Top Hat reviews – Starring Phillip Attmore & Lucy St. Louis

"Heaven, I'm in Heaven...Kathleen Marshall's enchanting new production of Irving Berlin's Top Hat is the perfect summer tonic"

"... Kathleen Marshall’s effervescent and near faultless production of the musical based on the Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers’ 1935 movie, Top Hat."

"Marshall is once again at the top of her game with choreography that’s joyful, whirling, and detailed, her dancers seeming to float on air. And if you can keep up with the speed of her leading duo’s footwork, top hats off to you: they match Astaire and Rogers, clunk for clunk and click for click."

"As showman Jerry Travers, Phillip Attmore is exceptionally nifty. The only evidence that his feet touch the ground is that we hear them. And as the object of the story’s romantic confusion Dale Tremont, Lucy St. Louis doesn’t miss a beat, ensuring that they are indeed both Dancing Cheek To Cheek."

"... this is an enchanting two hours 40 minutes, driven by some of Berlin’s finest toe tappers. Not least among them, the title number — as potent an earworm as you could wish for; ensuring this delightful show is strictly fun dancing."

"Ravishing musical taps immaculately off the silver screen"

"Twinkly eyed Phillip Attmore and silky-singing Lucy St Louis have natural chemistry in this stylish, witty adaptation of the mistaken identity drama"

"It is ravishingly directed and choreographed by Kathleen Marshall, who was behind the winning 2021 revival of Cole Porter’s Anything Goes at the Barbican theatre in London."

"The twinkly eyed Attmore brings sublime tap all the way through but especially in the titular Top Hat, White Tie and Tails, complete with an immaculate dancing ensemble. There is incredibly silky singing from St Louis in songs such as Wild About You and Better Luck Next Time, and the central couple have a natural chemistry on stage."

"It is a show that is extremely easy on the eye with gorgeous ostrich-feathered costumes"

"Like Crazy for You, which played at the same theatre in 2022, this show seems raring for a London transfer. It stretches on for too long, and is not quite as spectacular as that musical, but the whole thing oozes style and wit. Heaven."

"Puttin’ on the trips (thanks to a slippery stage)"

"After a tricky start, the director Kathleen Marshall got an evening of amiable fluff back on track at Chichester Festival Theatre"

"... it’s also a notch or two below the Gershwin spectacular Crazy for You that Susan Stroman brought to Chichester three years ago — but songs that were written for hard times 90 years ago still speak to us today."

"... it’s in the comic sparring of the older married couple, played by Clive Carter and Sally Ann Triplett, that the evening really begins to spark."

"Marshall’s choreography is never less than polished, as you’d expect. Attmore’s tap-dancing skills shine too. Top Hat, White Tie and Tails makes a joyously crowded Act I finale."

"As light as air — and just as insubstantial"

"Terrific lead performances buoy Chichester Festival Theatre’s adaptation of the classic Irving Berlin musical"

"... has all the delight — but, let’s be honest, also the nutritional content — of a sweet summer sorbet."

"It’s Irving Berlin’s songs we’re really here for, and the silky glory of those dance numbers. They are joyously delivered here, with Marshall’s effervescent choreography kicking up a storm."

"Phillip Attmore brings genuine charm to Jerry — a sense that this self-assured man has actually met his match in Dale — and he’s a dazzling dancer... Lucy St Louis is more than a match as Dale: a feather-light dancer with a beautiful, crystal voice, she gives her character a fine sense of self-worth."

"But it all begins to feel a little effortful in the second half, as the narrative wanders into increasingly silly excesses... But as an effervescent seasonal treat, it slips down nicely."

"Fred and Ginger’s shoes prove too big to fill in this flat Top Hat"

"The 1935 film was a triumph for Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers but Kathleen Marshall’s musical revival lacks wow factor"

"... while it’s a treat to hear those glorious standards, somewhere along the line – whether in the chemistry between the leads (triple Astaire Award-winning American dancer-actor Phillip Attmore and Lucy St Louis, a Brit), or the general handling of the material itself – the anticipated wow-factor has gone missing."

"One stumbling-block is that the storyline is thinner than in Anything Goes."

"More pressingly, there’s a strangely withheld quality to Attmore and St Louis, stepping into the daunting shoes of Astaire and Rogers... But though both have lovely voices and a loose-limbed grace, and Attmore is a top-notch tap-machine, there’s a lot of surface finesse, not much spark beneath."

"Keeps the comedy brisk and the dance spectacular"

"Kathleen Marshall’s dynamic choreography struggles to elevate this old-fashioned musical comedy"

"The story is notoriously thin, but director Kathleen Marshall, who delivered a superlative Anything Goes at the Barbican in 2021, knows how to handle the material, keeping the comedy brisk and the dance routines spectacular. But even Marshall’s effervescent choreography struggles to energise the creaky, convoluted book"

"There’s a strong touch of the egomaniac about Jerry, but thankfully Broadway import Attmore makes him charming, too. As Dale, St. Louis matches all of Attmore‘s moves – backwards and in heels – and sings with genuine heart, but their partnership seems curiously dry. There’s no journey in this love affair and, despite the choreography, it never quite comes to life."

"The second act is far livelier, with the arrival of the marvellous Sally Ann Triplett as Maude Hardwicke"

"Adaptation of Irving Berlin classic is cheeky and charming"

"The plot makes even the most contrived Shakespearean comedy about mistaken identity seem watertight."

"Marshall had enormous success with the much-more watertight Anything Goes just after the lockdowns eased up, but seems unable to repeat the trick here. Truly – the show comes alive when the characters stop talking and start dancing."

"The cast is sublime. Phillip Attmore, also brought over from the USA, has all the cheeky magnetism needed to honour Astaire... Lucy St. Louis, fresh from appearing as Glinda in the West End, matches him toe-to-toe as Tremont."

"Sally Ann Triplett, absent from the first half, does the work of Atlas in lifting the comedy beats and all-around fun in act two"