Entering the auditorium, the seven-piece band – positioned on stage as if in a classy 1940s big band set-up – is already playing jazz, immediately setting the vibe for the world that is about to unfold.

Set in the late 1940s, City of Angels is both a celebration of hard-boiled detective novels and film noir, as well as a very funny satire of Hollywood and its egotistical, power-hungry studio moguls. The 1989 musical has never been staged professionally in Sydney, so it’s great to see independent producer Joshua Robson present it now, in association with the Hayes Theatre Co.

Aaron Tsindos and cast members of City of Angels, Joshua Robson Productions. Photo © Grant Leslie Photography

Featuring a stunning, jazzy score by Cy Coleman, a witty, razor-sharp book by Larry Gelbart and clever lyrics by David Zippel, the show marries two parallel plots that sit side by side and eventually merge.

In the real world, author Stine (Glenn Hill) has been hired by a Hollywood studio to adapt his popular crime novel City of Angels, featuring tough private eye Stone (Aaron Tsindos), into a screenplay. As he writes, the movie...