Joanne Benjamin

Biography

General Manager for Alliance

Joanne has had a long career as a producer and general manager since her first West End show, Jonathan Miller's production of "THREE SISTERS".

She has managed many shows in the West End including "JOURNEY'S END", with Jason Connery, 'LEND ME A TENOR THE MUSICAL' and 'LOSERVILLE THE MUSICAL' . As Associate Producer with legendary producer Michael White she managed, amongst others, "MAD BAD AND DANGEROUS TO KNOW" with Derek Jacobi, "ME AND MAMIE O'ROURKE" with Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders, ""BLACK GOES WITH EVERYTHING". and the multi-award winning musicals "SHE LOVES ME" and "CRAZY FOR YOU".

In 1996 and 1998 she produced the Centenary tributes to Ira Gershwin at the Royal Albert Hall, and George Gershwin at the London Palladium which were recorded for TV, Radio and CD in both the US and UK.

In 1999 she was appointed Chief Executive of the first ever International Festival of Musical Theatre. Three Festivals took place in Cardiff in 2002, 2005 and 2006 to great international acclaim. Stars and musical theatre luminaries from all over the world appeared at the Festivals including Stephen Sondheim, Cy Coleman, Elaine Paige, Michael Ball, Don Pippin, Richard Stilgoe, Ruthie Henshall, Clive Rowe, Julia McKenzie, Marti Webb, Gary Wilmot, Maria Friedman, Patricia Hodge, Claire Sweeney and Laura-Michelle Kelly.

In 2007 Joanne was appointed as Managing Director of the Fondation de l'Orchestre de Verbier which ran the UBS Verbier Festival Orchestra and UBS Verbier Festival Chamber Orchestra, the world's largest international training orchestras. During this period the orchestra worked with many legendary classical music conductors and performers including Charles Dutoit, Zubin Mehta, Martha Argerich, Joshua Bell, Thomas Hampson, Pinckas Zukerman, Jose Cura and many others.

During 2014-2016 she worked at Hackney Empire and Curve Leicester as Executive Producer, and returned to her freelance work in 2016. For Trafalgar Entertainment she was General Manager on THE PHILANTHROPIST and APOLOGIA, and the award winning Lincoln Center production of 'THE KING AND I' both at the London Palladium and on its national and international tours and 'ANYTHING GOES' at the Barbican and its UK tour and Barbican return. She now has a consultancy role with the company and continues to manage projects for other producers in the theatre industry.

In addition to her producing and management work Joanne was a Trustee of Mercury Musical Developments , who support writers of new musicals for the over thirty years. She is Chair of the Trustees of Denville Hall, the actors retirement home in Northwood. She lectures to students in a number of drama schools and on theatre courses, and is a member of the Society of London Theatre and UK Theatre, the industry's associations for West End and touring producers and the League of Independent Producers.