David Benedict
@eggsbened.bsky.social
Cultural talk and typing. And singing. Biographer of Stephen Sondheim. Variety, London theatre critic. The Stage, Associate writer. Tristram Hawkshaw in The Archers. Somewhat gay.
I fell in love with these, my favourite shoes, because they reminded me of the ones the boys wore in Walter Trier’s illustrations in Emil and the Detectives. They’re Italian leather and foolishly bought at ridiculous cost in Soho, New York. But… I’ve worn them for over FORTY years.
This is horrifying. How can you possibly ask Jewish groups to meet with this man and sign off on him? I’m sure he’s capable of behaving himself for the duration of a meeting these days, but it’s unacceptable to ask the victims of abuse to redeem the abuser. Ever. bsky.app/profile/eggs...
David Benedict@eggsbened.bsky.social · 11h agoRead Luciana Berger’s appalling first-hand experience of this man. lucianaberger.substack.com/p/kemi-youve...
Best Bond villain, wrong answers only.
Louis Kersten@louisvk.bsky.social · 21h agoBest Bond villain, wrong answers only
Brief thoughts upon watching The Apartment (again) boxd.it/fDDfGZ
A ★★★★★ review of The Apartment (1960)
*SPOILERS* “You hear what I said, Miss Kubelik? I absolutely adore you.” The greatest of all Wilder’s great films: a story of becoming a mensch, and of sacrificing oneself – beyond all reason – for love. To do that, producer-director Wilder (co-writing with I. A. L. Diamond) takes all manner of outrageous gambles. Who else would dare hand us a hero who spends the first act with a head cold, social climbing at work, or let us overhear his love interest vomiting up her sleeping pills? It is an astonishingly romantic, devastatingly moving movie, possible because only great writers realise
boxd.it
No-one in British theatre had a finer ear for dialogue than Peter Gill (1939-2026). The most meticulous of directors, unfashionably loyal to talent not stardom, he was also a superbly compassionate writer whose charged, emotional plays charted gay sexuality and working-class lives like no other. RIP
Brilliant letter from Stuart Thompson to Jeremy Clarkson about his comments that benefit claimants should write weekly thank you letters to tax payers detailing how they spend their benefits each week.
On the 25th anniversary of 9/11, I’m singing John Adams’ astonishing On The Transmigration of Souls. Text is from posters of people who went missing, whose lives were lost + Barber’s Adagio + more. Southwark Cathedral nb Last time we sang there we sold out www.theoutcryensemble.com/events/afate...
9/11 Memorial Concert — The Outcry Ensemble
theoutcryensemble.com
On the 25th anniversary of 9/11, I’m singing John Adams’ astonishing On The Transmigration of Souls. Text is from posters of people who went missing, whose lives were lost + Barber’s Adagio + more. Southwark Cathedral nb Last time we sang there we sold out www.theoutcryensemble.com/events/afate...
9/11 Memorial Concert — The Outcry Ensemble
theoutcryensemble.com
I’ve seen a couple of musicals lately in which the book, music and lyrics were all written by the same person… and spent much of the show wishing they hadn’t. But just occasionally, someone gifted does all three jobs equally well. Step forward Meredith Willson. How beautiful is this artwork?
Best film adaptation of The Odyssey - wrong answers only.
Scott Wha Hae 🏳️🌈@scottland.one · 5d agoBest film adaptation of the Odyssey wrong answers only
So very sorry to hear that we have lost the wonderful Brian Robinson, BFI Press Officer for so many years and the life and soul of any event he attended. Kind, clever, irreplaceable.
Am I Philip Glass's biggest fan? Er, no. Am I lost in admiration for Phelim McDermott's singular love letter to him? You bet. www.thestage.co.uk/reviews/tao-...
Tao of Glass review at @sohoplace: absolute one-off
Read our review of Tao of Glass review at @sohoplace, London. Phelim McDermott’s theatrical love letter to the music of Philip Glass is playfully absorbing
thestage.co.uk
Searching through papers from 1967 for a thing I'm working on and I came across this incredible explanation for homosexuality; plastic glue fumes.
