{"id":208078,"date":"2025-12-24T05:29:08","date_gmt":"2025-12-24T05:29:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/208078\/"},"modified":"2025-12-24T05:29:08","modified_gmt":"2025-12-24T05:29:08","slug":"the-stylish-irving-berlin-musical-on-its-way-to-ireland-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/208078\/","title":{"rendered":"The stylish Irving Berlin musical on its way to Ireland \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

When the film Top Hat first opened, in 1935, Europe and the United States were still feeling some of the effects of the first World War \u2013 and, as if that weren\u2019t enough, the US was also in the midst of the Great Depression. The musical comedy, starring Fred Astaire<\/a> and Ginger Rogers<\/a>, with songs by Irving Berlin<\/a>, provided relief from everyday woes.<\/p>\n

Astaire plays Jerry Travers, a tap dancer who\u2019s in London to star in a new show, with Rogers as Dale Tremont, a budding actor whom he ends up pursuing. They first meet when she stomps up to his hotel room, which is above hers, to complain about the noise he\u2019s making as he practises.<\/p>\n

The swiftly moving narrative, which hinges on a case of mistaken identity, is steeped in lavish sets and costumes, all neatly sewn up with superb song and dance \u2013 including tunes that have since been canonised in the Great American Songbook, among them Puttin\u2019 on the Ritz, Cheek to Cheek and Let\u2019s Face the Music and Dance.<\/p>\n

Watching Top Hat today transports you to another era, one that exemplifies the stunning simplicity of Hollywood\u2019s golden age \u2013 and one that Irish audiences will have a chance to see when see a stylish new stage version of the film comes to the Bord G\u00e1is Energy Theatre<\/a>, in Dublin, in January.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s directed and choreographed by Kathleen Marshall, whose passion for classic movie musicals runs deep. Growing up in Pittsburgh with theatre-loving parents, she was mesmerised by That\u2019s Entertainment, a compilation that MGM released in the mid-1970s, to mark its 50th anniversary. The film featured some of the best-known song and dance routines from the 1920s and 1930s, narrated and hosted by the stars themselves.<\/p>\n

Marshall began her career performing in musicals such as Cats, which opened the door to choreography. She since has earned a stellar reputation for re-creating classics such as Anything Goes and The Pajama Game, both of which earned her Tony Awards \u2013 and, in the case of Anything Goes, an Olivier as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cI always say when you work on a show, you\u2019re dealing with when it was written, when it takes place and today,\u201d she says. \u201cSo now we\u2019re looking back. We give our audiences the sensation that the audiences had in 1935 of seeing this story. But we\u2019re also looking at it from a contemporary point of view, in terms of behaviour. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve made adjustments so now you\u2019re seeing something period but that it\u2019s still relatable. You can understand these characters and their motivations, and it can still speak to you and give you kind of the same sensation that the movie audience had in 1935.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"TopTop Hat runs at the Bord G\u00e1is Energy Theatre next January. <\/p>\n

Jerry is played by Phillip Attmore, who regards Astaire as one of his \u201clivingroom teachers\u201d \u2013 the others were Gene Kelly<\/a> and Gregory Hines \u2013 because of the amount of time he spent watching them on screen when he was growing up in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n

He became so captivated that by the age of 10 he had the confidence to contact Hines, his tap idol, directly. By then Hines<\/a> had established a new, freer form of tap, and had starred in films such as White Nights and The Cotton Club (which was directed by Francis Ford Coppola<\/a>), modern-day takes on the Astaire-Rogers classics.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was so young, practically a baby, and in my best business voice I got in touch with his manager and said, \u2018My name\u2019s Phillip Attmore, and I\u2019d like to speak to Mr Hines, please.\u2019 Then I left a message. It was just a shot in the dark. I\u2019d say about a month later I was in the bathroom and my brother said, \u2018Phillip, Phillip, Gregory Hines is on the phone!\u2019 <\/p>\n

\u201cI remember his voice was so warm and so encouraging. He asked me how long I\u2019d been dancing at that time, which wasn\u2019t very long, yet the thing that I remember him saying that has been etched on my heart was, \u2018Keep dancing.\u2019 It was very simple, but it stuck with me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dale is played by Amara Okereke, an English actor whose West End career began when she was a child, with a part in the musical 13. Since then she has appeared in London productions of Les Mis\u00e9rables and My Fair Lady, among other roles.<\/p>\n

She\u2019s very conscious of the way the film\u2019s original audience would have perceived Top Hat. It\u2019s \u201cset in a time where socially the world was kind of crumbling,\u201d she says. \u201cThe economy was abysmal. Fascism was on the rise. And yet people still wanted to feel good.<\/p>\n

