Clive Young – New York, NY (June 19, 2019)—This year’s 73rd annual Antoinette Perry “Tony” Awards were announced Sunday, June 9, including a Best Sound Design win that made Tony history. The annual ceremony highlighting the best of the year’s Broadway season was hosted by James Corden and broadcast live from Radio City Music Hall in New York City.
The Tonys for Best Sound Design of a Musical were awarded to Nevin Steinberg and Jessica Paz for Hadestown. With the win, Paz became both the first woman to nominated for and also the first to win the category in the nine years that the award has been presented (first awarded in 2008, the Sound Design categories were not offered between 2015 and 2017). Steinberg was previously nominated in the category for 2013’s Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella.
The audio system for Hadestown, staged at the Walter Kerr Theater, is largely based around a Meyer Sound system, sporting Leopard, UPQ, UPJunior, and UPJ loudspeakers, managed by Galileo Galaxy processors.
Hadestown ultimately took home eight of the 14 Tonys that it was nominated for. It additionally won Best Musical; Best Original Score Written for the Theatre; Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical (André De Shields); Best Scenic Design of a Musical; Best Lighting Design of a Musical; Best Direction of a Musical; and Best Orchestrations.
Meanwhile, the award for Best Sound Design of a Play went to Fitz Patton for Choir Boy. The drama about a talented student aiming to lead the gospel choir at his prep school was nominated for four Tonys; however, Patton’s win was the only trophy the production took home. It was his first nomination.