Audra didn't get a nomination, Disaster is a disaster with only one nomination that won't save them at the box office, Hamilton stole all the nominations, blah blah blah. None of those really matter. Why is there still no Sound Design category?
About two years ago, the Tony Awards Administration Committee announced that they would no longer have awards or nominations for "Best Sound Design in a Play/Musical." This came as a huge shock and disappointment, specifically to those who have degrees in this field and practitioners. While one could argue that sound is not that important in a play but definitely a big part of a musical, one would think that the award for the sound design in the play would go away. However, that had nothing to do with the decision.
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In an interview with HowlRound.com, Cecilia Friederichs, a woman on the committee when they decided to do away with sound design, stated, "Some of the nominators and voters did not feel qualified to judge what was good sound design, or they didn’t understand sound design." She also states that not everyone who can vote is qualified to make a judgement on certain categories and, using the honor code, often elect to not vote on those categories of which they are not knowledgeable.
With that argument though, why do we even have the Tonys? I'm certain there are some on the committee that have no expertise in acting, directing or any of the categories left, so why aren't they gone too? I mean, sure, for the past few years at the Tonys, the sound design has not been top notch. But do we really want to keep doing this to an integral part of the show's success? "Hamilton," "School of Rock" and "Bright Star" all have great sounds to them, which is because of the composer and the sound director.
So really, who is the biggest snub this year other than the sound directors? No one.
