Tony Awards 2014 – The Sound Design Winners

Last night saw the annual Tony Awards take place in New York City, celebrating the best and brightest of the Broadway season, including the awards for Best Sound Design.

Steve Canyon Kennedy won Best Sound Design of a Play for Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill, while Brian Ronan took home the Tony for Best Sound Design of a Musical for Beautiful—The Carole King Musical.

This marked Ronan’s second Tony win and fifth nomination, and he used part of his acceptance speech to dedicate his win to Jack Mann, who died January 28 at the age of 89. Mann was the first person to get a sound designer credit on a Broadway show, when he tackled audio for Show Girl, a 1961 musical comedy revue. Ronan was previously nominated for Nice Work If You Can Get It in 2012; won for The Book of Mormon in 2011; was nominated for Anything Goes in 2011; and nominated for Next To Normal in 2009.

Ronan’s win was one of two Tonys given to Beautiful (the other being Best Performance of an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical, given to Jessie Mueller), out of seven for which the musical was nominated.

Other nominees for this year’s Best Sound Design of a Play award included Alex Baranowski (The Cripple of Inishmaan); Dan Moses Schreier (Act One); and Matt Tierney (Machinal). Kennedy’s award marked his first Tony win and second nomination, having previously been nominated for Catch Me If You Can in 2011. Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill had only two nominations including Kennedy’s, but took them both home. The other Tony was Best Performance of an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play, given to Audra McDonald, who set two records as she became the first person to win six Tonys for acting, and also the first performer to win Tonys in all four acting categories.

Other nominees for Best Sound Design of a Musical included Peter Hylenski (After Midnight); Tim O’Heir (Hedwig and the Angry Inch); and Mick Potter (Les Miserables). A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder took home Best Musical, and All The Way nabbed Best Play in an award ceremony that saw six plays and seven musicals take home at least one award—a wider field of winners than usual.

tonyawards.com