"Thursday’s celebration of music from the musicals may not have been the first of this sort of concert to be staged in Glasgow over the festive season, but it was by far the best and the classiest.

No smarmy introductions and lovey patter; this was all about the songs – and the elegant performances by a quartet of well-known singers. Deborah Myers, James Graeme and Tim Howar have all brought this show to Glasgow before, but this time they had a not-so secret weapon in the form of Jessie Buckley, the runner-up in I’d Do Anything, the 2008 BBC TV show in which the voting public chose a Nancy for the new West End production of Oliver!

Buckley, who has just turned 21, was Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber’s favourite for the role – and, based on her show-stopping interpretation of As Long As He Needs Me, she would make a great Nancy. Imagine Judy Garland playing Nancy – with gutsiness, raw emotion and vulnerability – and you get the picture.

That said, she demonstrated versatility in the range of songs she performed, suggesting she could turn her hand to any leading character, from Maria in The Sound of Music to the jazzier Fanny Brice in Funny Girl. Her performances were characterised by incredible energy and an electrifying presence; Maybe This Time from Cabaret (a song she had some coaching on – from Liza Minnelli, no less) and the gorgeous As If We Never Said Goodbye (from Lloyd Webber’s Sunset Boulevard) pinned the punters to their seats – as did a powerful I Dreamed a Dream which managed to banish all thoughts of a certain Susan Boyle."

Star rating: ****