Digested Week: Words mattered for Stephen Sondheim, as I found to my cost | Emma Brockes

The death of the musicals legend triggered anguish and a memory of a destabilising telling-off

There aren't many public figures whose deaths, when announced, can trigger audible anguish, but Stephen Sondheim was one of them. At the end of last week, the alert popped up on my phone. Alone in my living room, I said loudly: Oh no."