Top Hat

Queen Elizabeth Hall

4.8/5 based on 262 reviews (read reviews)

Opens: Friday, 12 December 2025 -
Booking until: Monday, 26 January 2026
Running time: 2hr 35min. Incl. 1 Interval.

Couples (91%) Theatregoers (94%) i

Top Hat photos

Top Hat description

Let's face the music and dance! It's the elegant, effervescent West End musical Top Hat.

This gorgeous adaptation of the classic 1935 RKO Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers movie is stuffed full of wonderful music, beautiful dancing and witty dialogue. The choreography is equally stunning, as are the stage sets and costumes. The stage adaptation of Top Hat's West End premiere won the 2013 Olivier for Best New Musical and also won the year's Evening Standard Award for Best Night Out. Now it's back in town, more glittery and sophisticated than ever.

The plot goes like this. Broadway star Jerry Travers turns up in London to open a new show. While tap dancing in his hotel room, he wakes up the model Dale Tremont in the room below. Jerry falls truly, madly and deeply in love the moment he sees her. But as we all know, the path to love is rarely smooth and the pair face all sorts of problems. At first, Dale is convinced he is actually the hopeless producer Horace, hiding from his scary wife Madge. Then Dale's Italian admirer joins the fun, keen for her to show off his gorgeous couture dresses in Venice. Will Dale and Jerry finally get together?

You'll recognise the songs from Irving Berlin's famous score, even if you've never seen the film. Think Cheek to Cheek, Let's Face the Music and Dance, Top Hat, White Tie and Tails, Puttin' on the Ritz and more. This brand new production stars Phillip Attmore (Shuffle Along, Hello, Dolly!), Amara Okereke (My Fair Lady, Les Miserables), Clive Carter (Moulin Rouge, Come From Away) and Sally Ann Triplett (Cabaret, Anything Goes). The South Bank Centre's Queen Elizabeth Hall is your venue for a limited run, directed by the American director and choreographer Kathleen Marshall, who was responsible for the Tony and Olivier winning version of Anything Goes, a critically acclaimed show that delighted audiences.

The set design is by Peter McKintosh, with costume design by Peter McKintosh and Yvonne Milnes, and musical direction by Stephen Ridley. The musical supervision comes from Gareth Valentine, the orchestration and arrangements from Chris Walker, and the lighting design from Tim Mitchell. Sound design by Paul Groothuis and casting by Natalie Gallacher CDG for Pippa Ailion and Natalie Gallacher Casting complete the creative team. The show has been adapted for the stage by Matthew White and Howard Jacques, and this is a Chichester Festival Theatre Production presented by Kenny Wax and Jonathan Church Theatre Productions.

Buy Top Hat tickets to sample the bewitching charisma and charm of one of the 1930s' best-loved musical spectaculars.