THE premiere of An Officer and a Gentleman appears to cement Sydney as the new mecca of the home-grown musical. No longer middle managers of the syndicated variety, Australian producers are developing and staging significant commercial vehicles of their own: Dr Zhivago last year, Strictly Ballroom next.

But where to put them? Sydney's disgraceful record of pulling down, burning down or neglecting its historic theatres leaves it with a dearth of older-style venues to take these larger shows. The Capitol, one survivor, is a converted cinema, exquisitely renovated but with limiting features. Of the two newcomers, the Theatre Royal and the Lyric, the first is smaller and drearily modernist, the second hard to find without a compass and a pack of Sherpas. There, astonishingly, the list ends.

Breathtakingly beautiful art deco interior ... the State Theatre. Credit:Marco Del Grande

Given this dire situation, it is of paramount importance the development of the State Theatre be well handled.

Built in the 1920s, the State is a breathtakingly beautiful art deco building of 2000 seats, arresting passers-by with its golden glittering splendour. However, like the Capitol, it was built as a cine-variety house, so its magnificence and facilities lie in its gorgeously decorated foyer and auditorium. The stage is a shoebox, designed to accommodate a flat screen for projection, not a 70-person-plus Les Mis-size chorus giving their all.