HMHS alumnus wins Tony Award
John Shivers, Haddonfield Memorial High School class of 1977, recently won a Tony Award for best sound design for the Broadway musical “Kinky Boots.”
The Cydni Lauper, Harvey Fierstein and Jerry Mitchell musical, based off Geoff Deane and Tim Firth’s Miramax motion picture, snagged six awards. Shivers was shocked when he heard his name called at the awards ceremony.
“I heard my name, I picked up my daughter/date to the Tonys, kissed her and made the walk to the stage of Radio City Music Hall. I looked out over the massive sea of people. Man that place is big, everything had become quiet, and I thought I had better start talking,” he said.
After he shook off his initial reaction, Shivers went through a list in his head of people he wanted to thank.
“Before I knew it, the ‘wrap it up’ music began to play just as I said to my daughter ‘thank you for the endless inspiration you give me.’ I wanted to continue with ‘. . . and for looking so cute in your kinky red dress. I love you,’ blow her a kiss and finish by saying ‘Long live the Kink.’ But regretfully I never got the chance,” he said.
During his high school years, Shivers was involved in the drama club, but not because he was interested in theater.
“I was in one play. I played a preppy college student. I was so bad I remembered looking into the audience and seeing visibly pained looks on people’s faces,” he said.
“I think I was still hanging onto to my childhood career choice of becoming a rock star. But maybe a bit of pragmatism was starting to set in, and I began to become interested in recording engineering.”
He didn’t know he wanted a career in sound design until 20 years ago, when he found out about the profession. After high school, Shivers went to Stockton University, graduating with a bachelor’s degree in a self-designed major called audio production. He also attended Temple University and the Institute of Audio Research in New York City.
Before stepping into Broadway, Shivers was mixing front of house for Dionne Warwick and also for Gregory Hines.
Shivers worked on sound designs for musicals such as “Big,” “God said ‘Ha!,’” “Titanic,” “Aida,” “The Producers,” “Hairspray,” “700 Sundays,” “In My Life,” “Tarzan,” “Mary Poppins,” “The Little Mermaid” and more.
He said his workload is “massive.” He currently has five projects on his plate in different stages of development.
“There is also the ongoing maintenance of the long-running shows. They certainly don’t all require daily attention, but there is always one thing or another that needs addressing,” he said.
Shivers may not have had the chance to finish his acceptance speech the way he wanted, but he said “Kinky Boots” was the most satisfying production on which he has ever worked.
“Long live the kink,” he said.
To find out more information on “Kinky Boots,” visit kinkybootsthemusical.com/index.php.
