In Top Hat, Phillip Attmore is playing an American who comes to England and falls in love with an English girl – which is precisely what he did in real life.

Adding to the fun of it all is the fact that Top Hat is a musical he has always wanted to do. It’s at Southampton’s Mayflower Theatre from April 7-11.

“The show itself is based on a play first and then was turned into what we know as the musical,” he says, “and the story is just so well developed. It's just a lovely wacky bit of mistaken identity but it has got so much heart and depth as well as all the entertainment and the comedy. And that's a lot to dig into as an actor and singer and dancer. All of those things are required when you see that depth and when you see that heart.”

A huge part of the excitement is to be stepping into Fred Astaire's shoes: “It's exciting. It doesn't frighten me at all. I have been singing the song Top Hat since I was seven years old. There is a video of me singing it and in so many ways there's just something beautiful coming to fruition now in terms of what that song has always meant to me.

“I grew up watching Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly, those incredible song and dance men, and now to be playing this for the first time is fantastic. I played Don Lockwood in Singin’ in the Rain. That was such a dream role, and this is another dream role that I had never had the pleasure of stepping into. I'm not afraid. I'm excited. I feel charged especially as I hold in such high regard those musicals from that era. It's a privilege to be given the opportunity demonstrate what they used to do. There's that phrase ‘they don't like make them like they used to’ and you feel such a responsibility towards what they achieved.”

In the show, Phillip is Broadway star Jerry Travers who arrives in London to open a new show. There he crosses paths with model Dale Tremont, whose beauty sleep is rudely interrupted by Jerry tap-dancing in the hotel suite above hers. Instantly smitten, Jerry vows to abandon his bachelor life to win her – but the path of true love never does run smooth.

Though it did for Phillip, from Los Angeles, who met his English wife in Stoke-on-Trent: “So this role really does feel like a dream.”

And it has been fascinating – for what is effectively his UK debut in a starring role – to see the differences between US and English rehearsals: “I think that very generally without wanting to generalise too much, the British like to have order and all things together, though obviously we all need structure. I think the Americans are maybe a little bit messier. There is more spontaneity in an American rehearsal process but actually our director Kathleen (Marshall) is American so we are getting both the spontaneity and the organised feel!”