Top Hat, The Mayflower, Southampton (From Daily Echo)
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Top Hat, The Mayflower, Southampton
11:25am Friday 16th September 2011 in Stage Reviews
On Top of the World
FROM Strictly Come Dancing beginner to stepping into the dancing shoes of Fred Astaire in three short years.
The eventual winner of the TV dance contest in 2008 was convincing in his portrayal of Top Hat’s Hollywood icon Jerry Travers, one of Fred Astaire’s most celebrated roles.
He impressed alongside his own Ginger Rogers, the more seasoned Summer Strallen. The triple Olivier Award nominee was superb as Dale Tremont, hitting every note perfectly and not putting a foot wrong in this dance spectacular.
A stunning set revealed everything from Joan of Ark to an aeroplane and from a horse and carriage to a Venetian gondola, but it was the fancy footwork that had a well-dressed and packed audience gasping.
Perfectly capturing the era in which they were set, ensemble pieces including Top Hat, White Tie & Tails and The Piccolino were beautifully choreographed.
Top Hat also had its fair share of comedy with hysterical turns from wonderfully over-the-top designer Alberto Beddini (Ricardo Afonso) and the perfect bumbling butler Bates (Stephen Boswell), and there were plenty of laughs for the love/hate mismatch of Horace and Madge Hardwick (well portrayed by Martin Ball and Vivien Parry).
A touch on the lengthy side at just shy of three hours, Top Hat packed in numerous Irving Berlin classics like Let’s Face The Music and Dance and Isn’t This A Lovely Day (To Be Caught in the Rain), performed in spectacular fashion by a 17- piece orchestra.
From the score to the costumes, the tap to the laughs, it was a dazzling evening of theatre.
