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The new musical stars
Tom Chambers, who
was the winner of Strictly Come Dancing
- and
who
seems to get women
all of a flutter on Holby City
- along with
Summer Strallen who is a triple Olivier
Award nominee and star of Love Never Dies, The Boy Friend and
Hollyoaks. The show also stars Martin Ball, who is currently playing Thenardier in Les Miserables at the Queens Theatre in the West End along with Ricardo Afonso, who is also currently in the West End starring in We Will Rock You at the Dominion Theatre as the lead, Galileo. It is directed by Matthew White and choreographed by Bill Dreamer who recently choreographed the UK and European tours of Evita and, incidentally, was the choreographer and director for Fred Astaire, His Daughter's Tribute at the London Palladium in 2001. The show has its world premiere in Milton Keyes before its convoy of artics arrives at the Birmingham Hippodrome on August 30 for a two week run before heading off on a tour around the country on its way to an anticipated West End opening next year. The show has a large cast of 31 and a 15 strong orchestra, which is exceptional in modern musical theatre where computers are becoming bigger and bands smaller. But this is a big production in every way, but then again, it has a lot to live up to.
TAKE your mind back 76 years . . . all
right, take your great granny's mind back 76 years, to New York, August
29, 1935 and the Radio City Music Hall. The crowds, glitz and
glamour were out in force for the premiere of the latest screwball
musical comedy starring
Frederick Austerlitz and Virginia Katherine McMath, who were fast
becoming the hottest dance duo in Hollywood.
Luckily, for the bloke who did the posters if for no-one else, the pair
had long since changed their names to Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. Top Hat
was the fourth film the pair had made for RKO and was
the first to be
specifically written for them
and, as the posters said, they were dancing cheek-to-cheek again. The film had cost $620,000 and
was to gross $3 million, the second most successful film of 1935,
bettered only by MGM's The Mutiny on the Bounty with Charles
Laughton and Clark Gable and, hidden among the extras, James Cagney. Cagney was already a major
star but was sailing his boat close to where filming was taking place in
California and shouted out to the director, Frank Lloyd, an old friend,
joking that he was between jobs and could do with a “couple of bucks” if
there was any work going. Lloyd, for a laugh, dressed
Cagney in a sailor's uniform and for the rest of the day he was among
the extras on the Bounty. Nothing whatsoever to do with Top Hat
but interesting nevertheless. FINEST Top Hat
is widely regarded as the best of the nine musicals made by the pair for
RKO between 1933 and 1939 and is seen as arguably the finest
of all the the Hollywood musicals produced in the 1930s. Astaire, 36 at the time, was
at his peak as a dancer. Hollywood legend has it that his screen test
for RKO carried the note "Can't sing. Can't act. Balding. Can dance a
little." A nice story, but the test and notes are long gone and
probably more accurate was Astaire's
recollection that it actually said "Can't act. Slightly bald. Also
dances". Whatever the wording, and they were probably right about the acting and certainly accurate about the balding, there could have been no doubts about his abilities as a hoofer. He had appeared on Broadway, dancing with his sister Adele, at the age of 18 and by the time he was signed by RKO he was already an established musical theatre star. Fred and Adele had starred in the likes of
George and
Ira Gershwin's Lady Be Good (1924) and Funny Face (1927)
first on Broadway and then
in the West End as well as appearing in
shows like
the popular 1931 revue, The Band Wagon. Astaire, by now, was recognized almost everywhere as the greatest tap dancer of his generation but despite being household names on stage their attempt to break into Hollywood fell at the first hurdle, or at least under the gaze of the first camera. A Paramount screen test deemed them unsuitable for the movies and, with that avenue closed, their successful partnership, which had started as a child brother and sister act in vaudeville when Fred was just six, ended in 1932 when Adele married Lord Charles Arthur Francis Cavendish and moved to Ireland. Astaire found a new partner, Clair Luce, in the Cole Porter musical Gay Divorce which opened on Broadway in November 1933. It was to be Astaire's last Broadway show and the only one when he was not partnered by Adele. Their dance to Night and Day was seen as the highlight of the show and it was a number that came to be regarded as a milestone in Astaire's dance revolution in film when the show, renamed The Gay Divorcee, became the second Astaire and Rogers film for RKO almost a year later.
