REVIEW - Top Hat is a joyous production with a superb cast certainly puttin' on the ritz!

On Tuesday, we were invited to see Top Hat at the Manchester Opera House. Read what our reviewer Christa Norton thought about this fabulous production...

When it comes to needing a good dose of jazz hands, for me there are few musicals which can match Irving Berlin’s Top Hat. I first became, well, not obsessed but definitely fascinated by this musical when Torvil and Dean chose ‘Let’s face the music’ for their Olympic comeback in the 1990s. With the song on repeat in my head, I naturally sought out the original 1935 film, which became my gateway to the legendary Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers partnership. Until then, my experience of musicals had been more of the Andrew Lloyd Webber variety – usually as part of a school musical so definitely not doing them justice! But with Top Hat, I was mesmerised by the glamour, the sassiness, the sheer talent not just of Astaire and Rogers, but the whole cast.

And so, with the tinsel and Christmas lights already overflowing, I could not think of a better way to spend a rather chilly night, than indulging in some proper glitz and glitter at the Opera House for this latest production of Top Hat.

And what a production it is, boasting wonderful leads, an exceptional supporting cast and more top hats and tails than you could possibly hope for.

The story of Top Hat is part romance, part farce, part screwball comedy, most of which takes second place to the iconic jazz numbers which include ‘Puttin on the ritz’, ‘Let’s face the music’ and ‘Dancing cheek to cheek’.

It centres on Jerry Travers, a charismatic Broadway dancer who arrives in London to star in a new West End show. Jerry is exuberant, confident and full of the joys of dancing, so much so that when he begins tap-dancing in his hotel room late at night, he unwittingly disturbs the guest staying below him, the elegant and independent Dale Tremont.

Dale storms upstairs to complain, and Jerry is instantly captivated by her. She, however, is far less impressed. Jerry attempts a series of charming, if occasionally misguided, efforts to win her over, but matters become complicated when Dale mistakes him for Horace Hardwick, a married producer- and Jerry’s friend. Believing Jerry to be a flirtatious husband pursuing her behind his wife’s back, Dale rejects his advances entirely.

The misunderstanding deepens when the characters travel to Venice, where Horace’s actual wife, the glamorous and temperamental Madge, is waiting. Dale confides in Madge about the “unfaithful” Horace, unaware that she is speaking to his real-life spouse, who finds the situation both baffling and amusing.  Attempts to explain the confusion only lead to further entanglements, aided and hindered in equal measure by Horace’s excitable valet, Bates, who adopts a series of disguises in an effort to help.

Eventually, the tangle of mistaken identities is untied: Jerry is revealed to be single, Horace is vindicated, and Dale realises she has pushed away the wrong man. Once the truth is laid bare, romance triumphs, and Jerry and Dale come together in a joyful finale.

This production starts as it means to go on, with an outstanding full chorus performance of ‘Puttin on the ritz’. Front and centre is Jerry Travers, performed by Phillip Attmore (So you think you can dance, The Marvelous Miss Maisel, Spamalot, Hello Dolly). Attmore is a glorious dancer, his movements are fluid, exciting, totally controlled, but it is the fact that he looks utterly fully of joy whilst he dances that makes him so charismatic. The opening number gives him the chance to demonstrate his tap skills and he takes full advantage, giving the audience an immediate wow. I half expected a standing ovation before the show had even started!

Amara Okereke (The Choral, In the Lost Lands, West Side Story) as Dale Tremont is no less fantastic, offering a punchy, confident performance that is both sincere and heartfelt, bringing some emotional depth to the story. Her performance of ‘Better luck next time’ was stunning and brought a moment of stillness to the production.

Together, Attmore and Okereke have great chemistry on stage; their rendition of ‘Let’s face the music’ was a romantic, intimate performance that was reflective and resolute, again just creating a quieter moment amongst the bigger numbers.

James Hume (My Fair Lady, The Phantom of the Opera, Les Miserable) delivers a thoroughly enjoyable performance as the slightly bumbling Horace Hardwick, and his interplay with Bates – played by James Clyde (Matilda the Musical, Mr Thomas, Jane Eyre) provided the much needed comic relief. Clyde is frankly hilarious as Bates, delivering the most ridiculous sayings in silliest of accents. Clearly his castmates also enjoy this, and were doing their best to break his deadpan delivery – though I’m pleased to say they didn’t succeed.

For me, the standout performance of the evening had to be Sally Ann Triplett (Absent Friends, Much Ado About Nothing, Finding Neverland), performing Madge Hardwick. To say ‘she understood the brief’ would be a complete understatement. For me, of all the cast, she best captured that spirit of the original movie, delivering a take no prisoners performance that was sharp, engaging, and which elevated the whole show.

Triplett and Hume make a punchy counterpart to the young lovers and play off one another brilliantly. Their performance of ‘Outside of that, I love you’ is a riotous amount of fun - definitely a favourite of the audience last night.

The performance is underpinned by the richness of Irving Berlin’s Top Hat score, full of his trademark harmonic playfulness and those effortless shifts between major and minor that are so distinctive, and which for me give the music its glow. The live band is superb throughout, delivering the classic American smooth style with real finesse, leaning into the lush, sweeping melodies.

The set design feels both innovative and true to period style. It embraces full 1930s Art Deco glamour, centred around a sweeping semi-circular structure with a rotating core that allows for smooth, seamless scene changes. Its elegant curves and geometric detailing immediately evoke the era. The revolving centre transforms effortlessly from London club to theatre stage to hotel bedroom, whilst projections of different cityscapes – London and Venetian skylines, help anchor each location, enhancing the storytelling without interrupting the flow.

The costume design follows suit, channelling the 1930s with top hats, tails, feathers and sequins aplenty. The men’s tailoring is particularly sharp - Attmore’s costumes stand out for being both impeccably cut and designed to allow complete freedom of movement, enabling his dance routines to look effortless. In contrast, Okereke’s costumes always didn’t appear to offer the same ease, sometimes restricting the flow of her choreography. While the principal looks capture the elegance of the period, a few costumes - especially for the female ensemble - felt slightly dowdy, lacking the vibrancy and refinement seen elsewhere in the production.

Likewise, whilst the choreography in Top Hat delivers some standout moments - with the opening “Puttin’ on the ritz” easily a high point - not all the set pieces reach the same level, and some of the routines felt a little flat. This was not helped by some untidiness in the chorus. The iconic “Top Hat, White Tie and Tails” number, featuring canes as props, demands precision, but the chorus didn’t always move as one, leaving sections looking less impactful than intended.

Both are minor issues though, and the main cast deliver such entertaining performances that it didn’t affect my overall enjoyment, nor that of the rest of the audience, who were cheering after every number, with many offering a standing ovation at the end. And it was a standing ovation that is well deserved for this joyous production and its superb cast.

This Top Hat is certainly ‘puttin on the ritz’ for Manchester!

WE SCORE TOP HAT...




Top Hat is on at the Opera House in Manchester until Saturday 29th November 2025 and then can be seen at Lowry in Salford on Tuesday 31st March to Saturday 4th April 2026


WATCH OUR "IN CONVERSATION WITH AMARA OKEREKE" VIDEO DISCUSSING THE SHOW


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