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.

The trio of creators of the hit comedy Drama That Goes Wrong have once again created an unbridled spin that is guaranteed to make you forget about everyday worries. Director Samuel Harjanne, known for his successful musicals, directs his first spoken word play, starring Linnea Leino, Samuel Kujala, Sauli Suonpää and Risto Kaskilahti, among others. The comedy A Comedy About A Bank Robbery will premiere on the big stage of the Helsinki City Theatre on 5 February.

Based on Pirjo Tuominen's best-selling novel of the same name (Tammi, 2024), the warm-hearted Kurtturuusut has been of enormous interest to the audience. The play depicts older women in a way that differs from what we are used to: not through illness or grandmotherhood, but from the perspective of friendship and the passion of life. The comedy, which premieres on HKT's small stage on 4 February, will have additional screenings in the spring and a continuation in the autumn season.

In 2025, the Helsinki City Theatre had a staggering 318,471 spectators (2024: 278,309*). The occupancy rate of the proposals was 84 per cent. The most viewers during the year were once again the hugely successful Moulin Rouge! A musical that was also number one in the 2024 viewing statistics. The spring 2026 programme has also been of interest to theatre audiences.

The Helsinki City Theatre's new play Hildur has already aroused enormous interest before its premiere and sold almost 20,000 tickets. Satu Rämö's bestselling detective novel gets a completely new dramatization in the hands of Satu Rasila, which delves into the exciting crime plot of the story and brings Icelandic mysticism to the stage even more intensely. The premiere of Hildur is on 28.1. On the Arena stage.