Mastering the Sondheim Aesthetic
When Stephen Sondheim’s unorthodox musical Merrily We Roll Along debuted in November 1981, it only played 16 official performances. Perhaps it was the timing; perhaps it was the times. But this underappreciated gem, while not finding an audience then, did not disappear into the ether. The show has since been performed off-Broadway many times, including outside of the country.
Olivier Award-winning director Maria Friedman certainly seemed determined to bring it back. She first staged it at London’s Menier Chocolate Factory in 2012, followed by a West End production in 2013 that won the Olivier Award for Best Musical Revival the following year. Then there was the Boston production at the Huntington Theatre in 2017. It took five more years for us to get the short — but sold-out — run at the New York Theatre Workshop in the East Village in late 2022 / early 2023. That production and its stellar cast — Jonathan Groff, Daniel Radcliffe and Lindsay Mendez — proved that the time was right, four decades later, to finally conquer Broadway. And it has.
With the right cast and director, Merrily We Roll Along has proven to be worthy of a mainstream reception. The story revolves around three college friends — composer Franklin Shepard, playwright Charley Kringas and novelist and theater critic Mary Flynn — who grow into adulthood and success together. Franklin and Charley fall out artistically and personally after the former becomes a big Hollywood producer, while Mary perennially pines for Franklin whom she can’t have. None of these are spoilers. The story is told in reverse from 1980 to 1955, starting with their relationship dissolution, so as the past times get happier, the irony of 20/20 hindsight grows. The stars inhabit their roles intensely and magically and imbue the show with new life.
A veteran of two other recent Sondheim productions, Tony Award-winning sound designer Kai Harada was excited to work with Friedman whom he says he connects with on a musical level. They both were raised in classical musical families and always find themselves hearing things the same way. They’re tuned into the same wavelength.
No Ordinary Mix
Mixing Sondheim is different from many other shows as one needs to have the fullness of the cast and orchestra but also the clarity for everyone’s vocal parts. That can be tricky, given that there are the leads, harmonies and occasionally overlapping counterpoint. In other words, the mix has to be strong — but not overpowering — and avoiding bleed-thru is necessary.
“We’re traditionally miked with Sennheiser MKE-1s in the hairline — only one actor is on an MKE-2 over his ear — and Maria is very conscious with her staging, so we don’t have many people screaming into each other’s faces,” Harada tells FRONT of HOUSE of this version of Merrily. “However, for ‘That Frank’ — the first real song in the show — there are 16 or 17 console cues because of all the breakout lines from the ensemble who then have to return to the general chorus, as somebody else takes the lead. I kept thinking of what Jack Mann, who designed the original 1981 version, would have done, and wondering if we were overcomplicating things, but everyone in the cast is on a wireless mic and the audiences are expecting a different experience. It just necessitated a lot of practice, but our mixer, Reece Nunez, nails it every time.”
The sound designer praises the rest of his audio team for the show, which, besides Nunez, includes associate designer Joseph Haggerty, production soundman Mike Wojchik, A2 Catherine Mardis and A3 Bill Gagliano. Harada also compliments Jamie Tippett who mixed the recent off-Broadway version and who helped the sound designer figure out some of the mechanics of trickier songs like that opening number.
The Merrily cast is miked up with Sennheiser MKE-1s and 2s and Sennheiser SK6212 transmitters. The orchestra — including percussion/drums, bass, keyboards, three reeds, two trumpets, trombone, and a string quartet (which is new for Broadway) — are captured via an assortment of Sennheiser, Shure and Neumann models, among others. Speakers are predominately Meyer and d&b. The show is being mixed on the Studer Vista 5, which is a preferred console for Harada. Masque Sound provided the gear.
“I had two things going for me this time around,” says Harada. “I had designed two shows in the [Hudson] before COVID — we opened the theatre in 2016 with Sunday In The Park With George — and then I designed Head Over Heels in 2018. They’re very different shows, but I learned a lot about what worked, system-wise, in the theater. Of course, designing the show downtown at New York Theatre Workshop made things a little bit more tenable, since we weren’t reinventing too many wheels.”
