TOP HAT, with music and lyrics by Irving Berlin, based on RKO’s motion picture, will be at the Festival Theatre, Edinburgh, from Tuesday 7th to Saturday 18th October.

This Triple Olivier Award winner – Best New Musical, Best Choreography and Best Costume Design – is set to dazzle Edinburgh audiences with 1930s Hollywood glamour and we have three pairs of tickets to give away thanks to the festival Theatre.

The tickets are for Friday 17th October at 7.30pm.

Direct from its tremendous success in the West End and with the same stars in the leading roles, Top Hat brings the glorious, tap-dancing magic of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers to the stage in one of the greatest dance musicals of all time.

Packed full of Irving Berlin’s classic songs, including Cheek to Cheek, Top Hat, White Tie & Tails, Puttin’ on the Ritz and Let’s Face the Music & Dance, Top Hat tells the story of Broadway sensation Jerry Travers who dances his way across Europe to win the heart of society girl Dale Tremont.

Stepping into the shoes of Fred and Ginger in the lead roles of Jerry Travers and Dale Tremont, are Alan Burkitt and Charlotte Gooch, who return to Top Hat having performed the roles in the West End.

They are joined by Clive Hayward, who returns as Horace Hardwick, the role he played in the West End; Rebecca Thornhill as Madge Hardwick; Sebastien Torkia as Alberto Beddini and John Conroy as Horace’s valet, Bates.

Top Hat is directed by Matthew White and choreographed by Bill Deamer (Olivier Award winner for Best Choreography), set designs are by Hildegard Bechtler (Olivier Award nominee for Best Set Design), costume designs by Jon Morrell (Olivier Award winner for Best Costume Design), lighting design by Peter Mumford, sound by Gareth Owen (Olivier Award nominee for Best Sound Design), new orchestrations by Chris Walker and musical supervision by Richard Balcombe.

Adapted for the stage by Matthew White and Howard Jacques, from the screenplay by Dwight Taylor and Allan Scott, Top Hat is presented by arrangement with RKO Pictures LLC, Warner Bros Theatre Ventures Inc. and the Irving Berlin Music Company.

Nominated for four Academy Awards, RKO’s Top Hat was the most successful of the nine films Astaire and Rogers made together. It premiered at the Radio City Music Hall in 1935 where it broke all box office records. Within a few weeks, all five songs from the film occupied the top five places on the American Hit Parade. It is still widely regarded as one of the greatest dance musicals of all time.

Performed by a cast of 29 and accompanied by 11 live musicians, this multi award-winning musical comedy combines Irving Berlin classics from the RKO film and from Berlin’s 1200 strong back catalogue, including well-loved favourites Let’s Face the Music and Dance and Puttin’ On the Ritz.

Alan Burkitt started his career winning the ‘All England Tap Dancer of the Year’ award. A member of the original West End cast of Top Hat at the Aldwych Theatre, Burkitt understudied the lead role of Jerry Travers for both Tom Chambers and Gavin Lee. He received rave reviews when he stood in for Lee on press night, a success story documented by Channel 4 for the TV series ‘The Sound of Musicals’. Other recent stage credits include: Singin’ in the Rain, Andy Lee in 42nd Street (Chichester Festival Theatre), the Prince in Adam Cooper’s Shall We Dance (Sadler’s Wells), Cats (German Tour) and We Will Rock You (Dominion Theatre).

Charlotte Gooch took over the lead role of Dale Tremont from Summer Strallen in the West End, performing alongside Tom Chambers as Jerry Travers. Gooch performed the lead role of Penny Johnson in Dirty Dancing in the West End at the Piccadilly Theatre and also in the original national tour. Other recent stage credits include: the lead role of Sandy in Grease (UK Tour), Cats (German Tour) and the workshop of Swing Time, dancing a duet with Anton du Beke.

Top Hat is produced by Kenny Wax, and his partners on the production are Stewart Lane and Bonnie Comley, Ted Hartley, Flora Suk-Hwa Yoon and Lee Menzies.

To win the tickets get a Times and get your entry into the Times Office by Monday morning.