Based on the 1935 film of the same name, 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. Having premiered in 2011, the show celebrates 1930’s song, style and romance, with every scene underpinned with a classic Irving Berlin song, from Puttin’ on the Ritz to Isn’t This A Lovely Day to Top Hat, White Tie and Tails. The musical was recently revived at The Mill at Sonning and featured a lighting design by Nic Farman, who approached White Light to supply his rig.  

Top Hat is a show that celebrates the glamour of Hollywood’s golden age and the music of the world-famous dance partnership of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. And whilst the story is considered an all-time classic, for Nic, he was able to approach it with a fresh pair of eyes. He explains: “I have never seen the musical before on stage, nor have I seen the film. As is often the case with shows I work on, once I know I’m part of a new production I deliberately don’t watch previous incarnations as I want to arrive at the show as fresh as possible”. 

Top Hat marked the first time that Nic had worked at The Mill at Sonning, which is an old Mill turned theatre based in the Oxfordshire countryside. Nic comments: “The Mill at Sonning is a beautiful and unique space; although a show like Top Hat does come with its challenges. The musical takes us from New York, to London in its first act and then in Act Two, we’re transported to Venice, with locations then ranging from multiple hotel rooms to Venetian terraces and even a West End stage! Jason Denvir, the Set Designer, had created a wonderful set which had many hidden tricks to help transform the space and my brief was to support that work to sell our locations and enhance the action on stage. I’m lucky to have worked with the director, Jonathan O’Boyle, a number of times so I knew the language he was after in terms of bold colour and creating a striking visual image”. 

Due to the unique nature of The Mill space, Nic knew that room within his rig would be at a premium. This, coupled with the low bar height, meant he would need a flexible set-up that gave him plenty of options as well as did justice for this big and bold musical. This was something he had in mind when approaching the Customer Service team at WL as he put together his fixture list. 

Nic explains: “The workhorse of the rig both FOH and overhead was definitely the Mac Viper Profiles. I love how reliable these are and their wide beam angle was useful over the short throw distance. There was also a number of ColorSource Profiles working as a low pipe end wash which helped build the saturated world we wanted. Jason’s set had a pair of sliding screens which took light through them beautifully, so a backline of ColorForce 48 battens gave me lots of colour options whilst fitting well into the small space available for them.  

Nic continues: “The rig is then completed by a number of LED Cobb Washes which dress the set and some moving LED washes which allowed us to be specific in the way we lit each scene and number. Not content that I was keeping the LX team busy enough, there’s also a large number of practicals and LED tape build into the set!”. 

As the show began rehearsals back in October last year, this meant it had to adhere to the new guidelines and restrictions now facing all theatre productions. Nic explains: “We did daily testing, which now seems to be standard on most productions and meant that we were working in a relaxed, but conscious environment. That said, we still had to work as hard as we normally would. The show is deceptively large, so getting it on its feet and teched in time took a huge collective effort from everyone involved. Thankfully it was a wonderful team to work with who took everything in their stride and made the process a very happy one”. 

Top Hat opened in October 2021 and ended its current run last month. Having achieved critical acclaim, and even being selected as The Times’ Critic’s Choice, it was recently announced that the show will return to The Mill at Sonning in November 2022. 

Nic concludes: “A huge thanks to WL, and in particular Louise, for working with me to supply the rig I was after. Also thanks to all at The Mill, especially my LX team Graham, Henry and Alex who made it a smooth process, and our DSM, Altan, who brilliantly dealt with the inordinate amount of cues I gave him”  

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