Tip Top Hat

So good they did it twice – last year’s production of Top Hat was a great success, praised by many. Others regretted they missed it, so The Mill decided to do it again.

The show is based on the 1935 film starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. But spectacular musicals only work well if the music is good and this show has music written by Irving Berlin, one of the great composers of popular music.

Prominent was Puttin’ On The Ritz, Cheek To Cheek and Let’s Face The Music & Dance, classics all. Berlin composed an estimated 1,000 songs, many of them memorable. Mind you he had plenty of time to do it, he lived to be 101.

One of the most surprising things about this show was hearing young actors singing Berlin songs in the style of the 1935 movie and doing it so well.

Jon Labey and Billie Kay played Fred and Ginger. No, hang on, I mean they played Jerry Travers and Dale Tremont. Their acting, singing and dancing was impressive throughout as was that of the rest of the cast.

Julia Nagle did a good comic turn as Madge, a veteran of more than one marriage who claimed success in her first when she divorced and got custody of the money. Paul Kemble played a put-upon husband well, providing several laughs as he claimed he was so unlucky, he went to a funeral and ‘caught the bouquet’. More humour from Brendan Cull as a not-so-loyal manservant and Andy Rees kept everyone laughing with his parody of an Italian with broken English. Other actor dancers who impressed in the colourful routines were Gabriela Gregorian, Leah Harris, Joe Boyle and Hannah Amin.

The story line of Travers’ journey to London and his mix up with Dale, who thinks he’s married to someone else, was almost incidental. The music by a three-piece band often sounding like a full orchestra, the stunning dance routines, singing and dancing and acting, were all spectacular. Even the modest Mill stage looked bigger and more impressive with the design of the set that stretched the walls out into the auditorium and with Art Deco shapes on the backdrops. The actors made it look terrific, but much credit must go to the ‘backstage creatives’, director Jonathan O’Boyle, choreographer Ashley Nottingham and set designer Jason Denvir.

DEREK ANSELL

Strictly amazing: Mill at Sonning’s Top Hat is a festive feast

The audience at The Mill were in for a treat on the opening night of Top Hat. The show opened with a dazzle of lights and energy as the cast tapped their way through the famous Puttin’ on the Ritz. There then followed romance, scandal, humour, and a case of mistaken identity, accompanied or interspersed with a vast array of dance styles. Featuring other well-known numbers as Dancing Cheek to Cheek and Let’s Face the Music and Dance, many an audience toes were tapping – and it was hard not to sing along.

The show tells the story of the charismatic dancer Jerry Travers, played by former EastEnders star Jonny Labey, who travels to London to perform a show. He falls in love with the lady from the hotel room below – the very lady whose sleep he disturbs as he practices his tap routines.

A variety of other larger-than-life characters appear in succession, from the exuberant Italian designer Beddini (Andy Rees), with his superb comic timing and facial expressions, to the hilarious Bates the butler (Brendan Cull), who wouldn’t have been out of place in a pantomime.

As the action moved to Venice, cue a more Latin style of dancing and some most amusing Italian accents as the plot moves from scandal to farce, then a very satisfying Happily-Ever-After.

The tap numbers definitely stole the show: the lightning-quick feet of Jonny Labey left the audience breathless, and the whole-ensemble numbers with feet moving in perfect synchronicity. This was a festive feast for the eyes and ears.

Costume, lighting, staging and music all contributed to a fantastically uplifting evening.

JUDITH CREIGHTON