Rolling Stone: This is a story about the most unlikely beef in rap history. When the Tony Award nominations are announced on May 3rd, honoring the best of the Broadway season, Hamilton is expected to dominate in every category. You know Hamilton, right? The groundbreaking hip-hop musical about our founding fathers? President Obama and Queen Beyoncé are both fans. And tickets are basically sold out until 2017. If the tea leaves prove correct, the Tony Awards could wind up feeling like one big infomercial for Hamilton. Which is pretty awesome! Except for the one person from Hamilton's creative team getting screwed out of a nomination, if not a win. Say hello to the show's sound designer, 49-year-old Nevin Steinberg.
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I appreciate the fact that Rolling Stone is covering the fact that the Tony Awards will not be giving out a sound design award to Hamilton this year, and I think it's a good idea to play the article from the perspective of Hamilton, however, this is a much larger issue than what they touched on. Sure, Steinberg certainly deserves his moment in the spotlight for the amazing work he's done on Hamilton, but so does every other incredibly sound designer that has had their work on a Broadway stage this year. In addition, I hadn't actually heard the quotes behind the decision to remove the sound design category, and now that I have I'm even more upset now than I was previously. The fact that the committee could simply decide on a whim that sound design isn't an art because they don't understand it is actually ridiculous.
I think it is ridiculous that they took away the Tony for sound design. It does not make any sense that they think it is more of a technical practice and not design. Sound literally sets the mood for a show. You may not really notice it because it is in the background and works to make your experience more holistic in the space. Some times the point of the sound design is that you do not really notice it until a big moment where it changes or just stops to make a point. A really good sound design can really enhance a performance. The sound in Hamilton is really good and probably could win the Tony if there was one. During Satisfied when they are rewinding, the sound really makes you feel like time is moving in reverse. Without the sound the people would just look silly going backwards. The sound totally transforms the environment. They really need to bring back the sound design Tony award.
I haven’t met a single person who thinks that getting rid of the sound design award is a good idea. Yeah, it’s an insult, but not only that, it’s showing a lack of understanding of what basic components go into a broadway production. Hint hint, reinforced sound is one of them, and it involves more art than you think. I don’t want to be rude, but I kind of do; if you don’t know, or worse yet pretend not to know, what the value of sound design is to a show, than you’re kind of an idiot! At least in the context of the theatre community, which is something you’d the Tony’s would like to be involved with. But you know, what the hell, why not remove all of the awards! Best musical, nawww. It’s just a play with soundy noises. Best original score, nope! Just best dressed orchestra! Because the visual world is the only thing that matters, or is in any way artistic. At least they won a Pulitzer...
Rolling Stone’s is very smart to use the Hamilton title as click bait. The title doesn’t tell you what the article is about at all, but I think that is a good thing, because Hamilton has a lot more fans than the theatrical sound design field. Hopefully some of those fans will recognizes that a huge element of the thing they love so much is being able to hear all of it, and they will recognize that someone worked hard on that. Not to say that the only thing sound designers do is amplify, but in simplest terms this can teach fan’s so that they can understand that this is a fight they should get behind too. Speaking of the fight for the sound design tony, I am sad to see efforts dwindling. The board gave such a cop out answer too, you don’t need to know how to program a board, or how to build scenery to give out those awards, what is different with sound? If you can’t figure out how sound functions in theatre, then you should be on the Tony voting committee at all.
As much I am glad that this article was written and that it brings attention to the lack of a sound design Tony, I kind of hate that it needed Hamilton being screwed of a Tony to do it. Maybe they are, maybe the aren't, but I kind of don't care because they are getting screwed this year, but for the rest of the time the Tony's exist, or until someone realizes they made a stupid mistake, sound designers are going to continue to be screwed every year forever. Also, lets be real, Hamilton is going to win like a million Tony's so I really don't care that they are getting screwed, I care about the technicians that are getting screwed every day by our industry. As a whole the theatrical community does not appreciate the work of designers and technicians as much as it should. The Tony's should start to recognize designers for all that they do for a show, and for the experience that they create. Show's aren't shows without the work of everyone in the room, and the Tony's have to start acknowledge that. I am so glad that Hamilton is going to win a million Tony's, I really think that they deserve it, but we have to start talking about the real issues with the Tony's, and stop using things like Hamilton as a crutch.
