Meyer Sound Returns to Broadway for Tony Awards and Hit Shows

Broadway will celebrate its reopening in September with the 74th Tony Awards in New York, with two nominees for Best Musical, Jagged Little Pill and Moulin Rouge! The Musical, both powered by Meyer Sound systems.

The veteran sound designers for the two productions, Jonathan Deans and Peter Hylenski respectively, are both nominated for Best Sound Design for a Musical. The two shows also received the highest total of Tony nominations, with 15 for Jagged Little Pill and 14 for Moulin Rouge! The Musical.

Productions scheduled to return that principally rely on Meyer Sound, with respective sound designers, are David Byrne’s refreshed and relocated American Utopia (Pete Keppler), Dear Evan Hansen (Nevin Steinberg), Hadestown (Jessica Paz and Nevin Steinberg, pictured above), Ain’t Too Proud (Steve Canyon Kennedy and Walter Trarbach), and West Side Story (Tom Gibbons).

Finally, the mega-hit Wicked is back for its 18th year, with the original sound design by Tony Meola updated for the new season by his associate, Zach Williamson, in consultation with Meyer Sound Director of System Optimisation Bob McCarthy.

Deans and Hylenski are eagerly awaiting audience and peer reactions to their work. “The approach to Pill in New York is quite different from a standard production,” said Deans. “I will be interested to hear from those who — I would hope — will enjoy this unique sonic experience.”

“Sound design for Moulin Rouge blends concert musicality with Broadway storytelling, and relies on complex audio systems working in the background to make the show sound effortless,” added Hylenski. “The audience is experiencing technology unknowingly, but that makes the sonic storytelling more effective.”

“The tools that Meyer Sound developed helped me overcome the challenges of an unconventional show,” he continued. “The set design required a re-think of how a loudspeaker system would work to support the performance. Newer products like the ULTRA‑X40, UPQ‑D3 and the delay matrix in the GALAXY Network Platform were integral to realising the sound design.”

Rental companies supplying the Meyer Sound systems for the productions are Sound Associates, PRG and Masque Sound. Broadway productions are set to reopen September 14, followed by the 74th Tony Awards on September 26.