Top marks for Top Hat the musical at Wales Millennium Centre – review

Thanks to Wales Millennium Centre for providing us with review tickets for Top Hat

Top Hat the musical opened at Wales Millennium Centre last night – and what a beautifully charming show it is.

Based on the classic 1935 film, which starred the legendary Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, Top Hat is filled with glorious dance numbers, elegant costumes and some of the most iconic musical songs ever written ( thanks to Irving Berlin), including Puttin’ On The Ritz, Cheek To Cheek, and Let’s Face The Music and Dance which, 90 years on, are still so well-known even if you’ve never heard of Top Hat.

This new UK tour revives the highly acclaimed stage adaptation from Matthew White and Howard Jacque which played from 2011-2015 and won the 2013 Olivier Award for Best New Musical and the Evening Standard Award for Best Night Out – and it’s easy to see why. It’s everything you want a classic musical to be, evoking 1930s Hollywood with the ensemble cast filling the stage in top hat, tails and canes, and glamorous feather plumes as they tap dance in perfect synchronicity, accompanied by the sweeping strings and bouncing brass of the orchestra.

The romantic comedy revolves around a case of mistaken identity, misunderstandings and misplaced revenge, as Broadway tap dancer Jerry Travers (real life Broadway dance star Phillip Attmore, in his UK debut – he’s previously won the Fred and Adele Astaire Award for Best Male Dancer for Shuffle Along and he’s every bit as good as the role requires), falls in love with fashion model Dale Tremond (played by award-winning West End star Amara Okereke). She, however, mistakenly believes he’s Horace Hardwick (James Hume), the hapless theatre producer who is married to her friend Madge (the iconic Sally Ann Triplett)…

They make a wonderful pairing with all the glamour and glitz you’d expect. Their dancing is mesmerising with some awe-inspiring footwork under the choreography of Kathleen Marshall. Amara swishes around the stage in the most glamorous of outfits which move perfectly with the music, thanks to costume design from Peter McKintosh and Yvonne Milnes.

There’s plenty of humour throughout the show, much of this coming from the dry wit, banter and comedic timing between James Hume and Sally Ann Triplett. Their duet Outside Of That I Love You, in which they list everything that annoys them about each other despite being very much in love, was really well received, no doubt resonating with anyone in a long-term relationship.

James Clyde as Bates, the butler who goes above and beyond for his employer, and Alex Gibson-Giorgio as fashion designer Alberto also provide some of the shows lighter and funniest moments, having us all laughing out loud.

The set design is truly striking and adds so much to the production. The lavish art deco golden arch which fills the stage has a rotating middle which reveals a new scene each time it revolves, alongside sharp, colourful lighting and visual projections in the windows of the arch. All of the scenes are so detailed and filled with props and furniture – I would love to see how it all looks back stage.

The age guidance is 8+. I took my 15-year-old daughter – she knew some of the songs when we played the soundtrack before the show, and knew who Fred and Ginger were although didn’t know much about the musical – and although we both felt it was a touch too long, she loved its old school charm and glamour.

Even a brief pause in the show, presumably due to some kind of backstage tech issue, doesn’t take the shine off this warm and endearing musical, bringing an all-time classic to new audience.

Top Hat is at Wales Millennium Centre until Saturday 15 November with performances at 7.30pm daily and a 2.30pm matinee on Thursday and Saturday. The show is 2 hours and 40 minutes including interval. Age guidance 8+ with no admittance to under 2s. Tickets, priced from £18, are still available. It continues its tour of the UK and Ireland until April 2026. Book online here.

Also coming up at Wales Millennium Centre:

Mary Poppins 3 December-10 January

The Shawshank Redemption 13-17 January

The Lightning Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical 21-24 January

Single White Female 27-31 January
Here & Now The Steps Musical 3-7 February

Tina: The Tina Turner Musical 10-28 February