Bright lights of Broadway for Queen’s star designer
March 2009

From Hornchurch to New York, the Queen’s Theatre’s top set and costume designer is making waves
on the other side of the Atlantic with a new Broadway show.

Mark Walters, resident Head of Design, is designing a new star-studded big band musical called Over Here, which is due to open on Broadway this summer.

Mark, who has worked on more than a dozen plays at the Queen’s, is known for his stunning, intricate creations. Recent productions include Sweeney Todd, Dick Whittington and Hay Fever.

His work on the 2006 Queen’s Lionel Bart musical It’s a Fine Life! so impressed a producer of Over Here, that Mark was commissioned to design the new American musical.

Over Here is set in the 1930s on a train travelling across the States, transporting soldiers to war. Mark’s design incorporates a complex number of scene changes, including crowded train carriages, a grand ballroom and an authentic American diner.

Working on a Broadway production also means he is being jetted first-class between the UK and the States every few weeks! He beamed: “It is very exciting working on a Broadway show because the scale of it is huge. I’m also really enjoying the challenge of designing the many different scenes in Over Here.”

Mark’s prestigious commitments don’t end there. He is also currently working with the famous playwright Willy Russell on two further projects: a production of Shirley Valentine and a newly rewritten musical version of Our Day Out.