Strallen, Chabers to Star in TOP HAT Musical

According to an article by Baz Bamigboye for UK Daily Mail, Summer Strallen Tom Chambers will star in a stage version of the great Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers movie Top Hat.

President of Irving Berlin Music, Ted Chapin,  commented on a recent London reading for the show, saying, "There was a good feeling in the room,' Chapin recalled, and what struck them all was that the story of mistaken identity (an old Rogers and Astaire standby) still held up well."

"Berlin wrote a thousand songs. Within this stage Top Hat there's a show within a show, so there's an opportunity to use some perhaps lesser-known Berlin songs as well."

Rehearsals for Top Hat will begin in July. The show will open in Milton Keynes in August.

Top Hat is a 1935 screwball comedy musical film in which Fred Astaire plays an American dancer named Jerry Travers, who comes to London to star in a show produced by Horace Hardwick (Edward Everett Horton). He meets and attempts to impress Dale Tremont (Ginger Rogers) to win her affection. The film also features Eric Blore as Hardwick's valet Bates, Erik Rhodes as Alberto Beddini, a fashion designer and rival for Dale's affections, and Helen Broderick as Hardwick's long-suffering wife Madge.

The film was written by Allan Scott and Dwight Taylor. It was directed by Mark Sandrich. The songs were written by Irving Berlin. "Top Hat, White Tie and Tails" and "Cheek to Cheek" have become American song classics.