The feeling of anticipation was high, as was the tingle factor caused by a sense of considerable risks being taken. Top Hat, starring Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire, is one of the best film musicals ever made. There might be a very good reason why no one has ever mounted a stage version: why try to beat the unbeatable? But, nearly 80 years after the film’s release, Matthew White and Howard Jacques have taken on the challenge. The result: Top Hat is currently receiving its world stage premiere at Milton Keynes Theatre.

Of course, Messrs White and Jacques have one major thing going for them. Irving Berlin was right at the top of his very considerable game when he wrote the music and lyrics for Top Hat: numbers like the eponymous Top Hat, White Tie and Tails, Isn’t This a Lovely Day, The Piccolino, No Strings, Let’s Face the Music and Dance, and Cheek to Cheek poured from his pen. Re-orchestrated by Chris Walker, and superbly played by a 14-piece, period-flavoured band (musical director Dan Jackson), the music retains all Berlin’s down-to-earth, naturalistic style.

The film’s London and Venetian settings remain, with Hildegard Bechtler’s beautiful art deco designs seamlessly transporting the action through a whole series of lavish hotels and on to St Mark’s Square. Jon Morrell’s costumes, too, add greatly to the period flavour. Bill Deamer’s choreography, while not always eye-grippingly imaginative, certainly hits the spot in the big numbers — Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, Cheek to Cheek, and Top Hat itself work particularly well. Dancing and ensemble singing are well drilled.

“I came handsomely out of my first marriage,” announces Madge (Vivien Parry), “I got custody of his money.” Robust Madge is one of a number of comedy characters brought forward from the film — at one point the proceedings move into a patch of expertly performed high farce, also involving butler Bates (Stephen Boswell) and tailor Alberto (Ricardo Afonso).

But how do you recreate Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers? You can’t, of course, and Strictly Come Dancing champion Tom Chambers seems rather overawed by the challenge, particularly vocally. There is little evident chemistry between him and the much more charismatic Summer Strallen, who plainly relishes the Ginger Rogers role of Dale Tremont. Nevertheless there is plenty to enjoy here — two small girls near me climbed on to their seats at the end to deliver their standing ovation: a tribute indeed to Top Hat’s enduring appeal.

Continues until Saturday. Tickets 0844 871 7652 or go to the website (www.ambassadortickets.com/miltonkeynes).