It’s a lifetime in the making, and the makings of a lifetime.
For only the second time in his 60-plus year career and for the first time in the U.S., renowned Broadway and film production designer Tony Walton will be exhibiting his artwork for sale. The show will be on view at Mark Borghi Gallery in Sag Harbor, from December 10 through February 3.
Some of Walton’s work is already in the collection of the Library of Congress, which states on its site: “The range of Walton’s styles is as varied as the shows he worked on . . . Designs tell us the time and place, set the mood, and convey the style of a show. Walton is a master of all these things.”
Walton is famed for being the man behind the scenes of some of Broadway and cinema’s most iconic displays. A name for the generations, his film career soared when Walt Disney hired him directly to help create the magical, Edwardian world of “Mary Poppins.” Just like Poppins herself (played by his then-wife, Julie Andrews), Walton’s visions took flight as the costume designer, set designer, and visual consultant for the film.
“Working at the Disney studio was like going to a toy store and playing every morning,” Walton fondly recalled. “At that time, Julie and I had a general rule not to work on the same project simultaneously. But our baby, Emma, had just been born. She was with us for the shoot, which was Walt Disney’s big selling point about persuading me to come on board for the movie. He said, ‘So do you want to be away from your wife and your brand new baby for the very first part of the baby’s life?’”
That daughter is Sag Harbor’s Emma Walton Hamilton, who cofounded Bay Street Theater, and is now a best-selling author and educator. Walton collaborated with his daughter and ex-wife on a series of children’s books — the “Dumpy the Dump Truck” series and “Mousical,” which went on to be a theater piece as well.
As with all things Disney touched, Walton’s career became infused with a timeless magic. But beyond the drawing board of the Disney studio, Walton’s inventiveness spanned genres. Four years after Poppins, Richard Lester’s “Petulia” debuted, another one of Walton’s fondest memories. “My astonishing Gen, my present wife, worked on it as Julie Christie’s stand-in and driving double, because Julie didn’t drive. So I had to dress them identically, which was dealing with more beauty than any living fella should be allowed,” he said with a small smile. His wife, Gen LeRoy-Walton, is known locally as the co-author of several of the “Loaves and Fishes” cookbooks, but is also a children’s book author of renown and a former cover model.
At 87, Walton’s cross-Atlantic career has earned him enough Tony, Oscar, Emmy, BAFTA, and Academy awards and nominations to leave even the most eloquent speaker tongue-tied: Sidney Lumet’s “Murder on the Orient Express,” with an all-star cast, the film of “The Wiz,” with Diana Ross and Michael Jackson, the original Bob Fosse Broadway production of “Pippin,” the TV version of “Death of a Salesman” starring Dustin Hoffman and John Malkovich, the sell-out revival of “Guys and Dolls,” and Fosse’s quasi bio flick, “All That Jazz,” which earned Walton the Oscar, and on and on and on.
He is, in a word, classic; setting forth a standard of excellence where his work withstands the years, making him truly one of the most supercalifragilisticexpialidocious talents of time. (He cheekily suggested to Walt Disney that it be said backwards as well — now part of film history.)
“Like my principle mentors, I’ve tried hard to never repeat the look of anything I’ve already designed. So that every production will have its own signature look, and couldn’t be mistaken for any other,” Walton explained of his work. Just like the different stages of his life, its ebbs and flows, his creativity has continued to evolve throughout the decades. “This is also why I stay thoroughly interested in the process, never revisiting any previous creations.”
Through it all, Walton’s best-loved production remains “The Real Thing” on Broadway, where he watched the brilliant interaction between Mike Nichols, Tom Stoppard, Jeremy Irons, and Glenn Close on a daily basis. With it came a challenging request from Nichols to keep the “set changes to less than four seconds.” And thus a revolving set was invented and patented by Walton, further proof that there’s nothing this man can’t do.
Back to present day, Walton’s exhibition at Borghi is a celebration of the century where around 100 original drawings and paintings of production designs, illustrations, and artworks will all be on view and for sale. It’s an opportunity to capture an era in a single frame, and to own a moment in time. The two were connected through Walton’s stepdaughter, Bridget LeRoy [managing editor of this publication], and her husband Eric Johnson, who works with the gallery as an art mover.
“Walton’s production designs, illustrations and artworks, along with his directing and producing, have contributed a great deal to the success of the New York theatre scene and to a great deal of popular motion pictures,” said Marisa Borghi, who is curating the show. “This exhibition emphasizes the many cultural exchanges between fine art, theatre, and the cinematic arts. The excitement and social impact of Broadway emanates through Walton’s art,” she said.
Some of the works available include extraordinary original art from some of the productions listed above, but also from Broadway’s musical “A Christmas Carol,” which ran for 10 years at Madison Square Garden, and costume designs from John Lennon’s “In His Own Write,” along with “A Funny Thing Happened On the Way to the Forum” (both the film version and the Broadway version), and much more.
But there’s always a piece of ourselves we want to pass down through the generations. Something priceless within our hearts that money can’t buy. For Walton, while there is countless memorabilia to note, it’s the Cherry Tree Lane design from “Mary Poppins,” and the autumn woodland setting from the New York City Ballet’s production of “Sleeping Beauty” — “Which hangs above our bed,” said Walton. It’s sure to make their house the envy of all those who enter it, a mystical passage to the intersection of imagination and reality.
When all is said and done, and inevitably sold, there is one thing that Walton hopes each collector, buyer, or admirer will remember. That “this is just one small example of Tony Walton’s ‘varieties.’”
