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.
Biographer of Stephen Sondheim.
Variety, London theatre critic.
The Stage, Associate writer.
Tristram Hawkshaw in The Archers.
Somewhat gay.
Stay a while and come to this too!
November 30, 2025 at 11:57 PM
Stay a while and come to this too!
Am singing excerpts from it next Sunday, 1 instrument per part, 4 voices per part. Heaven. Handful of tickets left - do pop over.
November 30, 2025 at 11:40 PM
Am singing excerpts from it next Sunday, 1 instrument per part, 4 voices per part. Heaven. Handful of tickets left - do pop over.
“If I were a fairy in a Christmas tree,
Oh, how happy and gay I’d be.”
Oh, how happy and gay I’d be.”
November 30, 2025 at 6:05 PM
“If I were a fairy in a Christmas tree,
Oh, how happy and gay I’d be.”
Oh, how happy and gay I’d be.”
Introduce yourself with 5 concerts you’ve seen
Bette Midler
Shirley MacLaine
Lorraine Hunt Lieberson
Martha Argerich
Pat Metheny
Bette Midler
Shirley MacLaine
Lorraine Hunt Lieberson
Martha Argerich
Pat Metheny
November 30, 2025 at 6:23 AM
Introduce yourself with 5 concerts you’ve seen
Bette Midler
Shirley MacLaine
Lorraine Hunt Lieberson
Martha Argerich
Pat Metheny
Bette Midler
Shirley MacLaine
Lorraine Hunt Lieberson
Martha Argerich
Pat Metheny
Tom Stoppard has died aged 88. His masterpiece is undoubtedly Arcadia - which is being revived early next year at The Old Vic - but for our delight and dazzlement, please can someone revive his blissfully funny The Real Inspector Hound?
Meanwhile, rewatch Brazil for which he wrote the screenplay.
Meanwhile, rewatch Brazil for which he wrote the screenplay.
November 29, 2025 at 6:16 PM
Tom Stoppard has died aged 88. His masterpiece is undoubtedly Arcadia - which is being revived early next year at The Old Vic - but for our delight and dazzlement, please can someone revive his blissfully funny The Real Inspector Hound?
Meanwhile, rewatch Brazil for which he wrote the screenplay.
Meanwhile, rewatch Brazil for which he wrote the screenplay.
(Almost) Waterloo Sunset. Bermondsey, actually.
A series.
#nofilter
#lighting #lightingdesign
#reasonstolovelondon
A series.
#nofilter
#lighting #lightingdesign
#reasonstolovelondon
November 29, 2025 at 4:20 PM
(Almost) Waterloo Sunset. Bermondsey, actually.
A series.
#nofilter
#lighting #lightingdesign
#reasonstolovelondon
A series.
#nofilter
#lighting #lightingdesign
#reasonstolovelondon
Returning home from Lidl (oh, the glamour) and glancing out across the landing…
#lighting #lightingdesign
#reasonstolovelondon
#lighting #lightingdesign
#reasonstolovelondon
November 28, 2025 at 4:00 PM
Returning home from Lidl (oh, the glamour) and glancing out across the landing…
#lighting #lightingdesign
#reasonstolovelondon
#lighting #lightingdesign
#reasonstolovelondon
After seeing Ann Hampton Callaway* on frankly spectacular form at Brasserie Zedel - there are a few tickets left for Saturday: grab them! - I saw my most coveted poster there. I want it badly.
*Worth the ticket price for her singing and playing of Carole King’s Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow.
*Worth the ticket price for her singing and playing of Carole King’s Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow.
November 26, 2025 at 11:35 PM
After seeing Ann Hampton Callaway* on frankly spectacular form at Brasserie Zedel - there are a few tickets left for Saturday: grab them! - I saw my most coveted poster there. I want it badly.
*Worth the ticket price for her singing and playing of Carole King’s Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow.
*Worth the ticket price for her singing and playing of Carole King’s Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow.
“You’ll be visited by three spirits…”
November 26, 2025 at 6:08 PM
“You’ll be visited by three spirits…”
Exhume Alfred Hitchcock for a remake of Mary Poppins.
November 26, 2025 at 10:32 AM
Exhume Alfred Hitchcock for a remake of Mary Poppins.
Simpson’s One-Way Pendulum was one of my A-level texts. I recall Myra Penelope Straightpiece Gantry who “wore a necklace round her waist for the tightness.” It only occurs to me now that the title is brilliant and that it was rather marvellous that the play actually made it onto the syllabus.
November 25, 2025 at 9:58 AM
Simpson’s One-Way Pendulum was one of my A-level texts. I recall Myra Penelope Straightpiece Gantry who “wore a necklace round her waist for the tightness.” It only occurs to me now that the title is brilliant and that it was rather marvellous that the play actually made it onto the syllabus.
TFW you sit down to rewatch what you remember as the terrifically entertaining Wargames - the 80s thriller with Matthew Broderick - and the tense opening sequence is thrown for a loop because the key player is a young Leo McGarry.
November 22, 2025 at 10:26 PM
TFW you sit down to rewatch what you remember as the terrifically entertaining Wargames - the 80s thriller with Matthew Broderick - and the tense opening sequence is thrown for a loop because the key player is a young Leo McGarry.
I adored 2: up there alongside The Godfather 2 – and then, obviously, Paddington 2 – as the greatest sequel to a great movie. But I was the Hard-Hearted Hannah who didn’t capitulate to 3. Encouraged by you I am adding it to the list. Thanks.
