In the 1970s and 1980s, the Finnish art and entertainment fields were strongly separated. Until an artist, Vesa-Matti Loiri, came along and conquered both. The Story of the Laughing Tramp is a musical drama directed by Paavo Westerberg, in which the adult Loiri is played by Santeri Kinnunen and the young Oliver Kollberg. The play will premiere on the big stage of the Helsinki City Theatre on 30 September.

The Time to Shine festival is a free and accessible performing arts festival for people over the age of 65 that challenges images of ageing and invites seniors not only to see theatre but also to participate and do things. The festival, organised for the first time, will bring together 17 Helsinki-based cultural operators at the Helsinki City Theatre on 30–31 March, who will fill the foyers with art, workshops and encounters.

Helsinki City Theatre's audience outreach brings theatre to where people live and invites them to join in the making themselves. In the spring of 2026, Finland's largest theatre audience outreach department will, among other things, take theatre to assisted living facilities and senior homes, organise free festivals for the elderly, and invite thousands of eighth-graders and schoolchildren to reflect on and experience theatre together.

Helsinki City Theatre's dance company Helsinki Dance Company brings an unprecedented combination of dance, magic and illusion to its spring programme. Designed by magician Kalle Nio, the moving set made of mirrors creates visually stunning images and requires millimetre precision work from the dancers. Brazilian top choreographer Fernando Melo's new work Out of Order will premiere on March 11 on a small stage.

The world's best-known love story will be updated to the present day when the musical & Julia, which charmed London and Broadway, premieres on the big stage of the Helsinki City Theatre on 20 August. The title role of Julia is played by the young promising Renée Böök. The other main roles in the pop delight, which sprawls hit songs from the 1990s and early 2000s, are played by Mikko Peltomäki, Tuukka Leppänen and Maria Lund, among others.

This spring's premiere on Helsinki City Theatre's Swedish-language stage Lilla Teatern is the workplace comedy Status Quo. The performance is Jakob Höglund's last direction as artistic director at Lillan and will premiere on February 12. Maja Zade's comedy turns society's power structures upside down and depicts in a witty way how familiar roles and worlds change when a woman takes the man's place.