Last month Brett Weymark kicked off his 20th anniversary celebrations as Sydney Philharmonia Choirs’ Artistic Director with Handel’s Samson (Limelight gave it a rapturous five-star review). Later this month comes the grandeur of Verdi’s Requiem and the year’s programming also includes Mahler’s “symphony of a thousand” and James MacMillan’s Stabat Mater.

You can add to that The Golden Age of Broadway, testament to Weymark’s eclectic tastes and a firm reminder that, as Duke Ellington rightly said, there are only two kinds of music: good and bad. The best Broadway musicals are treasure troves of gorgeously arranged melodies and memorable lyrics set to music with the kind of skill that makes them sound natural and effortless.

Take, for instance, Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart’s “Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered“ from Pal Joey (1940). The musical is rarely staged but the song is a standard. A packed house went wild on Saturday night when Virginia Gay delivered a sultry, sophisticated, multi-layered version that magically turned the Sydney Opera House’s Concert Hall (and the Opera House Forecourt, into which this concert was beamed for a big screen audience) into an intimate night spot. Her backing was just piano, joined a little way in by double bass...