
story … But the piece survives on the imperishable Berlin songs and the
charm of the performers … Tom Chambers and Summer Strallen here do a
sterling job … Chambers is not only personable and light on his feet
but makes it look as if he actively enjoys ‘Puttin’ On The
Ritz’ or gliding around ‘Cheek to Cheek’. And
Strallen has a similar graceful ease and attractiveness, and is
seductively funny in a number ‘Wild About You’ …
Matthew White‘s production also keeps the action moving, Hildegard
Bechtler‘s sets have a pleasing art deco look to them, and Bill
Deamer‘s choreography is at its inventive best in Berlin’s catchy,
cod-Venetian number ‘The Piccolino’ … It’s all
perfectly pleasant and one can never hear too often Berlin standards
like ‘Isn’t This a Lovely Day To Be Caught in the
Rain?’ I just hope the future of the musical doesn’t reside in
endless revivals of Hollywood’s golden oldies.”

Henry Hitchings
Evening Standard
★★★

“A
frivolous, gently enjoyable exhibition of song and dance … The show is a
bit slow hitting its stride. It doesn’t help that the plot’s essential
premise is so weak … A stronger second half emphasizes the dreaminess
and charm of this adaptation … Bill Deamer’s choreography is complex
but well focused. A large cast and sizable orchestra perform with gusto,
while Hildegard Bechtler’s lovely designs evoke the charms of the
Thirties and the handsome geometry of Art Deco. The chemistry between
Chambers and Strallen isn’t as rich as it could be, but Strallen is
elegant and her voice soars. Although Chambers is a weaker singer, he’s
energetic; his tap is polished and he’s a likeable presence throughout.
The plot is thin and the jokes are often corny, with some of the
exposition distinctly unexciting. Yet for the most part the execution is
light and wholesome. There’s good support from Ricardo Afonso,
Vivien Parry, Martin Ball and Stephen Boswell. This colourful and
lavish spectacle will appeal to those seeking a dose of escapist
nostalgia.”

Libby Purves
The Times
★★★★

“Chambers
is a phenomenon, a buck-and-wing, brush-and-chug explosion of graceful
energy … The tale itself … is a Wodehousian meringue of heavy-handed
misunderstanding and corny wisecracks … But you don’t go to Top
Hat expecting Ibsen-like moments, do you? Likeability,
beloved songs and breathtaking dance are the expectation, and one
dutifully fulfilled. Chambers’s voice is not tonally beautiful, but
vigorous and expressive and Strallen sounds as lovely as she looks, with
a sweet plaintive puzzlement. Vivien Parry is very funny indeed as a
real Bronx toughie … Martin Ball splutters like a good comic
Englishman as Horace the rich producer; and Stephen Boswell as the
disguised valet Bates thoroughly overdoes it (there really is no other
option). As for Alberto the absurd Italian, Ricardo Afonso is ideal
casting. Being Portuguese, he can play a disgraceful comedy foreigner on
the British stage with impunity, and strip, singing, to his
sock-suspenders and baggy combinations to general roars of approval. And
Hildegarde Bechtler’s set is a fine thing too: dreamily morphing from
the Belgravia hotel to a Venice where, in modest 1920s swimwear, the
chorus blast out ‘Come to the casino and dance with your
bambino.’”

Sam Marlowe
Time
Out
★★★

“It has comedy foreigners, sexism and a dumb-ass plot. Fortunately, this screwball musical comedy … also has a sublime score by Irving Berlin … The music is gorgeous: light as angel’s wings, luscious as angel cake. Bill Deamer‘s choreography responds with twinkling delight – though this chorus needs much more rigorous drilling; there’s some sloppiness here that would never pass muster on the Great White Way … Tom Chambers and Summer Strallen … give stylish performances, but there’s not much sizzle between them. Strallen is sassy with endless legs and a strong, warm voice. Chambers’ vocals are slightly adenoidal, his dancing often dazzling; his shining moment comes in a breathtaking routine not with Strallen, but with a hatstand. It has insufficient pizzazz, but this is a lovely production to look at, with exquisite costumes by Jon Morrell and Hildegard Bechtler‘s elegant set of sliding art deco panels. It’s a glitzy chocolate box of a show; sweet, but unsatisfying.”

– Rebecca Hussein