Written, I think, by Barry Cryer but happy to be corrected by minds more comedy-centric than mine.
Mattzki@mattzki.bsky.social · last wk.In memory of Bill Oddie, going to dig out my Goodies books this evening. Re-bought them a few years ago, replacing the ones lost from childhood. Really disappointed the copy of ‘The Goodies Disaster Movie’ was missing the 'Location Map’ pages. Still, here’s the best gag in the book IMO.
Burnham announces: 1. Casey will bring forward her review by a year to summer 2027. He wants it to focus on creating a National Care Service that is ‘highly integrated’ with the NHS. 2. He will look at improving pay and progression of social care workforce. 3. Cross party talks to begin today.
Passed a residential home called Carnalea and honestly did nobody say this out loud?
Was having a fair-to-good day but then saw this 1961 photo of Yves Saint Laurent & realized I was, alas, doing everything wrong.
I chatted with Mark Gatiss about his favourite production of a play…
The Stage@thestage.co.uk · last wk.In the latest instalment of My Favourite Play, actor, writer and director Mark Gatiss chooses a West End production of a classic musical 👇
Some lofty commentators have viewed the current debate about theatre etiquette with disdain, describing it as snobbish that actors and other audience members might like and expect a certain standard of public behaviour…
The Stage@thestage.co.uk · last wk.A theatregoer has been found guilty of strangling another audience member at the press night of We Will Rock You at the London Coliseum in 2023 👇
Wild nights! Lucas & Arthur Jussen in a rip-snorting performance of Poulenc’s ravishing Double Piano Concerto + circa 250 singers joining a vast @thecbso.bsky.social for John Adams’ stunning choral masterpiece Harmonium. Another utterly exhilarating night at the BBC Proms. Catch it on BBCSounds!
Want to hear how Broadway song really should be sung without ego but with compelling attendance to music and lyric? Catch Liz Callaway in wonderful voice in her final show tonight @brasseriezedel.bsky.social 5pm.
Ears and mind were blown. Nowhere else could give those gigantic pieces the utter splendour that John Wilson and the 136-strong (!) Sinfonia of London did. Talk about aural splendour. Five and half thousand people held rapt. Dying to see it all on TV on Sunday.
Mr. Symphonist@deeplyclassical.bsky.social · 2w agoRespighi's Roman Trilogy is sixty or so of the most spectacular, cinematic and sonically sexy minutes of orchestral music ever composed. At last night's Prom, John Wilson's Sinfonia of London sparkled and scintillated like presecco in a crystal glass catching the light of the evening sun. Bravo!
Prom alert! I have a free ticket for tonight's Prom: Giuseppe Verdi: The Force of Destiny overture William Walton: Cello Concerto Ottorino Respighi: Roman Trilogy London Sinfonia, conducted by John Wilson cello: Jonathan Aasgaard 7.30pm start. You'd have to sit next to me. DM if interested.
John Wilson Conducts Respighi’s ‘Roman Trilogy’
John Wilson and his Sinfonia of London return to the Proms for the first of two concerts, performing Respighi’s trilogy of Rome-inspired tone-poems alongside the Walton’s rhapsodic Cello Concerto. Nor...
bbc.co.uk
Why, when I am off to see John Wilson conduct Jonathan Aasgaard + 136 members of the Sinfonia of London at the BBC Prom in Verdi, Walton & Respighi, am I beset with an earworm of music I’ve literally not heard in decades: Come Back and Shake Me by Clodagh Rogers? #GreatQuestionsOfOurTime
Fascinating about this classic novel which turns out to be a VERY long distance from what it seems - and not in a good way. nb Andy Burnham, take note.
Plashing Vole@plashingvole.bsky.social · 2w agoPrivate Eye tells me that How Green Was My Valley is one of Andy Burnham’s favourite books. Oh dear. I write a PhD on 1930s Welsh mining novels, including a whole chapter on Llewellyn’s work. I even read the terrible sequels. It really, really isn’t a story of working-class solidarity etc.
