A major new production of Irving Berlin’s dance musical Top Hat and the world premiere of a musical version of Rachel Joyce’s novel, The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry will feature in the Chichester Festival Theatre’s (CFT) 2025 season.
The centrepiece of the prestigious venue’s 2025 season, the new production of the acclaimed stage version of the classic 1935 film musical Top Hat will be directed and choreographed by Kathleen Marshall, the multi-Tony and Olivier Award-winner whose revival of Anything Goes delighted audiences in London and across the UK in 2021 and 2022.
Running from 14 July until 6 September in the Festival Theatre, the creative team for the production will also include set designer Peter McKintosh, musical supervisor Gareth Valentine, orchestrator and arranger Chris Walker, lighting designer Tim Mitchell, sound designer Paul Groothuis and casting director Natalie Gallacher for Pippa Ailion and Natalie Gallacher Casting.
Featuring Irving Berlin classics including ‘Puttin’ On the Ritz’, ‘Cheek to Cheek’, ‘Isn’t This A Lovely Day’ and ‘Top Hat, White Tie and Tails’, the musical version of the much-loved RKO musical comedy features a book by Matthew White and Howard Jacques, based on the screenplay by Dwight Taylor and Allan Scott. The most successful film to feature the partnership of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, Top Hat tells the story of Broadway sensation Jerry Travers and his efforts to win the heart of society girl Dale Tremont.
The musical’s West End premiere production won three Olivier Awards including the 2013 Award for Best New Musical and the Evening Standard Award for Best Night Out.
There will be a Dementia Friendly performance of Top Hat on 31 July and a Relaxed Performance on 26 August. A Summer Gala on 29 August will support Chichester Festival Youth Theatre.
Based on Rachel Joyce’s 2012 bestseller, the stage musical adaptation of The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry has a book by Joyce and features music and lyrics by the multi-award-winning and multi-platinum selling artist, Passenger (aka Mike Rosenberg).
Directed by Katy Rudd, making her Chichester debut, the production will star screen and stage favourite Mark Addy (The Full Monty, Much Ado About Nothing/Collaborators/London Assurance, National Theatre) in the title role and Olivier Award-winner Jenna Russell (Sunday in the Park With George, West End/Broadway, Hello, Dolly!, London Palladium) as Harold’s wife, Maureen.
Running from 5 May until 14 June in the Minerva Theatre, the creative team for the production also includes designer Samuel Wyer, choreographer Tom Jackson Greaves, arranger and orchestrator Jeremy Holland-Smith, musical supervisor Phil Bateman, lighting designer Paule Constable, sound designers Ian Dickinson and Gareth Tucker for Autograph, musical director Chris Poon and casting director Anna Cooper. The stage adaptation of the original novel has been co-created by Rachel Joyce, Peter Darling and Katy Rudd.
The season will conclude with the Chichester Festival Youth Theatre’s 2024 Christmas treat, the first stage production of Matt Haig’s A Boy Called Christmas, adapted by Philip Wilson with music by Tom Brady. Marking the 40th anniversary of the Chichester Festival Youth Theatre, the production will be directed by Dale Rooks. The festive season will also include Stiles and Drewe’s The Three Little Pigs, co-produced with Unicorn Theatre.
Angela Thomas
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