Broadway • Nederlander Theater • New York, NY
Tony Nomination - Best Sound Design of a Play
Outer Critics Circle Award - Outstanding Sound Design (of a Play or Musical)
Michael S. Eddy, Stage Directions - Joshua Reid’s Sound Design for Jefferson Mays’ One-Person A Christmas Carol.
​
Joe Dziemianowicz, New York Theatre Guide - “The splendid production of A Christmas Carol starring Jefferson Mays in a solo tour de force gets off with a bang. Suffice it to say that a rousing theatrical effect does its job. It grabs you by the lapels - actually, the eardrums - and commands your complete attention. This show and the actor playing some 50 roles deserve it” … “The 90-minute staging is packed with imagination and how-did-they-do-that surprises that get your mind buzzing with questions: Where did that staircase come from? How did Scrooge show up here when he was just over there? Do I hear murmuring in the theatre? Yes, thanks to sound designer Joshua D. Reid. Mentioning any more details would spoil the fun.”
​
Pete Hempstead, TheatreMania - "That’s because Arden and his creative team have really leaned hard into the ghost story angle of the tale. The first thing we see onstage is an open coffin barely visible in a dense shroud of shadows (lighting designer Ben Stanton does as much with darkness in this show as he does with light). The loud slam of the coffin lid (Joshua D. Reid’s sound design echoes through the theater with heart-pounding clarity) made audience members jump out of their seats with laughter at the performance I attended. It also made an infant in the audience scream in fright.”... "Sound designer Reid gives the play’s most terrifying apparition even more menace with a metallic wail as the spirit seems to float through the misty graveyard (here and elsewhere Laffrey’s revolving set is used to great effect.”
​
Victor Gluck, TheatreScene - “Much of the evening is aural. Joshua D. Reid’s sound effects include clanking chains, bells chiming, screams, doorbells, keys in locks, howling winds, clocks intoning, voices echoing, dance music, ponderous snoring, and laughter and merriment. You may never have been so conscious of the work of the sound designer as you will in this new Christmas Carol."
The Geffen Playhouse • Gil Cates Theater • Los Angeles, CA
LA Drama Critics Circle Award Winner - Outstanding Sound Design
LA Ovation Award Winner - Sound Design (Large Theatre)
Charles McNulty, Los Angeles Times - "Sudden eruptions of noise (orchestrated by sound designer Joshua D. Reid) jangle nerves onstage and off. (No that wasn't me slouching fearfully in my seat - it was another journalist from a less reputable publication)."
Peter DeBruge, Variety - "It's no simple trick fo an actor to haunt himself on stage without coming across as schizophrenic or crazy in the process, and here, director Arden has tapped lighting designer Ben Stanton and sound wizard Joshua D. Reid to augment Mays' natural ability to shift between characters."
Dany Margolies, Los Angeles Daily News - "Sound Designer Joshua D. Reid makes ponderous chains clank, innumerable bells toll, and supposedly impassible doors slam. But more remarkably, an eeriness haunts our ears throughout."
​Steven Stanley, StageSceneLA - "The contributions of scenic designer Dane Laffrey, lighting designer Ben Stanton, sound designer Joshua D. Reid, and projection designer Lucy Mackinnon would likewise seem at first to be relatively slight, a minimally designed office lit by a few candles with an occasional sound effect here or there....Along the way, Stanton's lighting and Reid's sound design get more and more breathtakin." "In addition, Stanton and Reid join forces with star Mays to create one stunning two-character scene after another, beginning with Scrooge's confrontation with his former business partner, the former lit with a warm candle glow, the latter with a ghastly pallor, his booming voice amped to many times its normal volume. As for the Ghost of Christmas Past, Reid's alteration of the spirit's voice is precisely what a reader might imagine from Dickens' description ("like a child: yet not so like a child as like an old man") with Stanton's lighting completing the eerie transformation to chilling effect"
TheaterWorks Hartford • Wadsworth Atheneum • Hartford, CT
Connecticut Critics Circle Award - Outstanding Sound Design
Christopher Arnott, Hartford Courant - "TheaterWorks' longtime home on Pearl Street is undergoing major renovations. The final three shows of the current season, starting with Girlfriend, are being done at the Wadsworth Atheneum's theater space. At first, there's a jarring disconnect between this youthful frolic, set in clubs and drive-ins and ball fields, and the gorgeous art murals on the walls of this delightful downstairs theater space where Gertrude Stein's "Four Sain'ts in Three Acts" had its world premiere in 1934. Before the show starts, the space seems echoey and loud. But with sound design skills that match those of any touring rock band, TheaterWorks has worked audio magic. The band sounds like a band in a club, and yet you can also hear the tender dialogue between Mike and Will, down to whispers and giggles."
Zander Opper, Web Review - "What's more, the sound design by Joshua D Reid is crystal clear and perfectly timed, especially at the moments when the characters are miming getting into and out of the car."
Donald Brown, New Haven Review - "The band does the songs justice, Merino and Pawlikowski have suitable singing voices, and the sound design, by Joshua D. Reid, is perfectly adapted to the Wadsworth's auditorium."
Joseph Harrison, Broadway World- "Brian Prather's set seeing is simple, yet quite functional, Blair Gulledge's costumes are spot on (brought back memories of my own flannel and t-shirt days) and Rob Denton's lighting and Joshua D Reid's sound are equally strong."
​
Mark G. Auerbach, The Westfield News - "Joshua D. Reid's sound is excellent, balancing the singers and instrumentalists, and providing sound effects from a drive-in movie soundtrack to barking dogs."
Theatre Calgary • Max Bell Theatre • Calgary, Alberta
Louis B. Hobson, Calgary Herald - "Theatre Calgary's Billy Elliot the Musical is also a technical hit with Scott Reid's sets, Cory Sincennes' costumes, Alan Brodie's lighting and Joshua D. Reid's sound designs.
We only get to see them projected on screens during the curtain call but there is an 18-piece orchestra backing the singers and dancers. To Don Horsburgh, Mark Limacher and Dave Reid's immense credit, the orchestra never upstages the performers. It's impressive as well as being complementary."
Vicki Trask, Broadway World - "Director Stafford Arima has assembled an incredible team to bring the story to life including Music Direction by Don Horsburg, Lighting Design by Alan Brodie, and Sound Design by Joshua D Reid."