Stereophonic, 18 May 2024

The first thing that stood out to me about Stereophonic is that I’ve never seen a more innovative and creative sound design in such a large space. There were many distinct listening experiences, and Ryan Rumery’s design choices let them each have their own feel without creating auditory chaos. The system for the actors when they were in the sound booth had a more distant feel than those in the studio, which were naturalistic. There was off stage whispering, and songs that were actually being recorded and played back during the show that had to fill the house. There was the monitor system for the actors on stage to listen back to their recordings that had a muted audio quality feel. Everything about Stereophonic as an aural experience was truly a treat, especially for people like me who have sound/audio work experience.

The characters of the audio engineers were perfectly attuned to the struggles of the recording lifestyle, and felt incredibly authentic. The divas in the booth displayed the kind of arrogance always associated with legends, and their wonderfully flamboyant costumes put them in a period world while maintaining a realistic level of individual style.

While the play accurately depicted how repetitive and difficult these processes are, script wise I think it could have been tighter. The run time of over three hours and fifteen minutes was unnecessary. I really enjoyed hearing the multiple takes that conveyed to a possibly unaware audience that studio recording is not go in, sing your song, and go home. But some of the dialogue was too repetitive, too stagnant, and too cliche to really be necessary to tell this story effectively. The first act had a lot of setup, some of which was unnecessary.

The sound, the atmosphere, the acting, and the unique format of being a show with music being recorded live on stage made Stereophonic truly unique and beautiful. Taken as a whole, this is easily one of my favorite theatre experiences of the year, partially because the lives of audio technicians and sound designers and recording artists are not often addressed except as side characters in a world to which we are integral. It was refreshing and joyous to see our stories on stage, especially with a sound system that supported so many different ways for the audience to hear this world for themselves.

My primary criticism of the show is that it was not visually dynamic. It was mostly character driven and the show had a consistent look and feel, from aesthetics to staging, such that the primary creative decisions were made about a single set, a single lighting concept, and staging where actors were either inside or outside of the recording booth. It was about enjoying the journey and the quirky character nuances that really spoke some truth about artists and musicians. Ultimately, I found Stereophonic to be a straightforward show with a simple concept delivered in a thoroughly enjoyable (and highly authentic) presentation.

My ticket to see this show was subsidized by TSDCA.