Top Hat at the Aldwych Theatre

NOW BOOKING TO 27 APRIL 2014 From 5 February 2013, joining the previously announced Gavin Lee who will play Jerry Travers in the West End hit musical Top Hat are Broadway actress Kristen Beth Williams as Dale Tremont, Olivier award nominee Alex Gaumond as Alberto Beddini and Clive Hayward as Horace Hardwick. Vivien Parry continues as Madge Hardwick and Stephen Boswell as Horace’s valet Bates. In addition, on 28 January 2013, over 275,0000 tickets will be released for sale taking bookings for Top Hat at the Aldwych Theatre to 27 April 2014. Seventy seven years after its movie release which saw Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers playing the roles of Jerry Travers and Dale Tremont, Matthew White’s production arrived in the West End in April 2012 having completed a 20 week sell-out UK tour. Performed by a cast of 31 and accompanied by a live band of 15, this new musical comedy includes Irving Berlin classics from the original movie. A further ten numbers have been interpolated from Berlin’s 1200 strong back catalogue. In November last year Top Hat won the Evening Standard Theatre Award for London’s Best Night Out. The production has also been nominated for 5 Whatsonstage.com Awards. Jerry Travers, the famous American tap dancer, arrives in London to appear in his first West End show. Travers meets the irresistible Dale Tremont, the girl of his dreams, and follows her across Europe in an attempt to win her heart. Ensemble and swing members are Michelle Andrews, Caroline Bateson, Jeremy Batt, Charlie Bull, Alan Burkitt, Matthew Cheney, Louise Davidson, Russell-Leighton Dixon, Matt Gillett, Jonny Godbold, Ian Goss, Fenton Gray, Alyn Hawke, Lauren Jade, Paul Kemble, Jenny Legg, Martin McCarthy, Grace McKee, Debbie Paul, Holly Rostron, Callum Train, Lois Urwin, Graham Vick, Alexandra Waite-Roberts and Aron Wild. Gavin Lee returns to the West End where he previously originated the role of Bert in the London production of Mary Poppins for which he was Laurence Olivier award nominated. He went on to play the role on Broadway for which he received Drama Desk and Theatre World Awards as well as a Tony Award nomination. While in New York he appeared at Carnegie Hall in Showboat and on television guest starred in Law and Order SUV and The Good Wife. His other London credits include Crazy For You, Peggy Sue Got Married, Me and My Girl, Over My Shoulder, Oklahoma and Contact. His regional theatre credits include Singin’ In The Rain, Snoopy, Noel Coward’s Masterpieces, Of Thee I Sing, Saturday Night, Chicago and Alan Ayckbourn’s Whenever. Gavin Lee is extremely grateful to Cameron Mackintosh, Tom Schumacher and Kenny Wax for making this opportunity possible. Kristen Beth Williams joins the cast of Top Hat directly from the Broadway production of Nice Work If You Can Get It and previously Anything Goes, both directed and choreographed by Kathleen Marshall. She has also appeared in the Broadway production of Promises Promises directed by Rob Ashford. She has been regular performer in the City Centre Encores! seasons performing in Follies, Applause, Face The Music and The Marvellous Wondrettes. On tour in the US she has been seen in White Christmas, Turn of the Century, Singin in the Rain and Chicago. Clive Hayward has most recently been seen at the Trafalgar Studios as Bernard Woolley in Yes Prime Minister. Previously his theatre credits include Much Ado About Nothing at Wyndham’s Theatre, Private Lives and Cyrano de Bergerac at the Royal Exchange Theatre, Earthquakes in London for the National Theatre and A Chorus of Disapproval for The Mill at Sonning. On screen his credits include Private Peaceful, Silent Witness and Prime Suspect. Alex Gaumond was last seen in the West End playing Galileo in We Will Rock You and Emmett Forrest in Legally Blonde the Musical. His many other musical theatre credits include Desperately Seeking Susan at the Novello Theatre, the UK tour of the Donmar Warehouse production of Guys and Dolls, Sunday in the Park with George at Wyndham’s Theatre, The Full Monty at the Prince of Wales Theatre and on tour in the UK, Kiss Me Kate for the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre, Miss Saigon on tour world wide and Something About You at Jermyn Street Theatre. His many recordings include The Concrete Jungle, Scrooge and the Sondheim Tonight Gala Concert. His film credits include Between, Jeffrey, Table For Four, Paranoia and Locked Out. His first single, Here I Am, was released in June last year. Directed by Matthew White and choreographed by Bill Deamer,Top Hat has set designs by Hildegard Bechtler, costume designs by Jon Morrell, wigs by Campbell Young, lighting design by Peter Mumford, sound by Gareth Owen, new orchestrations by Chris Walker, musical supervision by Richard Balcombe and musical direction by Daniel Jackson. With music and lyrics by Irving Berlin and based on the RKO motion picture, the screenplay by Dwight Taylor and Allan Scott has been adapted for the stage by Matthew White and Howard Jacques and is presented by arrangement with RKO Pictures LLC, Warner Bros Theatre Ventures Inc. and the Irving Berlin Music Company. The original London cast recording of Top Hat was recently released by First Night Records. Top Hat is produced by Kenny Wax, and his partners on the production are Stewart Lane and Bonnie Comley, Ted Hartley, Flora Suk-Hwa Yoon and Lee Menzies. Press release issued by: Premier PR LINKS Book tickets to TOP HAT at the Aldwych Theatre

