Carolyn Burns and Tim Finn’s relatively new musical Ladies in Black for Queensland Theatre won a Helpmann for Best New Australian Work and has received glowing reviews on previous outings in Brisbane and Melbourne. Now, the openhearted show set in a Sydney department store in the 1950s, comes home to the Emerald City with a run of performances as part of Wesley Enoch’s 2017 Sydney Festival prior to a national tour. It’s a work with warmth, affection and a pertinent light to reflect on modern day politics of gender, refugees and nationality. It is helped by beautifully crafted performances from a standout cast making its case as strongly as possible. A pity then that it is let down by some plodding dramaturgy (especially in the overlong first half) and lyric writing that is patchy to say the least.

Madeleine St John’s novel of the same name tells the believable and diverse stories of the women who work in the cocktail frock department at Goodes, a Sydney store where the ladies behind the counters are chicly attired in black and are expected to come...