Joseph Smith

Chief Executive

Joseph is currently the Producer for Rocket Stage, the theatrical arm of Sir Elton John and David Furnish's production company; Rocket Entertainment.  Rocket Stage has several musical theatre projects in development that include a mix of new Elton John song material and his existing catalogue.  

He is also the co-owner with John Brant of Smith & Brant Theatricals(SBT). Currently the company is producing the global hit musical Come From Away that is playing in New York, Toronto and most recently in London where it won 4 Olivier awards in 2019.  Producing credits are the Broadway hit revivals of How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying and Promises, Promises. In the West End SBT produced Million Dollar Quartet, and the multi award-winning Sweeney Todd and Spring Awakening. More recently the company has produced national tours of Gaslight, Strangers on a Train, Abigail’s Party & Ghost Stories, plus West End productions of True West starring Kit Harrington & Johnny Flynn and David Mamet's Bitter Wheat starring John Malkovich. .

Previous to his work for Rocket Entertainment, Joseph was the Executive Producer of Old Vic Productions (later Greene Light Stage): he led the team in producing a wealth of productions including the Olivier Award-winning Jerusalem, Clybourne Park and the critically acclaimed Passion Play, Private Lives, Good People and The Pajama Game in the West End. This is in addition to representing the company in its role as co-producer with Working Title Films of the smash hit, Billy Elliot The Musical.

Chief Executive of Stage One: Joe has headed up Stage One for almost 10 years as he strongly believes in nurturing and supporting the next generation of commercial producers. Joe has been an integral part of a shift in Stage One, doubling the amount of development programmes on offer including the launch of their Bridge The Gap scheme which aims to diversify the representation of commercial theatre producers across the UK. He was also instrumental in developing the One Stage season in 2014, mentoring the three producers as they took on their projects at The Other Palace (then, the St James Theatre).

Board Member, Park Theatre, Finsbury Park: As a passionate supporter of new writing, he is proud to be a member of the board of one of London's leading theatres for this.

Prior to all of this he worked in New York for RJK Productions producing both on Broadway and Off-Broadway.  Before living and working in New York he started his career at the National Theatre where he worked for 10 years culminating in producing the critically acclaimed Transformation Season.