Top Hat the Musical has won this year's Big Night Out award at the Evening Standard Theatre Awards, voted by members of the theatregoing public. [caption id="" align="alignright" width="240"] Top Hat starring Tom Chambers and Summer Strallen wins the Evening Standard Best Night Out award[/caption] Currently playing at the Aldywch theatre in London, Top Hat saw off stiff competition from a range of West End musicals and plays including Cabaret, Chariots of Fire, A Chorus of Disapproval, Let It Be, Loserville, Matilda The Musical, Our Boys and Singin’ in the Rain. Conducted by online vote, the Big Night Out audience award was introduced for the first time last year as part of the Evening Standard Theatre Awards, and was won by Wicked. Producers of Top Hat ran a marketing campaign to persuade fans to vote, including a specially shot video featuring the cast of the show including Summer Strallen and Tom Chambers. Based on the classic Hollywood movie starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, Top Hat transferred to the Aldwych Theatre in the West End following a sell-out run at the Chichester Festival Theatre. LINKS Book tickets to Top Hat at the Aldwych Theatre in London See a full list of winners of the Evening Standard Theatre Awards 2012  

It's all getting very competitive. Recent years have seen an increase in the number of theatre awards that include categories voted for by the theatregoing public, which means the opportunity for producers to lobby their fans hard. It's not quite as intense as the multi-million dollar campaigns run by Hollywood movie studios lobbying Academy members during an Oscars campaign, but in West End terms the prize is just as high. An audience award win is not just good for straplines on posters and, hopefully, ticket sales, but also a great way to rally a show's fan base and build up important audience support and a sense of community around the production. Wicked is a show that has achieved this like no other, masterminded by its producer - and former theatre marketing agency head - Michael McCabe, and has been justly rewarded with both Olivier and Evening Standard audience award wins. Wicked has also capitalised on the recent growth in social media, something that also underpins much of the success and increasing importance of Audience Award categories. The Olivier Awards started their Audience Award in 2002 (although it then disappeared until 2010), and the Evening Standard kicked off their Best Night Out audience award last year. The Whatsonstage Awards has been audience-voted from the start of its life in 2001 - and nominations for the 2013 awards are currently underway. Of course, producers have lobbied Theatreland judging panels for many years, but it has largely been kept behind-the-scenes and targeted at the small number of people who ultimately get to choose how most of the theatre awards are divided up. The latest show to be lobbying hard for the Evening Standard Best Night Out audience award prize is Top Hat, the movie-to-stage show currently playing at the Aldwych Theatre in London. Part of the campaign is a specially shot video featuring the cast (see below). Expect much more of this as the influence of Audience awards, and the fans that vote for them, continues to grow. VIDEO Top Hat' for the Evening Standard "Best Night Out" Award httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHF9QpDLBNs VOTE Vote for the Evening Standard Theatre Awards - Best Night Out award 2012. Shows up for nomination are Cabaret, Chariots of Fire, A Chorus of Disapproval, Let It Be, Loserville, Matilda The Musical, Our Boys, Singin' in the Rain and Top Hat (voting closes Midnight on Wednesday 221 November)   LINKS Evening Standard Theatre Awards 2012 - Nominations list  

