Theatre / Reviews
Review: Top Hat, Bristol Hippodrome
Top Hat is a world of moonlight, music, love and romance – but, above all, of dance. And it’s pure joy.
The musical has played the Hippodrome before (with Tom Chambers in the Fred Astaire role), but don’t let that put you off going now – this production’s time in the West End has made it bigger and better in every way. It’s tighter, slicker, smoother, classier, funnier – and much better staged.
Alan Burkitt as Astaire playing Jerry Travers has a wonderfully languid, effortless charm and dancing style that makes it all seem so easy. As they always said about Astaire, his true style lay in never looking rushed, always seeming to have enough time to do anything.
Burkitt’s not attempting an impersonation here, but somehow everything he does makes him perfect for the part. He’s even mastered that casual little flick of a salute that Astaire used to sign off his routines.
Opposite him as Ginger Rogers playing the rather brittle Dale Tremont is Charlotte Gooch, who’s appeared on the Hippodrome stage before in Dirty Dancing. Gooch is the full package: gorgeous and with a singing voice substantially better than Ginger ever had, she’s also an actress with great comic timing and a pair of unfeasibly long legs with which she seems to be able to do extraordinary things, like touching her nose (don’t try this at home).
There are two simply lovely moments of choreography that work in very similar ways – on Isn’t This a Lovely Day (To be Caught in the Rain)? and Cheek to Cheek. Both begin with Dale cautious and not wanting to be seduced by Jerry, as she’s certain he’s bad for her. Yet as the dance continues, she gradually falls into step with him as they become increasingly close – until finally she surrenders into full-blown rapture.
Comedy comes from Clive Hayward as Horace Hardwick, John Conroy as his multi-talented manservant Bates and Sebastien Torkia as the preposterous pantomime Italian Alberto Beddini, who performs an unforgettable striptease.
Now that’s entertainment.
Top Hat continues at Bristol Hippodrome until Saturday, 29 November. For more info and to book tickets, visit http://www.atgtickets.com/shows/top-hat-2/bristol-hippodrome/
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