Gareth Owen | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | Gareth John Owen 20 August 1979 |
| Education | University of Plymouth (BA) |
| Occupation | Theatrical Sound Designer |
| Years active | 1998–present |
| Spouse | Carmen Bierens |
| Children | 3 |
| Website | www |
Gareth Owen is an twelve time Tony & Olivier Award-winning / nominated [1] sound designer specialising in musical theatre in London's West End, on Broadway and internationally.
Gareth John Owen was born in Sheffield, England, a son of two teachers, [2] both of whom specialised in special needs education. At the age of nine the family moved to the Cayman Islands where Owen attended Cayman Islands Middle School. Upon returning to the UK the family moved to St. Ives in Cornwall where Owen attended both Mounts Bay School and Penwith Sixth Form College [3] before going to the University of Plymouth [4] in Plymouth, to study for a bachelor's degree in underwater science. While at university he worked in nightclubs [5] as a lighting and sound engineer, and as a boatman and beach lifeguard in St. Ives. [6]
Owen initially began working in live sound when the Penzance nightclub he was working at started to present live bands which Owen was asked to mix. From here he secured work with Birmingham's SSE Audio Group [7] which lead to an early career in rock & roll, working at festivals such as Glastonbury, Reading, Party in the Park, and T4 on the Beach; and mixing acts such as Def Leppard, The Stereophonics, B B King, The Spice Girls and The Rolling Stones. In a 2024 Broadway Buzz interview he says "My very first job was hauling huge, heavy mains cables through knee-deep mud at festival fields and dragging delay speakers across two hundred meters of sludge and piss and old cigarette butts." [8]
Owens theatre career began when he was invited to mix the musical The Blues Brothers which was running at what is now the Trafalgar Studios in Londons west end. About this time, Owen is quoted as saying "I didn't have a lot of money so I bought a tent and lived in the band's garden". [9] From here he was offered a job as sound designer for the UK tour of Stephen Schwartz' musical Godspell, [10] beginning a collaboration which would continue until the present day. [11] Owen went on to design a number of shows in a freelance capacity, before joining London's Orbital Sound as a full-time sound designer. [12] In late 2009, Owen left Orbital Sound and formed his own company, Gareth Owen Sound. [13]
Since 2010, Owen has since worked with composers and musicians including Alan Menken, [14] Andrew Lloyd Webber, [15] Stephen Schwartz, [16] Björn Ulvaeus, [17] Glen Ballard, Lin-Manuel Miranda, [18] Max Martin, [19] David Bryan, [20] George Stiles, Cyndi Lauper, Pete Townsend, [21] Alan Silvestri, [22] Alicia Keys, [23] David Foster, Tom Kitt, [24] Stephen Sondheim, [25] Giles Martin, Tom Fletcher, and Sir Elton John. [26] Owen has also created musicals based on the music of pop icons such as Michael Jackson, Donna Summer, and The Beatles; [27] and is a collaborator with top directors including Robert De Niro, [28] Christopher Ashley, [29] Jerry Zaks, [30] Des McAnuff, [31] Luke Sheppard, [32] Jerry Mitchell, [33] Laurence Connor, [34] Christopher Wheeldon, [35] Terry Johnson, Michael Grief, Emerald Fennell, [36] Scott Schwartz, Michael Arden [37] and Sir Trevor Nunn. [38] Discussing collaboration in musical theatre, Owen is quoted as saying, "I find that the key to making shows sound good is to collaborate with the people who know best what [the sound] is supposed to be. It would be not just arrogant, but shortsighted and stupid of me to not become best friends with Alicia Keys and Adam Blackstone because let's think: Who knows what Alicia Keys music is supposed to sound like...? Alicia Keys." [8]
Discussing acoustic volume of shows in a 2024 LSI Magazine interview, entitled "Making Broadway Rock", Owen, captioned as "Broadway's King of Pop" says "[in the theatre], when people say they want things loud, they don't mean Bon Jovi in Wembley Stadium loud." [39] He follows up on this in another article in FOH Magazine saying "In my experience when people talk about things being loud, they don’t necessarily mean it’s too loud. They mean that certain frequencies are aggressive and painful. In my experience, you can actually make things quite loud if you keep control of the sound, if it rises in volume in a relatively uniform, relatively linear manner. If all the frequencies rise together, it doesn’t become screechy or aggressive or punchy.” [40]
