Music / Tea for Two, soprano Lorina Gore and tenor Andrew Goodwin, accompanied by pianist Anthony Smith. At Wesley Music Centre. September 7. Reviewed by SARAH BYRNE.

If anyone still remains to be convinced of the value of the ANU School of Music, they should have attended this highly entertaining concert from soprano Lorina Gore (an ANU alumna) and tenor Andrew Goodwin, accompanied on piano by another ANU alumnus, Anthony Smith.

All three boast world-class talent and the CVs to match, and this performance showcased their considerable talents while also being pure fun.

Opera stars performing hits from musicals can be a risky business – I have never fully recovered from the excrescence that was Kiri Te Kanawa’s album of Gershwin songs (and can be prevailed upon to provide an imitation at parties). But this program has been beautifully and carefully curated, the pieces eschewing swing for the more classical melodies of Hollywood’s Golden Age – Lehar’s Love Unspoken, Novello’s We’ll Gather Lilacs, and Song of India by Rimsky-Korsakov as prime examples.

Where more modern songwriters were deployed, Gore and Goodwin wisely opted for ballads, choosing Cole Porter’s richly romantic So In Love and Noel Coward’s luscious I’ll See You Again rather than those composers’ more cynical uptempo numbers. And People Will Say We’re In Love by Rodgers and Hammerstein (rather than Hart) was still sprightly, with some engaging schtick.

There’s a wonderful rapport between these singers, enhanced by the sensitive and sympathetic accompaniment by Smith, beautifully accommodating moments of colla voce moments, especially in Youman’s Tea For Two (terrible dummy lyrics notwithstanding); each singer claiming “a girl for you and a boy for me” (reminding me of Cecily Strong in Schmigadoon: “Shouldn’t all of the kids be for both of us?”)

While the duets were charming, the solos showcased these two glorious voices that have rightly earned international acclaim. There were audible sighs of satisfaction after Gore’s soaring soprano in Somewhere Over the Rainbow and the always beautiful Danny Boy. I have a theory that someone’s childhood can be deduced from whether they regard Danny Boy as a moving expression of enduring love or a passive-aggressive nightmare; Gore is clearly in the former camp (just as well, as she dedicated it to her father, in the audience).

Goodwin’s gorgeous tenor (and on occasion, bass-baritone) had the audience spellbound for Carmichael’s Stardust, and again for Song of India, which he accompanied by an endearing spontaneous singing lesson where his enthusiasm for the music and his craft was completely delightful.

If we thought the concluding numbers from Bernstein (One Hand, One Heart and Tonight) were saving the best for last, we were wrong; there were two encores. The pretty, witless Something Stupid was a frothily suitable settler; and then the whole audience was roused into joining in the choruses from the Brindisi from La Traviata, in which Gore is starring for Opera Australia next year. They took the roof off.

Lorina Gore’s gowns also deserve a shout-out – two magnificent golden creations, one for each act, with different hairstyles of equal glamour. She’s come a long way from a Flopsy Bunny in Alpha Theatre’s Peter Rabbit many years ago; perhaps flopsy bunnies are a larval form of Rhinemaidens?