So, this is what the programme says this show is about: “Every year two friends meet on the same day in their two favourite cities to catch up and go over old times. One year it’s London, the next New York. This year the rendezvous is in London. Join the Yank and the Brit as they share stories, have a few laughs, pour out their sorrows, make fun of the world and, most of all, sing…”

Sure, they sing and they sing well. Valerie Cutko has one of those voices that suites the ‘golden age’ of Hollywood musicals with your Grace Kellys, Doris Days and Marilyn Monroes – if you’re going to see this show for anything, then that should be it. Indeed, she performs a brilliantly hilarious song ‘Come Again Soon’, which covers every possible innuendo that comes to mind when you think of airplanes and air hostesses.

The narrative, however, is quite shallow and doesn’t deliver on what the description offers. Perhaps the flaw here is that they try to fit too much into the brief hour of the show. There is a lot of promise every time the subject changes (love, career, successes, failures), but each time they embark on a new conversation topic, it quickly turns into a song and ends that subject without really informing the audience about what’s going on. We are told these friends catch up once a year – even if we ignore the fact that it’s set in 2016, where there are countless ways of keeping in touch – yet they don’t really learn much about each other in their once-a year-encounter.

From the choice of songs and also just from a quick whip around the room, this show is definitely suited to an older audience. Songs such as ‘I Happen to Like New York’, ‘Not a Day Goes By’ and a very dramatic take on ‘Rose’s Turn’ seems like it isn’t so much aimed at a younger audience. However, if you like the music of Gershwin, Porter and Sondheim, don’t be put off. It’s still all beautifully sung.

Indeed, the music is the best part of the show and helps the cast cover a range of emotions in the short space of time. Rae and Cutko are both glorious vocalists and I was easily distracted by their charming performances long enough to get over my frustration of the lack of story development.

The New York-London Rendezvous plays at the Canal Cafe Theatre until 5 June. For more information and tickets, see the Canal Cafe Theatre website.