Earlier this week I watched the 80th birthday celebration for Stephen Sonheim. It was a concert with the New York Philharmonic and a who's who of broadway stars that took place last March and was broadcast earlier this month.

There were some marvellous performances. Perhaps the highlight of the concert was the set with Bernadette Peters, Patti LuPone, Audra MacDonald, Marin Mazzi, Donna Murphy and Elaine Stritch. All six sat on stage while the others performed classic Sondheim songs. It was interesting to watch their apparent enjoyment of their colleagues' work.

I have not always been a great fan of Patti Lupone but her performance of The Ladies Who Lunch was stunning. And Donna Murphy aced Leave You starting quietly still seated and gradually increasing the intensity until the last word when a single strand of hair came loose and fell over her face. Every time I see her perform I wonder how Audra MacDonald can bear acting on that insipid soap opera of a TV show The Practice (I suppose it pays very well). She is a marvel and sang the complicated The Glamourous Life from A Little Night Music flawlessly. When I first saw 85 year old Elaine Stritch I was a bit alarmed at how frail she looked (we're all getting older). But when she sang I'm Still Here she seemed to summon reserves of strength and it was clear that her ability to put a song across, even if mostly spoken, was still there.

But one of the great pleasures for me was discovering baritone Nathan Gunn. Having googled him I see that he has a long list of opera credits. He has a beautiful voice with perfect enunciation. It doesn't hurt that he's quite handsome.

All this Sondheim brought back a swath of memories of 1970's Toronto where I discovered this music for the first time. My friends and I were mad about these scores eagerly awaiting each new Sondheim recording and buying the music scores for singing around the piano.