The world’s best-known love story gets a new ending when & Julia, the hit musical that has captivated audiences in London and on Broadway, premieres on the Main Stage at Helsinki City Theatre on 20 August. Pulsing with producer Max Martin’s chart-topping hits from the 1990s and early 2000s, the jukebox musical has already sold 63% of its tickets.

Inspired by the courtship dances of birds-of-paradise, professional wrestling and gender stereotypes, choreographer Tiia Kasurinen’s new dance work Birds of Paradise explores the forms of masculinity rewarded by our culture. What kinds of choreographies do birds and humans create to be noticed, accepted and chosen? Developed during Helsinki City Theatre’s Stage for Contemporary Performance summer residency, the work premieres at Studio Pasila on 6 August.

Helsinki City Theatre welcomed more than 270,000* audience members during the 2025–2026 season. In addition, over 18,000 people took part in audience engagement activities and various events. Across the theatre’s five stages, a total of 764 performances and 32 different productions were presented, including 17 premieres. The autumn 2026 programme has also attracted considerable interest from theatregoers. Finland’s largest theatre has continued to advance its environmental efforts as well.

Choreographer Tiia Kasurinen's Birds of Paradise examines power and stereotypical masculinity by colliding the courtship dances of birds of paradise, show wrestling, club culture and contemporary dance. The physical and playful work shows how both birds and humans build choreographies to be noticed, accepted and chosen. The work, which will be completed at the Helsinki City Theatre's Contemporary Performance Stage's summer residency, will premiere on 6 August at Studio Pasila.

Helsinki City Theatre's dance group Helsinki Dance Company celebrates Kenneth Kvarnström's iconic, 30-year-old dance piece no-no and brings a new version of this classic of Finnish contemporary dance to the small stage in November 2026. The work, which premiered in 1996, ushered in a new era of strong physical contemporary dance and captivated audiences both in Finland and on tour in Europe. The work was last performed at the Helsinki City Theatre to sold-out audiences in 2008.

Somatic Sitcom, staged by the Helsinki City Theatre's Contemporary Performance, plays with the aesthetics of 1990s TV sitcoms and layers seemingly insignificant gestures into a playful and moving choreography. The contemporary performance invites the actors to think about being on stage from a different perspective: instead of a psychological approach, the starting point for the work is the sensations of one's own body. The audience, on the other hand, gets to interpret what is happening on stage, who the performers are and why they act the way they do. The novelty will premiere at Studio Pasila on 21 April.