Top musicals coming to Liverpool in 2026

The news may feel unremittingly gloomy, so what better distraction from real life than the chance to immerse ourselves in the Technicolor world of stage musicals for an hour or two?

The UK is rich with triple threat talent and a range of all-singing, all-dancing shows, and lots of them are heading for an auditorium near you over the next 12 months.

Some – like Legally Blonde, Dirty Dancing, Little Shop of Horrors and Mamma Mia! - are dependable favourites, some are sheer musical phenomena (SIX, I’m looking at you), some like Miss Saigon and Mary Poppins are stage classics, and some are paying their first visit to the city including Moulin Rouge.

All guarantee a great time.

Here’s my pick of what you can see at the Liverpool Empire and other venues during 2026.

Mary Poppins

January 14-31

Spit spot, this way for the arrival of Mary Poppins at the Liverpool of Empire for a supercalifragilisticexpialidocious fortnight of fun. Umbrellas are optional.

The spectacular production, from Cameron Macintosh and Disney, flies in to the city as part of a tour of the UK and Ireland and promises a magical experience for the whole family.

Lyn Paul stars as the bird woman while Liverpool’s own Michael D Xavier is George Banks.

Read an interview with Michael D Xavier HERE

More details and tickets HERE

SIX – Liverpool Empire

February 3-7

Smash hit musical SIX is on its way back to the Liverpool Empire.

The all-singing, all-dancing queens will be on stage as part of a UK tour – but if you haven’t already secured you tickets, you’re going to be disappointed as the whole week’s run is sold out.

And it’s not the first time the winner of more than 35 national and international accolades, including two Tony Awards, the Tudor take-off has enjoyed sell-out success in the city.

From Tudor queens to pop princesses, the three Catherines, two Annes and a Jane finally take to the mic to tell their tales, remixing 500 years of historical heartbreak into an 80-minute celebration of 21st Century girl power.

Read a previous review of SIX the Musical.

Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story – Floral Pavilion

March 10-14

The sensational multi-award-winning West End show first opened in 1989 and has been thrilling audiences around the world ever since.

Now Buddy – The Buddy Holly Story is on its way to the Floral Pavilion, just across the Mersey at New Brighton, as part of a new UK tour.

Experience the drama, passion and excitement as a multi-talented cast of actor-musicians tell Buddy Holly’s story, from his Texas rockabilly beginnings to international stardom and his legendary final performance at the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, Iowa, before his tragic death at the age of just 22.

The show features two terrific hours of the greatest songs ever written, including That’ll Be The Day, Oh Boy, Rave On, La Bamba, Chantilly Lace, Johnny B Goode, Raining in My Heart, Everyday and Peggy Sue.

More details and tickets HERE

Legally Blonde – Liverpool Empire

April 14-18

The ultimate feelgood rom-com, based on the award-winning film starring Reese Witherspoon, Legally Blonde follows Elle Woods on her transformation from West Coast ‘It Girl’ fashionista to legal ace at Harvard Law School, all in the name of love.

Elle must prove she is more than blonde ambition, swap the changing rooms for the courtroom and learn that ‘being true to yourself never goes out of style.’

Hot foot from Strictly, where she was runner-up in the 2025 series, and following her leading role as Vivian in Pretty Woman, Amber Davies appears as Elle (apart from the Thursday matinee).

Read a previous review of Legally Blonde.

More details and tickets HERE

Miss Saigon – Liverpool Empire

April 21 to May 2

Alain Boubill and Claude-Michel Schönberg’s other big sung-through stage musical (the one that’s NOT Les Mis) has embarked on an epic UK and Ireland tour which finally makes it to Liverpool in April.

In the last days of the Vietnam War, 17-year-old Kim is forced to work in a Saigon bar run by a notorious character known as The Engineer. There she meets and falls in love with an American GI named Chris, but they are torn apart by the fall of Saigon.

For three years Kim goes on an epic journey of survival to find her way back to Chris, who has no idea he's fathered a son.

More details and tickets HERE

Sunny Afternoon – Liverpool Empire

May 19-23

Hit stage musical Sunny Afternoon is set to return to the Liverpool Empire as part of a new UK tour.

The ebullient Kinks-inspired show tells the story of the band’s rise from obscurity in working class Muswell Hill to worldwide fame, the narrative driven through the lyrics of more than 20 Kinks’ numbers, either played in full or part during the evening.

Enjoy a catalogue of unforgettable hits including You Really Got Me, Lola, All Day and All of the Night.