The RKO screen test was hardly
encouraging though and although legendary film producer David O. Selznick, who
had signed him to RKO, and had arranged the test, was less than sure
about Astaire as a film star he
was prepared to back a hunch. He wrote: "I am uncertain about the man,
but I feel, in spite of his enormous ears and bad chin line, that his
charm is so tremendous that it comes through even on this wretched
test." Astaire had lowly billing in
his first musical, Flying Down to Rio, which starred Delores del
Rio. She was one of the silent
movie stars who had made a successful transition to talkies and went on
to become Orson Welles' lover and the queen of Mexican cinema. The film put Astaire and his
partner Rogers, billed above him for the only
time, on the map. She was already an
established star, making her first film in 1929 and Flying Down to
Rio was her second for RKO. Of all his partners she was
the best, not only as a dancer, but because she could also act,
a quality which was recognised with an Oscar
for Best Actress in 1941 for the title role in Kitty Foyle and
she received
critical acclaim for her
roles in a variety of gritty dramas and comedies.
For Astaire though it was his
first exposure and entertainment trade mag Variety said of his
performance: “He's distinctly likable on the screen, the mike is kind to
his voice and as a dancer he remains in a class by himself. The latter
observation will be no news to the profession, which has long admitted
that Astaire starts dancing where the others stop hoofing." The Gay Divorcee
and Roberta quickly followed with Astaire now top billing. Next
up was Top Hat which had its critics, mainly complaints that it
was almost a copy of The Gay Divorcee with a similar story and,
save for a couple of changes, virtually the same cast. All agreed though that it was
worth watching. Astaire had managed to get a percentage of profits as
part of his contract with RKO, which was almost unheard of, but, even
more important and unusual, he had managed to obtain complete control
over the dance numbers. His films all had at least one
each of the three elements he insisted upon. At least one big solo
number – which he called his “sock solo”, a comedy number with another
dancer or two and at least one romantic dance with his female lead. Not only that, Astaire wanted the dances, as far as possible, to be filmed complete in as few shots as possible - The Piccolino dance in Top Hat was filmed in one take - and he wanted dances filmed with a static camera showing the dances full length so the whole dancer was seen, not just feet or face. He introduced elegance,
innovation and supreme skill into dance
all set to music and songs written for
them by some of the finest popular songwriters of all time. His control also extended to
insisting
that the dances moved the story on rather than being just chucked in to
give a bit of musical glamour between scenes. Up to that point the height of
dance in film musical was the likes of Busby Berkeley with massed
ranks of dancers weaving incredible kaleidoscopic
patterns filmed from
above on huge sound stages with extravagant,
spectacular,
intricate choreography, beauty and
elegance. Sophistication on an industrial scale. You can see a typical Berkeley
number in the short film, Don't Say Goodnight, made by Berkeley
in 1934, the year before Top Hat. Compare that with
Top Hat and
you see the
revolution Astaire was bringing to dance on film in the number Top
Hat, White Tie and Tails, arguably the best screen solo of his
career. The big romantic number was Cheek to Cheek which has created its own Hollywood legend and Ginger Rogers nickname, Feathers. You can see it here . . . with sub-titles for
our many Spanish readers. OK, it's the only full version I could find
in the wonderful world of
YouTube . . .