Owen's creative ethos has been discussed at length in multiple interviews, however the most succinct summation of his design philosophy reads “The traditional music theatre sound for a long time was about pretending that sound didn’t exist. It was all about microphones hidden in the hair, the sound of the orchestra coming out of the orchestra pit and voices coming from the people onstage. A ‘good’ sound design was considered to be one you wouldn’t know was there. Today, people go to the movies, hear an orchestra swell around them and they feel it. They put in their AirPods and hear amazing sound, get in their car and hear 29 speakers, or spend $600 at Target on an amazing surround system for their front room—and yet we still go to a theatre and pretend like sound doesn’t exist! I realised, ‘No, the world’s moved on. I’m going to stop apologising for sound.’ I made a conscious decision to take it in a completely different direction, which is a cinematic sound design - so I don’t really do shows that sound like traditional Broadway shows; that’s not really my thing.” [41]
With regard to immersive audio, Owen says, "It’s not a new concept, but it is a new buzzword. We are theatre people, and we’ve been doing what I call immersive audio for decades: putting people in the middle of the sound; and finding ways of localising sound sources from the audience’s perspective. That is theatre sound design..." [42]
Owen has worked as sound designer on the following Broadway productions [43] in New York City:
Owen has worked as sound designer on the following West End musical productions [46] in London:
Owen has worked as sound designer on the following productions around the world:
Owen has worked as sound designer on the following West End straight plays in London, although the timeline suggests he is no longer active in this particular discipline:
Owen is credited with a long list of technical achievements and industry firsts.
Despite being quoted as saying that immersive audio "is not a new concept, but it is a new buzzword", [42] Owen is considered to be a pioneer in the field of immersive theatre sound. Owen was the first person to use the object based wave field synthesis immersive audio in both Londons West End [48] and on New Yorks Broadway, [49] for the musicals Come from Away and Diana , respectively. He created the world's first sound design to incorporate object based mixing in to a rotating auditorium [50] for Andrew Lloyd Webbers Cinderella musical at the Gillian Lynne Theatre in London; and what was, at the time, the largest SoundScape installation in the world [51] for arena musical Starlight Express . Owen is also credited as the first person to integrate wireless tracking of performers in to an object based sound system on Broadway, [52] this time for MJ the Musical . Indeed, he and his team are credited with creating one of the industry standard control applications for live immersive audio, [53] d&b's EnSnap, [54] used on multiple shows and productions around the world. [55]
Owen's use and development of cutting-edge technologies is not limited to immersive audio. He is believed to have designed the show with the largest number of radio mics ever used on a west end musical, [56] 42nd Street at Londons Drury Lane. He was the first person to use the d&b KSL line array system [57] on both a Broadway show and on a west end musical, in both cases for Back to the Future the musical. He was the first person to use the d&b XSL line array system on a Broadway show, this time for & Juliet at the Sondheim theater. Owen was the first person to use a DiGiCo mixing console in theatre, [58] the now defunct D5, for the UK Tour of the Cliff Richard musical Summer Holiday. [59] He is credited as being the first to use both the Avid Venue mixing console [60] and the Avid S6L mixing console in theatre, for the shows Annie Get Your Gun and Broadways Come From Away respectively. Owen was one of the early adopters of computer game audio engines to create dynamic sound effects in theatre, notably on Broadway's Back to the Future musical. [61]
Owen is co-founder and CCO of audio hardware manufacturer Fourier Audio, [62] where he is "working to redefine the future of pro audio". [63] In 2023, he and his co-founders Henry Harrod and Peter Bridgman sold Fourier Audio to live mixing desk manufacturer DiGiCo for an undisclosed multi-million pound sum. [64] From this springboard they went on to release the transform.engine, a revolutionary VST plugin host, designed exclusively for the live environment. [65]
