I was in London on Tuesday night to see Sophie Evans, the runner-up in BBC TV’s Over the Rainbow, wowing the London Palladium audience with her sensational performance as Dorothy in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s new production of The Wizard of Oz. She does her stuff every Tuesday and at other times when Danielle Hope is indisposed. Her work was fully deserving of the standing ovation she received from the full house — not to mention the large bouquet she was presented with by a clearly delighted Lord Lloyd-Webber.

My review of the show must wait till next week. Meanwhile, a brief observation concerning a matter that rarely finds its way into a theatrical notice. I refer to the comforts of the venue itself.

The 100-year-old building, by the incomparable theatre architect Frank Matcham, has since 2000 been run by Lloyd-Webber’s Really Useful Group.

The attentions they have lavished upon it include the creation of a spacious new bar — just opened — dedicated to the memory of the impresario Val Parnell, a name synonymous with that of the Palladium. What a pleasure it was to enjoy an interval drink there with none of the crush patrons endure at so many other theatres. It made it seem extra special to be sipping wine beneath a poster advertising the appearance there of Judy Garland, the legendary Dorothy of the wide screen, in the year of my birth, 1951.