November 22, 2025 at 7:24 PM
I adored 2: up there alongside The Godfather 2 – and then, obviously, Paddington 2 – as the greatest sequel to a great movie. But I was the Hard-Hearted Hannah who didn’t capitulate to 3. Encouraged by you I am adding it to the list. Thanks.
As a teen, I bought LPs and played them incessantly getting to know them inside out. In recent years, other than works I’ve sung, I’ve listened to nothing to that degree. Sometimes I wish I were brave enough to ditch my CDs and get to know music slowly again. But I couldn’t lose Handel or Sibelius.
November 22, 2025 at 4:20 PM
As a teen, I bought LPs and played them incessantly getting to know them inside out. In recent years, other than works I’ve sung, I’ve listened to nothing to that degree. Sometimes I wish I were brave enough to ditch my CDs and get to know music slowly again. But I couldn’t lose Handel or Sibelius.
We went upstairs (closed to the public) and saw the bedrooms and his study and I got to look out of the window down to the lake, sharing the view he had when seeing the swans that inspired the 5th symphony. His hat box was there, umpteen cigar cases and, in the attic, a trunk of shirt-collars. 2/2
November 22, 2025 at 10:37 AM
We went upstairs (closed to the public) and saw the bedrooms and his study and I got to look out of the window down to the lake, sharing the view he had when seeing the swans that inspired the 5th symphony. His hat box was there, umpteen cigar cases and, in the attic, a trunk of shirt-collars. 2/2
As it’s St. Cecilia’s Day, here are photos of my extraordinary private visit to Sibelius’s home.
Here is his Steinway where Martin Segerståle and Folke Gräsbeck played two of his works for me. And the fireplace where he burned his 8th Symphony. The green represented F to synaesthetic Sibelius. 1/2
Here is his Steinway where Martin Segerståle and Folke Gräsbeck played two of his works for me. And the fireplace where he burned his 8th Symphony. The green represented F to synaesthetic Sibelius. 1/2
November 22, 2025 at 10:37 AM
As it’s St. Cecilia’s Day, here are photos of my extraordinary private visit to Sibelius’s home.
Here is his Steinway where Martin Segerståle and Folke Gräsbeck played two of his works for me. And the fireplace where he burned his 8th Symphony. The green represented F to synaesthetic Sibelius. 1/2
Here is his Steinway where Martin Segerståle and Folke Gräsbeck played two of his works for me. And the fireplace where he burned his 8th Symphony. The green represented F to synaesthetic Sibelius. 1/2
Tangential, I know, but can we spare a moment to sing the praises of the unknown genius sub on The Independent who, for our review of her novel Every Man For Himself – her novel about the Titanic – wrote the unimprovable headline:
For those with Beryl on the sea.
For those with Beryl on the sea.
November 21, 2025 at 12:39 PM
Tangential, I know, but can we spare a moment to sing the praises of the unknown genius sub on The Independent who, for our review of her novel Every Man For Himself – her novel about the Titanic – wrote the unimprovable headline:
For those with Beryl on the sea.
For those with Beryl on the sea.
All carols, no lessons.
My last concert sold out - we had to turn people away - so don’t leave it to the last minute. From Sally Beamish to Sweelinck and Santa Baby, Christmas music from the cheering to the cheesy: think A-grade Stilton, not Dairylea. www.tickettailor.com/events/theel...
My last concert sold out - we had to turn people away - so don’t leave it to the last minute. From Sally Beamish to Sweelinck and Santa Baby, Christmas music from the cheering to the cheesy: think A-grade Stilton, not Dairylea. www.tickettailor.com/events/theel...
November 20, 2025 at 4:29 PM
All carols, no lessons.
My last concert sold out - we had to turn people away - so don’t leave it to the last minute. From Sally Beamish to Sweelinck and Santa Baby, Christmas music from the cheering to the cheesy: think A-grade Stilton, not Dairylea. www.tickettailor.com/events/theel...
My last concert sold out - we had to turn people away - so don’t leave it to the last minute. From Sally Beamish to Sweelinck and Santa Baby, Christmas music from the cheering to the cheesy: think A-grade Stilton, not Dairylea. www.tickettailor.com/events/theel...
My grandmother, (Maria) Alice Westell (1901-2001) the first female Jewish barrister called to the bar, by Middle Temple, exactly 102 years ago on the 19th of November 1923.
November 19, 2025 at 9:23 PM
My grandmother, (Maria) Alice Westell (1901-2001) the first female Jewish barrister called to the bar, by Middle Temple, exactly 102 years ago on the 19th of November 1923.
I was mesmerised by him as Ilya Kuryakin and also as the fire-starting juvenile delinquent in Violent Playground which we were shown at school, presumably as a warning, over a decade after it was made.
November 19, 2025 at 2:11 PM
I was mesmerised by him as Ilya Kuryakin and also as the fire-starting juvenile delinquent in Violent Playground which we were shown at school, presumably as a warning, over a decade after it was made.
#envy
Although sadly the Scotsman became right-wing in his old age. The great Paule Constable lit Amadeus with him and was very disappointed as he was her first crush - as he was with me.
Although sadly the Scotsman became right-wing in his old age. The great Paule Constable lit Amadeus with him and was very disappointed as he was her first crush - as he was with me.
November 19, 2025 at 1:33 PM
#envy
Although sadly the Scotsman became right-wing in his old age. The great Paule Constable lit Amadeus with him and was very disappointed as he was her first crush - as he was with me.
Although sadly the Scotsman became right-wing in his old age. The great Paule Constable lit Amadeus with him and was very disappointed as he was her first crush - as he was with me.