[2] It took the show's producer, Kenny Wax, sixteen months to obtain the rights from Berlin's estate to adapt the film into a stage musical.

[13] The show had its world premiere[2] on 16 August 2011[14][15] at the Milton Keynes Theatre, at the beginning of a 17-week UK tour[2] stopping in Birmingham, Southampton, Salford, Plymouth, Norwich, Canterbury, Edinburgh and Leeds.

[16] The original cast included Summer Strallen as Dale Tremont, Tom Chambers as Jerry Travers, Martin Ball as Horace, Vivien Parry as Madge Hardwick, Ricardo Afonso as Alberto Beddini and Stephen Boswell as Bates.

[26] A final cast change took place after Gaumond left to play Miss Trunchbull in Matilda the Musical:[27] Russell-Leighton Dixon, previously the understudy for Alberto,[18] took over the part.

[31] Featuring a new cast, the production visited Wimbledon, Milton Keynes, Newcastle, Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Wolverhampton, Nottingham, Bristol, Glasgow, Leeds, Cardiff, Oxford, Manchester, Sheffield, Birmingham, Norwich, Canterbury, Plymouth, Southampton, Dublin, Belfast, Sunderland, Woking and Eastbourne.

[43] Paul Taylor of The Independent said, "The producers of this irresistible show, a freely adapted version of the Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers movie, don't subscribe to the precept of deferred gratification".

[45] Top Hat received positive reviews on blogs, with Zoe Craig describing it on the Londonist as "pure, fun, cheery escapist entertainment".