Tags
BBC Radio 4, Clive Hayward, Fred Astaire, Leeds, Musicals, The Grand Leeds, The Grand Theatre and Opera House Leeds, top hat, Top Hat The Musical
Happy New Year!
The New Year starts not far from where the last year left off; in Leeds and heading for The Grand!
“Top Hat” is a great show, but I guess I am a little bit biased, because I have been a big fan of the original, 1935, film version, starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers for a long time and the musical mirrors the film so closely that I was bound to love it! Even scenes, that I thought would be impossible to recreate on the stage, were laid before my eyes with the greatest of ease (or so it seemed; the production must have been technically very difficult).
The cast were superb and if I had to single out one member of it for a special mention, it would be Clive Hayward, who played Horace Hardwick. Firstly, it was a great role well played and secondly, Mr. Hayward’s voice is regularly heard at Mr. B HQ, via BBC Radio 4 (if my memory serves me well and l have read the programme correctly). Two productions, mentioned in the programme, stand out for me, the Classic Serial “The Divine Comedy” and an adaptation of Philip K. Dick’s “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?“. It is quite something to see somebody you have only ever heard.
The Antics Roadshow blog 