Lincoln Park, NJ – Willow Auction House is proud to announce Behind the Curtain: The Tony Walton Collection, a special three day single owner auction November 4-6th, 2025. For more than 60 years, Tony Walton designed costumes and sets for some of Broadway’s most notable productions, including Chicago, Annie Get Your Gun, and Guys and Dolls. A Tony, Oscar and Emmy Award winner, he also worked on films such as All That Jazz and The Wiz, and designed for off-Broadway and regional theatre productions, ballets and operas, as well as doing illustrations for a variety of books and magazines.
Willow Auction House in Lincoln Park, New Jersey. The sale will start at 11am EST each day. Bidders can bid in-person, via telephone or online on WillowAuctionHouse.com , as well as all the popular auction platforms. Tune in all 3 days and watch live via livestream.
Previews will take place at Willow Auction House on Friday, October 31, Saturday, November 1, and Monday November 3, 2025, from 11am to 4pm each day. Additional preview times are available by appointment.
The three day sale includes works spanning Walton’s entire career, from some of his earliest designs while at the Slade School in the early 1950s and his first jobs in New York – doing caricatures for Playbill and designing the sets for an off-Broadway production of Noel Coward’s Conversation Piece – to his Academy Award winning work on All That Jazz and the Tony Award winning Guys and Dolls. Behind the Curtain includes costume and set design artwork, as well as scale set models, all hand made by Walton.
Born in 1934 in Walton-on-Thames, England, Tony Walton grew up drawing, painting and making marionettes. After finishing two years in the Royal Air Force, he enrolled at the Slade School of Art, where he took courses on stage design. In 1956, after finishing at Slade, Walton traveled to New York to be with then-girlfriend Julie Andrews, who was in rehearsals for My Fair Lady. In New York, Walton’s first jobs were doing caricatures and illustrations for Playbill and other magazines. The following year, he took the exam and was admitted to the United Scenic Artist’s Union, and soon after was designing sets for an off-Broadway production of Noel Coward’s Conversation Piece. From that first job in 1957, Walton’s career would span more than seven decades, and even after leaving Broadway behind in 2008, he continued working, not only doing scenic and costume design, but also as a director, continuing to work on regional and off-Broadway productions into his 80s. Tony Walton passed away in 2022 at the age of 87.
Behind the Curtain’s three days follow Tony Walton’s career chronologically. Day one spans from the 1950s to 1980, day two picks up in 1981 and goes to the end of Walton’s theatre career in 2018, and day three features items from his personal collection.
Day one begins with set designs for Dido & Aeneas Walton did while at Slade, and continues with caricatures and illustrations for Playbill – including a set of 17 illustrations of Broadway theatre exteriors – before moving to the stage, first with the designs for Carousel Walton did for his United Scenic Artists Union exam, and then the sets he created for 1957’s off-Broadway Conversation Piece. From there, Walton traveled back and forth between London and New York, finding work both in the West End and on Broadway. Other highlights from these early years include set design artwork for Valmouth, costume and set artwork for The Most Happy Fella, and sketches from Walton’s first Broadway production, the one-night-only Once There Was a Russian. Day one also features design artwork from some of Broadway’s most well-known shows, including Pippin and Chicago, both of which earned Walton Tony Award nominations – and his first win for his work on Pippin. Walton’s work on film is also covered, with original set design artwork for A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, The Boy Friend and Equus included on day one.
Day one also includes artwork and other materials from the films The Wiz and All That Jazz. Walton was nominated for an Academy Award for his work on The Wiz, and his vision is on display here with one of the sale’s stand-out lots, an original production sketchbook containing more than 70 photographs each paired with hand painted acetate overlays depicting all of the film’s locations and sets. Walton was also nominated for – and won – an Oscar for All That Jazz, and a series of posters Walton created for the productions of the film’s main character, Joe Gideon (Roy Scheider), are another of the highlights on day one.
Day two picks up in 1981, with Walton’s work on Sophisticated Ladies. The sale features Walton’s set model for the show, as well as his original artwork for both the show scrim and poster. Also featured are set models, as well as original costume and set design artwork from Woman of the Year, Little Me, The Real Thing, Hurlyburly, Leader of the Pack, I’m Not Rappaport, The House of Blue Leaves and more. Other highlights from day two include a set model for Anything Goes, original artwork and set models for the long-running A Christmas Carol, and set design artwork from Annie Get Your Gun. Day two also includes several set models from Walton’s Tony Award winning work on Guys and Dolls.
Day three features items from Tony Walton’s personal collection, including Playbills, awards, posters, books, artwork and toys. The large selection of Playbills, posters and window cards includes many shows Walton worked on and spans his entire career. Many of the posters and Playbills also feature Walton’s artwork. Books from Walton’s collection include set and costume design, plays, and books on and by several prominent figures in the world of theatre, including Cecil Beaton and Noel Coward. The collection also includes many books signed by the authors, as well as a selection of books Walton worked on with his first wife Julie Andrews and their daughter, Emma Walton Hamilton. A selection of tin litho and other vintage toys, as well as a collection of decorative penguin items, rounds out the sale.
Emma Walton Hamiliton and Bridget LeRoy will be donating a portion of the proceeds from this sale to benefit The Entertainment Community Fund. In May of 2025, Heritage Auctions auctioned 108 lots at their Tony Walton: Designer of Dreams sale. Behind the Curtain: The Tony Walton Collection auction, is a deeper dive into the unseen studio featuring, offering over 700 additional lots from Walton’s prolific career. Bidders can view the complete catalog and images for Behind the Curtain: The Tony Walton Collection at WillowAuctionHouse.com.
