Prolific designer Tony Walton, who earned nominations for 16 Tonys and 5 Oscars, died March 2 in his New York apartment. Born Oct. 24, 1934, in Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, England, Walton attended Radley College in Oxford, where he studied Greek and Latin, before entering London’s Slade School of Fine Art. After two years of mandatory service with the Royal Air Force, he began his career with the set design for the 1957 Off-Broadway production of Noël Coward’s Conversation Piece. In 1959, he made his TV debut with the play Fool’s Paradise on the anthology series Theatre Night.
Walton made his Broadway debut with the 1961 play Once There Was a Russian, which closed on opening night. He followed that with the musicals A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1962), Golden Boy (1964), and The Apple Tree (1966), for which he earned his first Tony nomination. He made his film debut with the 1964 musical Mary Poppins, which brought him his first Oscar nomination. Two years later, he brought his designs for Forum to the screen. Below is “Let’s Go Fly a Kite” from Mary Poppins, which features the iconic Cherry Tree Lane.
He began the next decade with the film musical The Boyfriend (1971), then returned to Broadway with Pippin (1972), which brought Walton his first Tony win. His other stage work in the 1970s includes the Broadway musicals Shelter (1973), Bette Midler’s Clams on the Half Shell (1975), Chicago (1975, Tony nom), and The Act (1977). He ended the decade with the film adaptatation of the musical The Wiz (1979), for which he earned two Oscar nominations. Below is “Ease on the Down the Road” from The Wiz.
Walton won his first Oscar for All That Jazz (1980). His next stage work included the Broadway musicals Hollywood/Ukraine (1980, Tony nom), Sophisticated Ladies (1981), Woman of the Year (1981), Little Me (1982), Leader of the Pack (1985), Anything Goes (1987, two Tony noms), Linda Ronstadt’s Canciones de mi Padre (1988), Jerome Robbins’ Broadway (1989), and Grand Hotel (1989, Tony nom). He also designed Diana Ross’s 1983 Central Park concert as well as the plays Death of a Salesman (1985, Emmy win) and House of Blue Leaves (1986, Tony win). Below is “Bye Bye Life” from All That Jazz.
In the 1990s, Walton designed the Broadway musicals The Will Rogers Follies (1991, Tony nom), Guys and Dolls (1992, Tony win), Tommy Tune Tonite! (1992), She Loves Me (1993, Tony nom), A Grand Night for Singing (1993), Company (1995), Forum (1996), Steel Pier (1997, Tony nom), King David (1997), 1776 (1997), and Annie Get Your Gun (1999), as well as the 1999 Off-Broadway production of Noël Coward’s If Love Were All. He also won a Lortel for the 1996 Off-Broadway play A Fair Country. Below is the 1992 revival cast of Guys and Dolls in “Sit Down, You’re Rockin’ the Boat” at the 1993 Tonys.
His most recent work includes the Broadway musicals Seussical (2000) and A Tale of Two Cities (2008) as well as the Off-Broadway musicals After the Ball (2004) and Transport (2014), both of which he directed at Irish Rep. Below is a conversation with Walton and Irish Rep’s Artistic Director Charlotte Moore and Producing Director Ciarán O’Reilly.