UK Theatre Network

Top Hat

Music and Lyrics by Irving Berlin

Adapted for the Stage by Matthew White and Howard Jacques

Photo by Max Lacombe-shaw

Review by Paul Tyree

 Direct from huge success in London, where it won three Olivier Awards and the Evening Standard award for Best Night Out, you can easily see why this musical has become so popular so quickly.

 Telling the story of American Musical Revue star Jerry Travers who inadvertently wakes up Dale Tremont, his downstairs neighbour, with his tap dancing, the pairs’ immediate attraction to each other sets off a tale of mistaken identity and musical and comic mayhem to rival any in musical theatre history.

 What makes this production so sublime is its mastery in every theatrical department from the music to the costumes from the singing and dancing over fantastic sets there really is not a foot put wrong here. The sheer hard work, which looks effortless although undoubtedly it isn’t makes this a glorious night at the theatre.

 The leads, Alan Burkitt and Charlotte Gooch are both charming and faultless. The talent required to be able to sing whilst in the middle of a tap routine cannot be overstated. The number of hours of gruelling rehearsal must have been quite mind-boggling and then to produce the performances they do makes them worth the price of admission alone.

 Also quite fantastic and pretty much stealing every scene he is in is John Conroy as Bates, a quarrelsome butler. Special mention too for Sebastien Torkia as Alberto Beddini, Dales’ adoring and ambitious Italian dressmaker.

 This, importantly, is musical theatre at its best. It does not skimp in any department, nor does it flag at any point. It comes across as hugely professional and in those terms very respectful of its audience, who were wowed by an evening that will stick in the memory for many years to come. If you can get a ticket it will certainly be worth it as you will not find any finer that this.

Lyceum

• 55 Norfolk Street, Sheffield, S1 1DA, South Yorkshire, United Kingdom

 To order tickets ring Sheffield Theatres Box Office

Telephone Numbers
Box Office: 0114 249 6000

Crucible/ Lyceum Theatre Switchboard: 0114 249 5999

Buy Tickets online at: http://www.sheffieldtheatres.co.uk/