Owen is also a co-founder of the software house Show Control Ltd, a company specialising in the coding and development of dedicated theatrical show control systems. [66] There is little information available regarding this endeavour beyond a list of the developed software on Owen's website. [67]
In 2009, Owen joined a steering committee that eventually formed the Association of Sound Designers [68] where he served as a committee member for the maximum term of five years, from 2012 to 2018. [69]
In 2022, Owen was presented with an Honorary Doctorate [70] from the University of Salford. [71]
| Year | Nominated work | Category | Result | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | Hell's Kitchen | Tony Award for Best Sound Design of a Musical | Nominated | |
| 2024 | The Who's Tommy | Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Sound Design | Nominated | |
| 2024 | Back to the Future | Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Sound Design | Nominated | |
| 2023 | The Who's Tommy | Joseph Jefferson Award for Best Sound Design of a Musical | Won | |
| 2023 | & Juliet | Tony Award for Best Sound Design of a Musical | Nominated | |
| 2023 | & Juliet | BroadwayWorld Award for Best Sound Design of a Musical | Won | |
| 2022 | MJ: The Musical | Tony Award for Best Sound Design of a Musical | Won | |
| 2022 | MJ: The Musical | Drama Desk Award for Best Sound Design of a Musical | Won | |
| 2022 | Back to the Future | Olivier Award for Best Sound Design | Nominated | |
| 2022 | Back to the Future | WhatsOnStage Award for Best Sound Design | Won | |
| 2020 | Come From Away | BroadwayWorld Award for Best Sound Design of the Decade | Nominated | |
| 2020 | Come From Away | Green Room Award for Best Sound Design | Won | |
| 2020 | Come From Away | WhatsOnStage Award for Best Sound Design | Won | |
| 2020 | & Juliet | WhatsOnStage Award for Best Sound Design | Nominated | |
| 2019 | Come From Away | Olivier Award for Best Sound Design | Won | |
| 2019 | The Donna Summer Musical | NAACP Theatre Award for Best Sound Larger Theatre | Nominated | |
| 2018 | Starlight Express (Bochum) | Pro Sound Award for Best Immersive Design | Won | |
| 2018 | Carmen La Cubana | BroadwayWorld Germany Award for Best Sound Design | Won | |
| 2018 | Bat Out of Hell The Musical | AV Technology Award for Best Use of Audio Solutions [72] | Won | |
| 2018 | Come From Away | BroadwayWorld Toronto Award for Best Original Sound Design | Won | |
| 2018 | Bat Out of Hell The Musical | Olivier Award for Best Sound Design | Nominated | |
| 2018 | Come From Away | BroadwayWorld Award for Best Sound Design | Won | |
| 2018 | Summer | Craig Noel Award for Best Sound Design | Nominated | |
| 2017 | Bat Out of Hell The Musical | AV Technology Award for Best Sound Design | Won | |
| 2017 | Come From Away | Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Sound Design | Won | |
| 2017 | Bat Out of Hell The Musical | BroadwayWorld Award for Best Sound Design | Won | |
| 2017 | Come From Away | Dora Award for Best Sound Design | Won | |
| 2017 | Individual Recognition | Pro Sound Award for Sound Engineer of the Year [73] | Won | |
| 2017 | Come From Away | Helen Hayes Award for Best Sound Design | Won | |
| 2016 | A Bronx Tale | BroadwayWorld Award for Best Sound Design | Won | |
| 2015 | Memphis the Musical | Olivier Award for Best Sound Design | Won | |
| 2015 | Memphis the Musical | Pro Sound Award for Best Theatre Sound [74] | Won | |
| 2015 | Hunchback of Notre Dame | BroadwayWorld Award for Best Sound Design | Nominated | |
| 2014 | Merrily We Roll Along | Olivier Award for Best Sound Design | Won | |
| 2013 | Top Hat | Olivier Award for Best Sound Design | Nominated | |
| 2014 | I Can't Sing! | Pro Sound Award for Best Theatre Sound | Won | |
| 2012 | End of the Rainbow | Tony Award for Best Sound Design of a Musical | Nominated | |
| 2011 | End of the Rainbow | Olivier Award for Best Sound Design | Nominated | |
| 2010 | A Little Night Music | Tony Award for Best Sound Design of a Musical | Nominated |
Julie Taymor is an American director and writer of theater, opera, and film. Her stage adaptation of The Lion King debuted in 1997 and received eleven Tony Award nominations, with Taymor receiving Tony Awards for her direction and costume design. Her 2002 film Frida, about Mexican artist Frida Kahlo, was nominated for five Academy Awards, including a Best Original Song nomination for Taymor's composition "Burn It Blue." She also directed the 2007 jukebox musical film Across the Universe, based on the music of the Beatles.
