Following a national tour of Old Friends Sing Sondheim, Mark Trevorrow has reunited with “old friends” Rupert Noffs and Music Director Bev Kennedy to stage a new show at Ginger’s – a terrific little cabaret room upstairs at the Oxford Hotel in Taylor Square, Sydney which isn’t used enough. (Trevor Ashley fans will remember that he staged his cabaret series Show Queen there.)

Mark Trevorrow, Bev Kennedy and Rupert Noffs, Old Friends Sing Sundays. Photo supplied

Old Friends Sing Sundays is a fabulously enertaining show, with songs by Bacharach, Coward, Kander & Ebb and Sondheim among others. Staged on Sunday evenings, the initial August performances quickly sold out, so the season has been extended to 21 September.

Trevorrow has long been one of Australia’s comedy and cabaret stars, enjoying international success with his hilariously camp alter ego Bob Downe, the self-proclaimed Prince of Polyester. Noffs (grandson of humanitarian Rev Ted Noffs, who founded the Wayside Chapel) is no stranger to Bob, having played his “nepo-nephew” Philip McKrevis in the show CHOOSE BOB! 40 Ridiculous Years.

There is a nice, easy rapport between the two of them. Trevorrow’s quick-witted humour is on ready display, with Noffs bouncing off the camp comedy. More to the point, their voices blend really well in the duets, while Kennedy makes magic on the keys.

The first act begins in appropriate fashion with Sondheim’s The Little Things You Do Together (from Company) and Old Friends (from Merrily We Roll Along). Noffs sings a moving version of Maybe This Time from Kander & Ebb’s Cabaret, while Trevorrow makes merry with Coward’s wittily written song Nina (from Argentina who “swore she’d never dance a step until she died”).

Trevorrow also delivers a lovely, delicate rendition of Bacharach’s Alfie. Other first act numbers include Somewhere That’s Green and Suddenly Seymour from Alan Menken’s musical Little Shop of Horrors, Arthur’s Theme (Bacharach, Carole Bayer Sager, Christopher Cross and Peter Allen) and Andrew Gold’s Thank You For Being a Friend.

The second act – for which the pair don matching sparkly black shirts that reflect the changing colours of the lighting – is largely devoted to Kander & Ebb, with numbers from Cabaret, Kiss of the Spider Woman and Flora, The Red Menace, as well as a laid-back jazz arrangement of All That Jazz from Chicago. They also perform two very different Kander & Ebb songs – the beguiling My Coloring Book and the amusing Sara Lee, a comic ode to the frozen dessert queen.

For its conclusion, the show returns to Sondheim, with a song from the 1966 TV musical Evening Primrose and a reprise of Old Friends, with a mashup of It Takes Two from Into the Woods.

If you love musical theatre, it’s a very satisfying lineup, with a good balance of well-known and lesser-known material and some impressive arrangements, entertainingly sung by Trevorrow and Noffs and brilliantly accompanied by Kennedy. “What do you say, old friend?” Time to book a table?

Tickets to Old Friends Sing Sundays are available on 7, 14 and 21 September. Bookings and more information here.