Harada says that one of the challenges was ensuring that they got the best speaker positions in the space at the Hudson, especially as the scenic design kept many of the speakers from being seen in the main cluster truss area. They also had to make sure the orchestra had enough space in their second story loft space upstage.
“Orchestra space downtown was challenging, and we barely fit that version of the orchestration, so as soon as we could, we spent a lot of time working with scenery and production management to come up with the best possible layout for the Broadway orchestra,” begins Harada. “Not only did we have to make sure that they had enough space, but we had to pay strict attention to isolation — we were fortunate in the show adding a string quartet, but everyone is in the same room, so location and acoustic treatment were paramount. There is something cool, musicality-wise, about having everyone in eyeline and earshot of each other, like a studio session, but I also do wish we could have had a little more acoustic sound coming out of the windows of the room. There is something incredible about the transfer of energy between live musicians and an audience and there are times where I miss that in this show.”
Besides the orchestra configuration, one of Harada’s other challenges centered around the pianos that appear on stage. “Maria and I talked at length about the onstage piano moments — I’m originally a classically trained pianist, and Maria is also very attuned to accuracy of sound reproduction,” says Harada. “We really needed to nail the sound quality and authenticity of those moments where there are pianos onstage. Jonathan Groff isn’t actually playing either piano, nor is Jamila who ‘plays’ the upright in Act Two. The sound is routed from the keyboard in the orchestra, but of course these systems had to be wireless, so we spent a lot of time both downtown and on Broadway trying different settings and combinations of power amplifiers and speakers and EQ to make sure we were as successful as possible.”
According to Harada, the Studer Vista is configured for 120 mono inputs and 22 stereo inputs. While they are not using all of the inputs, this is how he typically configures his Studers for maximum flexibility. There are 14 mono groups, 10 stereo groups, 16 mono auxes, 10 stereo auxes, 16 mono matrices, and 10 stereo matrices. He adds that submixing for the band’s Aviom personal monitoring system is done via a Yamaha CL5 in the backstage area.
As mentioned, clarity in the mix is key for a Sondheim show like Merrily We Roll Along as it has a wide range of dynamics. The intense book scenes are mixed with nuance and require the audience to lean in more to hear them.
There are also “medium-level musical theater bits, but also the big brassy Broadway bits that need to pop,” notes Harada. “The overture is something that Maria and I went back and forth about because she wanted it louder than I wanted to start the show. But she kept saying, ‘There are thousands of people who have been wanting to hear this score and hear this overture. Let’s kick them out of their seats.’ And she’s right — we get a round of applause on the overture because people did want to hear it and had been longing for it.”
Technologies — New and Old School
Although many designers opt for DiGiCo consoles on Broadway, Harada customarily prefers Studer consoles and feels that their sound quality is their best feature. “I’ve also been using them for many years,” continues Harada, “and I know what to expect when I configure them.” When asked if he thinks the Studer is a warmer console, Harada clarifies that he thinks it is a more accurate sounding console. “I think when it sums things together into full orchestra or a whole bunch of ensemble mics, that summing sounds better than most digital consoles out there right now,” he remarks.
Harada admits that he’s reticent to adopt new technologies when they first come out. He still works on a MacBook Air from 2013 with an operating system that hasn’t been supported since 2017 (he doesn’t like recent Apple updates), and the set-up still works for him. He feels the same way about system design.
“I acknowledge that I often prefer obsoleted technology, but there is a comfort level and a set of expectations I have by using older models,” says Harada. “I still like a lot of older Meyer Sound products because even though some of their new equipment sounds better out of the box, I like what the older generations of speakers did— maybe because they weren’t as perfect. And if I am going to introduce new technology, I’m going to do it gradually — maybe a new mic or new wireless system per show. But not a new console, new reverb, and new wireless on the same show. I like keeping things simple, and then I can focus on making sure the story on stage and in the orchestra gets told properly.”