Sound design is the art and practice of creating soundtracks for a variety of needs. It involves specifying, acquiring or creating auditory elements using audio production techniques and tools. It is employed in a variety of disciplines including filmmaking, television production, video game development, theatre, sound recording and reproduction, live performance, sound art, post-production, radio, new media and musical instrument development. Sound design commonly involves performing and editing of previously composed or recorded audio, such as sound effects and dialogue for the purposes of the medium, but it can also involve creating sounds from scratch through synthesizers. A sound designer is one who practices sound design.
Broadway theatre, or Broadway, is a theatre genre that consists of the theatrical performances presented in 41 professional theaters, each with 500 or more seats, in the Theater District and Lincoln Center along Broadway, in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Broadway and London's West End together represent the highest commercial level of live theater in the English-speaking world.
Disney Theatrical Productions Limited (DTP), also known as Disney on Broadway, is the stageplay and musical production company of the Disney Theatrical Group, a subsidiary of Disney Entertainment, a major division and business unit of The Walt Disney Company.
Ramin Karimloo is a Canadian actor, singer and songwriter recognized for his work in London's West End and New York's Broadway theatre.
Alex Timbers is an American writer and director best known for his work on stage and television. He has received numerous accolades including two Tony Awards, a Golden Globe Award, a Drama Desk Award, as well as nominations for a Primetime Emmy Award and a Grammy Award. Timbers received the Drama League Founder's Award for Excellence in Directing and the Jerome Robbins Award for Directing.
American Psycho is a musical with music and lyrics by Duncan Sheik and a book by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa. It is based on the controversial 1991 novel American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis, which also inspired a 2000 film of the same name, that starred Christian Bale. Set in Manhattan during the Wall Street boom of the late 1980s, American Psycho is about the daily life of Patrick Bateman, a young and wealthy investment banker who is also secretly a serial killer.
Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812 is a sung-through musical adaptation of a 70-page segment from Leo Tolstoy's 1869 novel War and Peace. The show was written by composer, lyricist, playwright, orchestrator Dave Malloy and originally directed by Rachel Chavkin. It is based on Part 8 of Tolstoy's novel, focusing on Natasha's romance with Anatole and Pierre's search for meaning in his life.
Frozen is a musical with music and lyrics by Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez, and book by Jennifer Lee, based on the Walt Disney Animation Studios' 2013 animated musical film Frozen. The story centers on the relationship between two sisters who are princesses, Elsa and Anna. Elsa has magical powers to freeze objects and people, which she does not know how to control. After inheriting the throne, Elsa flees, inadvertently causes the kingdom to become frozen in an eternal winter, and nearly kills her sister. She must sacrifice and show true love to save the day.
Dave Malloy is an American composer, playwright, lyricist, orchestrator, and actor. He has written several theatrical works, often based on classic works of literature. His most well known work is the Tony Award winning Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812, an electropop opera based on War and Peace. His other works include Moby-Dick, an adaptation of Herman Melville's classic novel; Octet, a chamber choir musical about internet addiction; Preludes, a musical fantasia set in the mind of romantic composer Sergei Rachmaninoff; and Ghost Quartet, a song cycle about "love, death, and whiskey".
