For all sorts of reasons, I salute Rachel Cooke for this fantastic book review. observer.co.uk/culture/books/…

Today! I’m singing Bernstein’s zinger Chichester Psalms in a really terrific programme including orchestral fanfares by Joan Tower and Aaron Copland, Britten’s Frank Bridge Variations and his extraordinary AMDG 6.30-8.15pm Quote OUTCRY59’for 50% discount. sinfoniasmithsq.org.uk/event/a-common…

Congratulations. You've found the link to the least accurate thing anyone ever wrote about Brexit. Daniel Hannan penned a piece 2 days before the referendum explaining what life would be like on 24 June 2025, ie today. It's worth a read for the laughs. reaction.life/p/britain-look…

The latest Disney musical opens in London: How laboured is Hercules? variety.com/2025/legit/rev…

A terrific piece on the problem of the artist vs. the art.

Musical theatre... it's all so dramatically unsophisticated. Nonsense. Regardless of how much the (usually ill-informed) haters hate, the finest new musical theatre in its many forms is forever breaking rules. thestage.co.uk/opinion/expect…

When is a musical not a musical? When theatremakers look beyond the creaky West End model and think differently about the form and content, says David Benedict (David Benedict 🏳️‍🌈🕎) 👇 thestage.co.uk/opinion/expect…

Locusts! Frogs! Flies! Darkness! The word-painting in Handel’s Great Escape oratorio is even more vivid and dynamic than in his Messiah (and it's shorter.) I'm singing it on 12 July with @elysiansingers in the marvellous acoustic of St. Gabriel’s. tickettailor.com/events/theelys…

I’m the gay who doesn’t adore The Sound of Music. I know. But hearing Scarlet Strallen’s soaring soprano with the spectacular playing of John Wilson’s Sinfonia of London in the Main Title and I was transported. A majestic evening of Rodgers & Hammerstein. sinfoniaoflondon.com/concerts/

Good news at last! Happy Mel Brooks’ 99th Birthday to all who celebrate. I’m looking at you Hadley Freeman youtu.be/sF6edaCAZKA

I met Mark Brokaw in 1992 when he directed Kenneth Lonergan’s Lobby Hero. We were chums forever after, eating, talking theatre and art, and laughing - his wit was bone dry - whenever we were in each other’s cities. And now he’s gone. Far, far too soon. RIP theguardian.com/theobserver/20…

Waterloo. #reasomtolovelondon

Yes it’s week one of Wimbledon but the most nail-biting tennis ever filmed is the race-against-time match in Hitchcock’s homo-erotic thriller Strangers on a Train starring hot Farley Granger. And since today is his 100th birthday, we should all watch it. youtu.be/J1iSS5r0OVE

It’s dazzling, it’s dynamic, it’s Jamie Lloyd’s Evita… but is it Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s?

Never seen Evita? You’ll need to read a synopsis before watching Jamie Lloyd’s version. Undeniably dazzling, but… variety.com/2025/legit/rev…

Eva Marie Saint is 101 today! Never seen her most delicious performance? She’s one of umpteen reasons to see Hitchcock’s spellbinding North by Northwest, one of the two greatest comedy thrillers: as funny as it is nail-bitingly suspenseful Happy Bithday! youtu.be/GVrjgLL6r_0

Just noting that should Jeremy Corbyn decide to lead a new party, at the general election he will be 80.