Jonathan Deans, one of the most sought-after sound designers in the musical theatre world, is the man behind the sound environments of Viva ELVIS. Having created the soundscapes of Saltimbanco, Mystère, “O”, La Nouba, ZUMANITY, KÀ, Corteo, The Beatles LOVE, KOOZA, Wintuk, CRISS ANGEL Believe and, most recently, OVO, Jonathan finds Cirque’s work-in-progress and team-oriented creative approach highly stimulating.
Jonathan was fascinated by electronics at an early age. At 15, he joined the Royal Shakespeare Company as an actor where his keen interest in sound began to blend with a theatrical context. Several years later, after a spell as a sound engineer in the music industry, notably at Morgan Studios where he brushed shoulders with artists such as Cat Stevens, Paul Simon and Rick Wakeman, he made his way back to the theatre via the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden and later went on to mix the sound for the musical A Chorus Line. One success soon followed another and he became the sound mixing engineer for over a dozen productions including Evita, Cats, Bugsy Malone and The Sound of Music.
Jonathan’s success as a mixing sound engineer led to him being hired as sound designer on the musical Marilyn. This was followed by work on other West End shows including Time, Les Misérables, Mutiny, Jean Seberg and then on Broadway, Ragtime, Fosse, King David, Damn Yankees, Taboo, Brooklyn, Lestat, Pirate Queen and Young Frankenstein.
For Jonathan Deans, Cirque’s permanent theatres and its big top are two quite different worlds when it comes to sound design. “There are different technical demands, but as far as the texture and the layering of the music and sound are concerned, it’s the same,” he says. “My work is to create a unique environment for every production. And whatever the environment is, I need to make sure that sonically the audience members know they are entering a different world.”
“We don’t have Elvis in the show, but everything we do is connected to him, so it’s very important that the sound system creates something that has the same sonic impact as the visuals, and it all has to be worthy of Elvis,” says Jonathan Deans. “The Viva ELVIS theatre has been built on a vast scale, one that matches his legend. To create a sound that meets that challenge we’ve buried subwoofers in the floor so we can use the low frequency resonance of the concrete structure itself to add subsonic sound vibrations that will literally move the auditorium in response to the live music performances, as well as creating sound effects.”
Jonathan Deans was born in England and lives in the New York Area.
“I see OVO as the immersive surroundings of a world where the insects are magnified,” says Jonathan. “And to accentuate that immersive aspect we’ve worked with a full surround system – which is unusual for a big top show. When you walk into the tent there’s already a sense of a different space, which I would never try to compete with. On the contrary, I embrace this uniquely sounding environment and work to enhance the captured presence of the performance inside the Big Top.”
As with every other Cirque show, Jonathan works very closely with the composer, Berna Ceppas. “The audience will hear a lot of insect-inspired and other bug-sounding elements which are incorporated into the score and the sound design,” Jonathan explains. “By playing with pitch, tempo, mix and rhythm we are able to create many different ‘flavors’ of sound.”