Like most sound designers, Cody Spencer has lived his skilled life behind the scenes, having constructed a profession from the backstages of theaters and different efficiency venues on either side of the Atlantic.
His aversion to being within the highlight was made obvious at the 2024 Tony Awards final month, when he inadvertently dropped an f-bomb whereas accepting the award for Finest Sound Design of a Musical for his work on “The Outsiders.”
“If you put me in front of 1,000 people and tell me to talk about myself, be excited for myself, I freak out and don’t know what to say,” Spencer, a St. Louis native now primarily based in New York, instructed HuffPost. “I’m the one who hides behind the console.”
The worst half, he added, was being reduce off by broadcast censors earlier than thanking his fiancée, Victoria Bullard. Happily, Bullard was within the viewers that evening and heard him say her title in actual time.
“If I ever get nominated again, I’m hiring a speechwriter to help me,” Spencer quipped. “I’m told I got my one free pass.”
Watch Cody Spencer’s 2024 Tony acceptance speech for Finest Sound Design of a Musical beneath.
Spencer’s Tony was one among 4 that “The Outsiders” received that evening ― a seemingly overdue honor, provided that his Broadway résumé has included “The Book of Mormon” and “Tootsie,” amongst different hit reveals. That four-award triumph got here as a pleasing shock to many concerned with the musical, which opened at New York’s Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre in April.
The present additionally received for Finest Musical, Finest Lighting Design of a Musical and Finest Route of a Musical, the latter of which was awarded to director Danya Taymor.
Primarily based on S.E. Hinton’s beloved novel and that includes songs by Justin Levine and folk-rock duo Jamestown Revival, “The Outsiders” is instructed from the attitude of Ponyboy Curtis (portrayed by Brody Grant), a 14-year-old orphan who joins a working-class “Greasers” gang in Tulsa, Oklahoma, circa 1967.
CBS Photograph Archive through Getty Photographs
Ponyboy and his finest pal, Johnny Cade (Sky Lakota-Lynch), discover themselves thrust into an ongoing turf warfare between the Greasers and a rival, upper-middle-class gang known as the “Socs” when an altercation between the 2 teams ends in tragedy. Quickly, the 2 boys are on the run from the legislation.
The tribal stress climaxes within the buzzed-about “Rumble” sequence, which includes water, filth, a bevy of actors in moist T-shirts and a number of the most jaw-dropping choreography ever carried out on Broadway.
Previous to its New York engagement, “The Outsiders” performed to enthusiastic critics and crowds on the La Jolla Playhouse in La Jolla, California, final 12 months. In the course of the present’s West Coast run, Angelina Jolie joined the present’s artistic crew as a producer, reportedly on the urging of her 16-year-old daughter, Vivienne.
As soon as Spencer was introduced on board because the musical’s sound designer, he shortly realized that the present would attraction to younger audiences who “are used to listening to music through AirPods.”
Therefore, he labored with French audio producer L-Acoustics to implement a state-of-the-art type of immersive sound design, often called the L-ISA system, that might give viewers a 360-degree expertise and make them really feel as in the event that they had been “part of the action, as opposed to just listening.”
Previous to “The Outsiders,” L-ISA had been embraced by pop artists like Adele and Katy Perry, each of whom relied on the system of their latest Las Vegas residency concert events. It was additionally used on Broadway final 12 months within the musical “Here Lies Love,” which Spencer labored on.
In keeping with Spencer, audiences are more likely to hear L-ISA and different immersive audio methods additional utilized on Broadway, and past, shifting ahead.
“We were able to make sound a character in this show,” he stated. “There are ways you can tell a story with just sound, and [Taymor] pushed me to realize that. It really helps to tell a story and pull everything together.”
Instantly following his triumphant second on the Tonys, Spencer delved right into a pair of latest Broadway initiatives. The primary is the psychological thriller “Job,” which opens at New York’s Hayes Theater July 31.
The second is director Sam Gold’s reimagining of “Romeo and Juliet,” starring Package Connor and Rachel Zegler and that includes music by Jack Antonoff, the Grammy-winning entrance man of the rock band Bleachers who has labored with Taylor Swift and Sabrina Carpenter, amongst different pop artists.
Although Spencer can’t disclose a lot about both manufacturing, he has quite a lot of reward for Antonoff, who’s, by some accounts, a theatrical newcomer.
“What excites me the most about working with Jack is just how excited he is to be on Broadway,” Spencer stated. “He’s really got a fresh take on it. It’s going to be a ‘Romeo and Juliet’ like no one’s ever seen before.”