I still don’t understand why the Tonys got rid of the sound design award. The explanation given in this article certainly makes the most sense though. More than the previous explanation I’d heard which was that the award was cut since the sound design of a show couldn’t be experienced by deaf people and so wasn’t inclusive enough (or something like that, it didn’t really make a lot of sense and smacked of a committee desperately trying to cover its own ass). Also, even if sound design is more technical than artists (which I don’t believe it is) that doesn’t make it any less dissevering of an award (I’d argue that all the technical disciplines should get awards but that’s a different topic). Whatever their reason for this decision I think its connected, on some level, to something Boever’s brought up in class a few days ago. Barring media design, sound design is the youngest of the design disciplines and often has to fight/play politics for what little room and respect it gets. If sound designers can get dismissed and ignored in their own productions then the Tonys are definitely capable of the same thing, and probably for similar reasons, at least on some level.
Like other people have said, using Hamilton as a way to get people interested in reading about the loss of the sound design Tony award is smart, but it's sad that it takes such a successful musical to do so. One of the things that bothers me the most about the loss of the sound design Tony is that they used the justification that their voters didn't know how to judge the category. That idea is so absurd to me, how can you not understand an entire area of design? If their judges don't understand this then it's time for them to find new judges. The other justification that it's more of a technical skill than an art is also not valid, as if they believe this then by this logic the lighting design Tony should be taken away too. I mean, it's just turning things on and off and making the brighter and darker right? Wrong. It completely ignores all the beauty and artistry and skill that goes into this work, and we would never take away that Tony. For these same reasons there is no justifiable way to take away the sound Tony, even if the Tony voters view it as more technical. Either adapt to this new art form, or get ready to be replaced by people who will.
Ever since the sound design category was eliminated from the Tony awards, I've questioned the expertise of the award committee and how they think that sound design is merely a technical aspect. Practically what they are saying, as highlighted by Rolling Stones, is that sound design is not art. I can definitely assure you that it is. It might take technical knowledge to be able to make a system design and implement a sound plot, but the artistic knowledge necessary for a production is very important and very present. As Lin Manuel Miranda said, he can think of at least 50 moments where Steinberg artistically contributed to the shape of Hamilton's sound. I am glad to hear that more and more people are fighting this decision made by the Tony Committee. I'm even more happy to read that big names such as Stephen Sondheim and Cyndi Lauper are also in the fight for sound designers. I hope the Tony Committee re-evaluates their decision.
I'll gladly join the bandwagon on this one. Disclosure: I haven't seen Hamilton, but I've listened to the soundtrack. It has some pretty neat music. However, if I ever see Hamilton at the Richard Rodgers, my aural experience will be completely different from hearing the soundtrack. It's one thing to hear a well-mastered stereo recording with nice headphones. Live theatre is a completely different world. When you're experiencing a musical, what you hear and when you hear it is up to the sound designer for that show. If musicals didn’t have any sound designers and rather just had audio engineers and mixers, musical theatre would not sound nearly as good as it does today. The (relatively recent) addition of the sound designer to the creative team allows for much more art in what we were. Yes, sound reinforcement is different from composition, but both of these feats require artistic ability and technical skill. People often say that lighting designers “paint with light” to control what the audience sees. Very similarly, sound designers paint the house with sound. They control whose voice is loudest, where a certain sound might be coming from, any effects that are applied to sounds, and more. To overlook the contributions of this very critical tem member is wrong. The American Theatre Wing has ears. They know what sounds good. Please, bring back the Tony.
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