The Golden Age of Broadway | Sydney Philharmonia Choirs and Stars of the Stage
May 6, 2023, Sydney Opera House
Sydney Philharmonia Choirs’ Artistic Director, Brett Weymark, celebrated 20 years of glorious choral music with a night of classics from the Golden Age of Broadway.
A small admission – I am not the biggest fan of musical theatre. However, this country girl was brought up on the all the classic hits from Rodgers and Hammerstein, Cole Porter and Irving Berlin, and anyone who programs Oklahoma, The King and I, and Hello Dolly will get me out on the town. Add some glitter, sequins and four incredibly smiley soloists and we have a date. With a full house inside the House, and huge crowd outside watching on the forecourt, we were ready to be entertained.
This concert was sheer joy. The Symphony Chorus (resplendent in glitzy costumes), full orchestra and four soloists were bright the entire performance, and the audience were bewitched, but not bothered or bewildered. Kanen Breen wins the prize for most costume changes, but all four looked like seasoned stars of the Broadway stage. Virginia Gay’s entrance from the choir stalls, with a flick of her coat, singing ‘It’s Today’ from Mame set the party off with the right energy. We quickly moved through hits from South Pacific, White Christmas (a very schmalzy Blue Skies from Breen) and Guys and Dolls (featuring Gay on trombone and the choir becoming a brass band). We loved the romance of “I’ve Never Been in Love Before” from Georgina Hopson and Alexander Lewis. The superb singing and choralography for “Sit Down You’re Rocking the Boat” was the choral favourite in the first half of this fun concert. Three beautiful moon tunes highlighted the vocal prowess of the two leading ladies and choir, with Hopson’s clear and lofty soprano shining through and the audience were in love. A rousing Oklahoma (my favourite) to finish the first half with the quartet of soloists and choir performing with great energy and dynamics.
Hopson proved she is the triple threat of singing, dancing and acting, including putting shoes on while singing in a Hollywood length gown, leading the choir back on stage to audience applause for ‘Another Op’nin’, Another Show’ to open the second half of the show. Gay was awkwardly hilarious in her ‘Broadway Baby’ rendition, leading into the showstopper ‘There’s No Business Like Show Business’. Breen, finally, invited the audience to sing along for ‘Putting on the Ritz’ with the orchestra shining, particularly the rhythm section. As an unintentional nod to the festivities in London, the choir shone in the ‘Ascot Gavotte’ – I wished there were more hits like this in the concert to show off the fabulousness of this group! Weymark showed off his podium dance skills all night and we loved the ‘Carousel Waltz’ to give the orchestra a time to shine on their own.
The night belonged to Virginia Gay in the very sexy ‘Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered’, featuring the most sensual solo from jazz bassist Mark Harris. Several audience members commented after the concert that this was the song that made them remember more romantic times. The audience was certainly bewitched by Gay.
We loved the cohesive joining of many Broadway musicals, the staging, the costumes, and the joy exuding from all on stage. We would have loved more choir-only moments, but at nearly three hours, we got our fill.
A highlight of the night? The fabulous gentleman providing sign language interpretations on the side of stage. I thought he was going to break into a Fred Astaire tap dance many times during the night.
Photo credit – Keith Saunders
