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Sound Design
By Bryan Reesman
Jerry Springer Gets Wired
Bruce Glikas
Brian Ronan wrestles with Carnegie Hall for
Jerry Springer: The Opera’s
American premiere.
How do you know Mike Farfalla?
Mike has been an associate of mine for a few years. He has
assisted me on All Shook Up, 12 Angry Men, Curtains and now
on Dancing in the Dark. He has been my production sound
man for Grey Gardens and Spring Awakening. He has been
production man and engineer for Pajama Game and Grease,
where he continues to mix.
David Bedella, as the Devil, sings to Jerry Springer, played by Harvey Keitel.
There’s nothing like usurping tradition. When Carnegie
Hall allowed the three-act Jerry Springer: The Opera to
invade its space for two days this past January, they
greenlighted an over-the-top, crass, operatic ode to the
king of trash TV that starred Harvey Keitel.
“Nothing can muck up the sound in
Carnegie Hall like monitor wedges
all around.” — Brian Ronan
Sound Designer Brian Ronan, who has worked on shows
as diverse as Curtains, Spring Awakening and 12 Angry Men,
got to tackle the two performances of Springer, which
was a challenge given that he and Director Jason Moore
(Avenue Q) were putting on a modern theatrical production
in a space known for more conventional performances
without heavy sound reinforcement. During a break in his
hectic schedule, Ronan spoke to Stage Directions about the
event, which followed a successful UK run of Springer and
may set up a Broadway opening.
Stage Directions: What were the challenges of
designing sound for just two performances of Jerry
Springer: The Opera as opposed to designing for a
longer running show?
Brian Ronan: As is sometimes the case on short-term
events, we had to rely on the venue’s system. Carnegie
Hall has a Yamaha PM1D as a house board, so we rented
one for the offsite rehearsals and preprogrammed before
our arrival. In terms of operation, we obviously had a very
short tech time, so I had to hire an operator who can learn
and execute fast. I asked Mike Farfalla to come along, and
he made all the difference.
What challenges did you face in putting on the show at
Carnegie Hall, a venue known for more traditional music
concerts?
It’s true that Carnegie Hall is at its best when doing a
performance that requires little to no amplification. Part of
choosing Carnegie Hall for Jerry Springer was the irony of
staging this intentionally crass show set in a sublime setting.
It was up to us to make this rock-charged opera work.
Carnegie — yes, we’re on a first name basis — has very
strict regulations, which dictate how many input channels
and output channels can be used. Once you know that, you
have to approach the show accordingly. This involves the
stage direction and choices in music direction. We had to
choose who’d be wearing a mic and who wouldn’t, and our
director, Jason Moore, had to work out choreography that
would let this happen.
The two synthesizers carried a large part of the show’s
orchestration. They were incorporated into the mix. We then
had to choose only the instruments that needed help popping
through. We chose the French horn and the acoustic
guitar. The rest relied on the Hall’s acoustics.
The other large consideration was monitoring. Nothing
can muck up the sound in Carnegie Hall like monitor wedges
all around. To fix this, I used headphone monitoring for the
Jerry Springer: The Opera at Carnegie Hall was a mix of high concept and low comedy.
16 April 2008 • www.stage-directions.com