Wayne Barker

Wayne Barker is the composer of the award-winning musical Peter and the Starcatcher, which earned him a Drama Desk Award, as well as a Tony nomination for “Best Original Score.” Wayne performed with Dame Edna Everage from 2000-06, composing music and appearing as Master of the Dame's Music for her Broadway shows Dame Edna: Back with a Vengeance and All About Me (co-star. Michael Feinstein). He also co-wrote lyrics with Barry Humprishes for the 2006 Commonwealth Games and the 75th Royal Command Variety Performance of Dame Edna. Wayne is the Artistic Associate for New Musicals and Composer-in-Residence at New York Theatre Workshop. He has been music director for Mark Lamos' stagings of Into the Woods and She Loves Me at the Westport Country Playhouse, and A Little Night Music at Baltimore's Center Stage and American Conservatory Theater. While at Center Stage, Wayne also conducted Caroline or Change and The Boys from Syracuse (dir. David Schweitzer).

Among his other regional work, Wayne has written music for The Three Musketeers, Twelfth Night (Seattle Rep), The Great Gatsby, The Primrose Path (dir. Roger Rees) (Guthrie Theater), Beth Henley’s Laugh (Studio Theatre DC - World Premiere), and was orchestrator of Mark Bennett's A Midsummer Night's Dream (La Jolla Playhouse). He has contributed dozens of original arrangements to symphony programs, including those presented by the New York Pops, LA Philharmonic, Minnesota Orchestra, as well as the Baltimore, Chicago, San Francisco and St. Louis symphonies. Wayne’s current project is the world premiere of the new play A Confederacy of Dunces (dir. David Esbjorson) at Huntington Theatre Company, for which he is the music director, onstage pianist, and composer.

Peter and the Starcatcher | Tony Awards