More details and tickets HERE

The Bodyguard – Liverpool Empire

June 15-20

Award-winning international smash hit musical The Bodyguard returns to the Empire to sweep audiences off their feet in June.

Former Secret Service agent turned bodyguard, Frank Farmer, is hired to protect superstar Rachel Marron from an unknown stalker. Each expects to be in charge – what they don't expect is to fall in love.

The musical is packed with classics made famous by the late, great Whitney Houston including Queen of the Night, I Wanna Dance with Somebody and the anthemic I Will Always Love You.

The production stars Sidonie Smith as Rachel and Adam Garcia as the titular bodyguard Frank.

More details and tickets HERE

Moulin Rouge the Musical – Liverpool Empire

July 2 to August 8

Multi-award-winning musical Moulin Rouge! is set to can-can into Liverpool in summer 2026 as part of its first ever world tour.

Set in 1899 Paris, Moulin Rouge! The Musical (based on Baz Luhrmann’s 2001 film) is the story of a lovesick American writer, Christian, and Satine, the dazzling star of the titular nightclub.

When their lives collide at the Moulin Rouge, they fall hopelessly in love, only to be thwarted by the nightclub’s host and impresario, Harold Zidler, and the Duke of Monroth, the wealthy and entitled patron of the club who thinks he can buy anything he wants, including Satine.

Together with his Bohemian friends – the brilliant and starving artist Toulouse-Lautrec, and the greatest tango dancer in all of Paris, Santiago – Christian stages a musical spectacular in an attempt to save the Moulin Rouge and win the heart of Satine.

More details and booking HERE

Dirty Dancing – Liverpool Empire

September 1-5

Nobody puts Baby in the corner!

Dirty Dancing is set to meringue back on to the Empire stage this September, promising Liverpool audiences the time of their lives.

The smash hit show, based on the classic 1987 film, tells the story of Baby Housman and Johnny Castle, two fiercely independent young spirits from different worlds, who come together in what will be the most challenging and triumphant summer of their lives.

Warning – don’t try those lifts at home…

Read a previous review of Dirty Dancing.

More details and tickets HERE

Barnum – Liverpool Empire

September 15-19

Step right up for the show about the original ‘greatest showman’.

Enter the dazzling world of PT Barnum, where imagination and ambition know no bounds. Hand in hand with wife Charity, Barnum’s life and career twists and turns as he schemes and dreams his way to headier heights.

Matt Rawle heads a cast of more than 20 as the legendary 19th Century impresario in a production choreographed by Strictly’s Ote Mabuse.

More details and tickets HERE

Mean Girls – Liverpool Empire

October 19-31

Meet The Plastics – Regina, Gretchen and Karen. They rule North Shore High and will burn anyone who gets in their way. Home-schooled Cady Heron may think she knows a thing or two about survival of the fittest thanks to her zoologist parents, but high school is a whole new level of savage.

When Cady devises a plan to end Regina’s reign, she learns the hard way that you can’t cross a queen bee without getting stung.

Direct from the West End, award-winning Mean Girls is the smash-hit musical comedy from writer Tina Fey (30 Rock), composer Jeff Richmond (Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt), lyricist Nell Benjamin (Legally Blonde) and director and choreographer Casey Nicholaw (The Book of Mormon).

More details and tickets HERE

Little Shop of Horrors – Liverpool Playhouse

December 3 – January 9 2027

Get ready for killer tunes, outrageous comedy, and one very hungry plant. Because Little Shop of Horrors is on its way to the Liverpool Playhouse for Christmas 2026.

The cult classic musical will be brought to life in a major new production, continuing the successful producing partnership between Thomas Hopkins Productions and Hope Mill Theatre.

Tony and Olivier award nominated director Carrie-Anne Ingrouille will direct and choreograph this new revival of the horticultural hoot.

Read a previous review of Little Shop of Horrors.

More details and tickets HERE

Mamma Mia! – Liverpool Empire

December 8 to January 3 2027

Here they go again, my my, how can you resist it? The Empire rounds off the year by welcoming the smash-hit stage musical Mamma Mia! for Christmas 2026.

When Sophie, about to get married on the Greek island where she was brought up, embarks on a quest to discover the father she’s never known it brings her mother Donna face to face with three men from her distant romantic past on the eve of a wedding they’ll never forget.

But which one of the three (if any) is Sophie’s father? And will there be more than one happily ever after?

More details and tickets HERE