\"AmaraAmara Okereke as Dale Tremont and Phillip Attmore. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think we go through cycles in history where things might be great and then they start to fall again. But we still want to enjoy the hopefulness of being a human being who makes mistakes and falls in love. <\/p>\n

\u201cIn all of this the language of music and dance makes the characters melt for one another. I think audiences really do feel that. It creates this sense of warm nostalgia.\u201d<\/p>\n

The stage musical\u2019s choreography blends tap and ballroom with an air of ease and casual sophistication, true to Astaire and Rogers\u2019s signature style. In Marshall\u2019s version of Cheek to Cheek, Jerry and Dale glide across an art-deco set that looks like a club in 1930s New York, moving in tandem as if floating across the floor.<\/p>\n

Their duet later segues into a dynamic top-hat-and-cane ensemble routine for a larger cast, danced with energy and precision (and featuring tailcoat tuxedos).<\/p>\n

\u201cCertainly everything Fred Astaire did was so rhythmically complex and interesting,\u201d Marshall says. \u201cAnd I think Phillip has Fred Astaire\u2019s sort of style but blended with a more modern tap style … He combines that more hard-hitting aggressiveness of tap dancers today with classical ballroom style, which gives it this kind of contemporary edge. I think he\u2019s unique in that way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Marshall\u2019s choreography is matched by Yvonne Milnes\u2019 costumes and Peter McKintosh\u2019s sets: the impact of each dance is magnified by its details, from the feathered ballroom gown that Dale wears in Cheek to Cheek to the silver cocktail shaker in Jerry\u2019s hotel room. The glamour, movement and music carry Top Hat from the last century into this one. <\/p>\n

\u201cDale and Jerry have a very clear story,\u201d Marshall says. \u201cIt can be seen in their three big duets. The first, Isn\u2019t This a Lovely Day?, is a flirtation, a little seduction. It\u2019s playful and it\u2019s really them falling in love. Then their second big duet, Cheek to Cheek, is giving in to the passion, even though she\u2019s resisting because of the mistaken identity … And then Let\u2019s Face the Music and Dance is what they believe are their last few moments together. It\u2019s kind of elegiac and bittersweet.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo they have a very clear journey in their dancing. I think it helps to understand that sometimes you\u2019re telling a story through dance and sometimes you\u2019re just creating a mood or creating whatever emotion that you\u2019re portraying.\u201d<\/p>\n

[\u00a0John C Reilly: \u2018I worked with this older Irish actor one time. He was bummed out if I said anything that wasn\u2019t the lines\u2019Opens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

The clarity of these scenes also makes the lighthearted story easy to follow. In the midst of the lead duo\u2019s performances, Dale\u2019s best friend, Madge, plays matchmaker, with many accidental interruptions by her unsuspecting husband, Horace, who\u2019s also producing Jerry\u2019s new show. Horace\u2019s butler, Bates provides constant comic relief while trying to unite the two lovers \u2013 not to be outdone by an over-the-top Italian fashion designer, Alberto Beddini. It\u2019s a dream for performers wanting to feature their talents.<\/p>\n

\u201cTop Hat is a beautiful invitation to be able to pull out the whole tool bag,\u201d Attmore says. \u201cSometimes I can only use bits, but I feel like Top Hat is an opportunity to be able to sing, to be able to dance, to get the comedy out, and then also to do styles from tap dancing to ballroom and jazz and theatrical dance.\u201d<\/p>\n

Okereke saw the stage version of Top Hat for the first time when Lucy St Louis, star of West End productions of The Phantom of the Opera and Wicked, was playing Dale.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe feeling of joy that was radiating off everyone in the audience, including myself,\u201d she says. \u201cYou can\u2019t help but smile, because this is some of the best music ever written. It\u2019s some of the most beautiful choreography. You have this incredible set. You have these beautiful costumes. <\/p>\n

\u201cAnd in a world where there is so much darkness, this is exactly what you need to escape to. And I think that\u2019s why audiences really, really are with us on this show.\u201d<\/p>\n

Top Hat is at the Bord G\u00e1is Energy Theatre<\/a>, in Dublin, from Tuesday, January 27th, until Saturday, January 31st<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When the film Top Hat first opened, in 1935, Europe and the United States were still feeling some…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":208079,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[15456,615,23028,108895,108897,108896,61,60,97428,43],"class_list":["post-208078","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-bord-gais","tag-dublin","tag-francis-ford-coppola","tag-fred-astaire","tag-gene-kelly","tag-ginger-rogers","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-irving-berlin","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208078","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=208078"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208078\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/208079"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=208078"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=208078"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=208078"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}