Waitress is a musical with music and lyrics by Sara Bareilles and a book by Jessie Nelson. Based on the 2007 film of the same name, written and directed by Adrienne Shelly, it tells the story of Jenna Hunterson, a baker and waitress in an abusive relationship with her husband, Earl. After Jenna unexpectedly becomes pregnant, she begins an affair with her doctor, Dr. James "Jim" Pomatter. Looking for ways out of her troubles, she sees a pie baking contest and its grand prize as her chance.
Come from Away is a musical, with book, music and lyrics by Irene Sankoff and David Hein. It is based on the events in the Newfoundland town of Gander during the week following the September 11 attacks, when 38 planes, carrying approximately 7,000 passengers, were ordered to land unexpectedly at Gander International Airport. The characters in the musical are based on actual Gander residents and stranded travelers they housed and fed.
Hadestown is a sung-through musical with music, lyrics, and book by Anaïs Mitchell. It tells a version of the ancient Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice. Eurydice, a young girl looking for something to eat, goes to work in a hellish industrial version of the Greek underworld to escape poverty and the cold, and her poor singer-songwriter lover Orpheus comes to rescue her.
Ashley Jini Park is an American actress and musician. She is best known for her portrayal of Mindy Chen on the Netflix comedy series Emily in Paris. She originated the role of Gretchen Wieners in the Broadway musical Mean Girls, for which she was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical.
Six is a British musical comedy in the style of a pop concert. Its music, book, and lyrics were written by Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss. It is a modern retelling of the lives of the six wives of Henry VIII, presented in the form of a singing competition. In the show, the wives take turns telling their story to determine who suffered the most from their shared husband, but ultimately seek to reclaim their individual identities and rewrite their stories.
MJ the Musical is a jukebox musical based on the life of the American entertainer Michael Jackson. It features Jackson's music, with a book by Lynn Nottage, and choreography by Christopher Wheeldon.
Grace McLean is an American actress, playwright, composer and singer. She is known for her roles in various Broadway and off-Broadway productions such as Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812, Bad Cinderella, Suffs, Bedbugs, Alice by Heart, and In The Green, the latter of which she wrote. She is also known for her work as a music educator and for fronting the band Grace McLean and Them Apples. Her debut full-length album My Lovely Enemy was released on May 10, 2024.
A Strange Loop is a musical with book, music, and lyrics by Michael R. Jackson, and winner of the 2020 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. First produced off-Broadway in 2019, then staged in Washington, D.C. in 2021, A Strange Loop premiered on Broadway at the Lyceum Theatre in April 2022. The show won Best Musical and Best Book of a Musical at the 75th Tony Awards.
Sony Hall is a concert venue operated by Blue Note Entertainment Group located on West 46th Street in the Theater District, Manhattan, New York City. Like many theaters in NYC, it has served many functions since its opening in 1938. Located in the basement of the Paramount Hotel, it began as Billy Rose's Diamond Horseshoe nightclub where the 1945 film Diamond Horseshoe was filmed, and later spent time as a burlesque theater before becoming a legitimate Broadway theatre under the names Century Theatre, Mayfair Theatre, and Stairway Theatre. As a Broadway theater, it is best known for the transfer of the Tony Award-winning original Broadway production of On Golden Pond in 1979. After becoming a private venue through the 1980s and remaining mostly closed through the 1990s and 2000s, it reemerged in 2013 after a 20-million-dollar renovation as a theater hosting the immersive production Queen of the Night. It is currently run as a live music performance venue showcasing audio and visual technology by Sony.
The Devil Wears Prada is a musical based on the 2003 novel of the same name by Lauren Weisberger as well as the 2006 film of the same name with a screenplay by Aline Brosh McKenna. The musical has music by Elton John, lyrics by Shaina Taub and a book by Kate Wetherhead.
| Authority control databases: Artists |
|---|