but what do you expect for free? The couple danced together in
the film five times, the most they partnered each other in any of their
films – they had 33 partnered dances in all. Not that it was all sweetness
and roses. Rogers had decided she wanted to wear a dress she had created
with dress designer Bernard Newman, a blue number covered in a mass of
Ostrich feather. Astaire and director Mark Sandrich knew instinctively
it was a disaster waiting to happen and suggested she wore the white
gown she had worn for Night and Day in The Gay
Divorcee. Rogers, and her mother,
stomped off the set in a huff, everyone argued, then relented and back
she came, ostrich feathers and all, and when the dance was filmed she
left the set looking a bit like a Bernard Matthew's plucking shed. An unhappy Astaire said that
is was like “a chicken being attacked by a coyote”. The wardrobe department worked
on the dress and in the final version a few feathers can be seen to come
astray but most are well behaved. A few days later Astaire
bought Rogers a gold feather for her charm bracelet as a peace offering
and gave her the nickname Feathers. Astaire was also unhappy with the final production number, The Piccolino, he didn't rate the song so handed the singing duties over to Ginger as you can see. Top Hat
also saw the start of a lifelong friendship between Astaire and
songwriter Irving Berlin. Berlin, who could neither read nor write music
and could only play the piano, not very well, in just one key, was one
of that handful of great American songwriters, along with the likes of
Cole Porter, who helped change the face of popular music. Top Hat had five Berlin
numbers: No Strings; Isn't This a Lovely
Day (To Be Caught in the Rain); Top Hat, White Tie, and Tails; Cheek to
Cheek; and The Piccolino. Three
more didn't make it: Wild About You; Get Thee Behind Me, Satan;
and You're the Cause. For the new stage musical the
producers raided the Berlin songbook – he wrote an estimated 1,500 songs
from his first hit, Alexander's Ragtime Band in 1907 to when he
retired in 1966. Among them were the scores of
19 Broadway shows and 18 Hollywood films. His songs were nominated for
Oscars seven times but the statuette always eluded him. Included in the stage show are ten extra Berlin numbers including Let's Face the Music and Dance, I'm Putting All My Eggs in One Basket, both from RKO's Follow the Fleet (1936) as well as Gentleman Prefer Blondes, a later addition to the 1925 musical The Cocoanuts  The story of Top Hat is
simple. American Jerry Travers, a Broadway dance star, is making his
debut in London and his dancing in his hotel room disturbs model Dale
Tremont in the room below. She comes up to complain and he falls in love at first sight. Smitten, he pursues her around Europe with a few mistaken identities thrown in for good measure.
Dale mistakes
Jerry for his producer
Horace, who is married to her best friend Madge
– which does not go down too well so there are a few trials and
tribulations - as well as songs and dances -before we get to the living happy
ever after part.
All right it's not exactly
Hamlet – but it worked and, at the time, it saved RKO, from bankruptcy. The film was also notable for
being banned in Italy. Apparently Benito Mussolini was not too chuffed
at the way Erik Rhodes, playing Alberto
Beddini, portrayed Italians in the film.
He had also banned The Gay Divorcee for the same reason. In that
one Erik Rhodes played Italian Rodolfo Tonetti. A bit of a pattern seems
to be developing there - told you they were similar. Wearing comic opera military
uniforms with funny hats and calling yourself
His Excellency, Head of Government, Duce of Fascism,
and Founder of the Empire as well awarding
yourself the supreme military rank of First Marshal of the Empire
as Benito did was presumably a much more typical portrayal of the
average Roman bloke in the street. Astaire and Rogers went on to
make five more films for RKO before the partnership broke up. They were re-united for a
final time in 1949 in The Barkleys of Broadway where Rogers was a
last minute replacement for Judy Garland whose dependence on
prescription medications meant she was frequently unavailable. Their last film, their only
appearance in colour, was a modest success and when the credits finally
rolled the golden era of Fred and Ginger was over. Top Hat, the musical, starts a new era which dawns at Birmingham Hippodrome on August 30 and runs until September 10. Opening night, incidentally, promises a return to the heyday of Hollywood premieres with an invitation to break out the glad rags for a black tie and tiaras night. Its not compulsory but it is a chance to add a bit of first night glamour to a new-musical celebrating the golden age of the movie's first dance legends..
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