Jo-Anne Robinson
Jo-Anne Robinson is an English director and choreographer and former dancer and performer, who is best known for her work in Cats since the opening in 1981.
She was part of the original casts of A Chorus Line, Billy, No No Nannette, Oklahoma! She also performed in many television specials variety shows, including Royal Command Performances.
After having finished her career on stage, she started working behind the scenes: she staged the SWET Awards (now known as Laurence Olivier Awards) in 1980 and choreographed TV movies. She was the assistant to Anthony van Laast for the Australian production of Song and Dance, to Hal Prince for the Australian productions of Miss Saigon and The Phantom of the Opera and to Gillian Lynne for the original productions of Cats.
Jo-Anne now directs musical productions by herself. Her works include: Into the Woods, South Pacific, Little Shop of Horrors, Nine in Australia, Aspects of Love and The Hunting of the Snark both in London and Australia, The Music of Andrew Lloyd Webber in China and many more. She is also the Associate/Resident Director for the Asian/Australian productions of Cats and The Phantom of the Opera.
Cats
In 1981, Jo-Anne Robinson became the Dance Captain for the Original London production of Cats and so worked with the original creative team of Gillian Lynne and Trevor Nunn.
She then became the assistant of Gillian Lynne and Trevor Nunn for the productions on Broadway and in Vienna before choreographing the show by herself with the help of Gillian Lynne in Sydney. Since then, Jo-Anne Robinson has been the Associate Director and Choreographer of all Asian and Australian productions of Cats, except Japan.
In 1986, she choreographed the German premiere production in Hamburg. She also was the director and choreographer of the Stuttgart production in 2001.
Since the mid-eighties, Jo-Anne has been the Associate Director and Choreographer for most of the productions in Asia, Australia and Africa, including productions in Melbourne, Sydney (1993), Singapore, South Africa and many more. In 1999, she adapted the show for the Circus Tour and therefore added circus elements into the show. Jo-Anne Robinson directed and choreographed the World Tour, the Asia-Pacific Tour, the Beijing production and different productions in Korea. Her most recent work was directing the Korean/Asian tour that started in 2014.