From 5 February 2013 Gavin Lee will join the cast of the hit West End production of Top Hat to play Jerry Travers, the role played in the original RKO motion picture by Fred Astaire. Top Hat is currently booking at the Aldwych Theatre until 28 September 2013 having recently released a further 180,000 new tickets for sale. Seventy seven years after its movie release, Matthew White’s production arrived in the West End earlier this year having completed a 20 week sell-out UK tour. From 27 November 2012, Charlotte Gooch will join the cast to play Dale Tremont alongside Tom Chambers who continues in the role of Jerry Travers until 2 February 2013. Gavin Lee returns to the West End where he previously originated the role of Bert in the London production of Mary Poppins for which he was Laurence Olivier award nominated. He went on to play the role on Broadway for which he received Drama Desk and Theatre World Awards as well as a Tony Award nomination. While in New York he appeared at Carnagie Hall in Showboat and on television guest starred in Law and Order SUV and The Good Wife. His other London credits include Crazy For You, Peggy Sue Got Married, Me and My Girl, Over My Shoulder, Oklahoma and Contact. His regional theatre credits include Singin’ In The Rain, Snoopy, Noel Coward’s Masterpieces, Of Thee I Sing, Saturday Night, Chicago and Alan Ayckbourn’s Whenever. Gavin Lee is extremely grateful to Cameron Mackintosh, Tom Schumacher and Kenny Wax for making this opportunity possible. Charlotte Gooch has recently completed a run playing the leading role of Penny Johnson in the UK National Tour of Dirty Dancing, a role she also played at the Theatre am Potsdamer Platz, Berlin. Her other theatre credits include Patty in the UK tour of Grease and Bombalurina in the European tour of Cats. She played the title role in Cinderella at the De La Ware Pavillion, Bexhill and Genie of the Ring in Aladdin at the North Wales Theatre, Llandudno. Jerry Travers, the famous American tap dancer, arrives in London to appear in his first West End show. Travers meets the irresistible Dale Tremont, the girl of his dreams, and follows her across Europe in an attempt to win her heart. Performed by a cast of 31 and accompanied by a live band of 15, this new musical comedy includes Irving Berlin classics from the original movie. A further ten numbers have been interpolated from Berlin’s 1200 strong back catalogue. Directed by Matthew White and choreographed by Bill Deamer,Top Hat has set designs by Hildegard Bechtler, costume designs by Jon Morrell, lighting design by Peter Mumford, sound by Gareth Owen, new orchestrations by Chris Walker, musical supervision by Richard Balcombe and musical direction by Daniel Jackson. With music and lyrics by Irving Berlin and based on the RKO motion picture, the screenplay by Dwight Taylor and Allan Scott has been adapted for the stage by Matthew White and Howard Jacques and is presented by arrangement with RKO Pictures LLC, Warner Bros Theatre Ventures Inc. and the Irving Berlin Music Company. The original London cast recording of Top Hat was recently released by First Night Records. Top Hat is produced by Kenny Wax, and his partners on the production are Stewart Lane and Bonnie Comley, Ted Hartley, Flora Suk-Hwa Yoon and Lee Menzies. Release issued by: Premier PR LINKS Book tickets to TOP HAT at the Aldwych Theatre in London

Production photos of Top Hat at the Aldwych Theatre starring Tom Chambers and Summer Strallen Classic Hollywood movie Top Hat, which famously starred Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, is given the full West End treatment in a glamorous new production at the Aldwych Theatre, starring Holby City actor and Strictly Come Dancing winner Tom Chambers and multi-Olivier Award nominee Summer Strallen. LINKS Book tickets to see Top Hat at the Aldywch Theatre in London