Opera, Dance and Ballet in London

English National Ballet's production of The Nutcracker has been enchanting audiences in London since 1950, and this year is no exception. Featuring over 100 dancers and musicians, watch as the classic fairytale bursts to life in the grand setting of the London Coliseum.

Sink into the Globe Theatre’s highly anticipated 2026 summer season with this electrifying staging of Shakespeare’s playful, chaotic comedy about spells, transformations, and the fickle nature of love. Four young Athenian lovers, caught in a love quadrangle, flee into an enchanted forest, where they become the victim of a love spell by the mischievous fairies that dwell within it. Dream and reality blur into midsummer madness in the sun-soaked open air of the Globe Theatre, making for an unforgettable and immersive theatrical treat.

Kasper Holten's beautiful production brings to life Mozart's darkest opera in a story of debauchery and desire, full of passion, murder, twists, and cutting emotional tension. Inspired by the legend of the notorious Spanish libertine of fiction, Don Juan, this thrilling opera follows the seductions and conquests of the remorseless Don Giovanni, retold by an all-star cast.

Equal parts fairy tale, farce, and moral allegory, The Magic Flute is arguably Mozart's most popular opera. This thrilling, visually stunning, and epic tale takes the classic story of a prince on a quest to rescue a princess and packs it with deep philosophical themes and marvellous, powerful music that will resonate deeply with you.

Damiano Michieletto brings Bizet’s electrifying, sensual opera about jealousy, obsession and desire to life, conducted by Sesto Quatrini. The fiercely independent Carmen, one of opera’s most memorable heroines, seduces the respectable Don José, but soon finds herself the victim of his jealousy and possessiveness when her affections start to wander. The second-most performed opera in The Royal Opera’s repertoire, Carmen has remained immensely popular over the years for its heady combination of passion, sensuality and violence.

La Traviata is one of the most influential and most performed operas in the world, and Peter Konwitschny's Olivier Award nominated production brings a bold, minimalist take on this classic piece. Witness the heartbreaking love story of Violetta and Alfredo, torn apart by family and duty, forced into an inevitable sacrifice. Startlingly modern and relatable, this production is driven by the characters' emotional truths, set to a score that includes some of Verdi's most recognisable melodies.

Kenneth MacMillan’s devastating and powerful 1974 ballet comes to life onstage, set to Jules Massenet’s score. In the seedy underbelly of 18th century Paris, Manon finds herself torn between the steadfast love of Des Grieux and the temptations of wealth and luxury. MacMillan’s work has enchanted and awed audiences with its nuanced understanding of human psychology, and now it’s your chance to experience this timeless, devastating story of hedonism and desire.

This mixed programme features Jerome Robbins's Dances at a Gathering and Kenneth MacMillan's Song of the Earth. Experience the music of masters like Chopin and Mahler through parallel performances, each packed with stunning choreography, exploring the profundity of human connection and community, and the transience of life and death, with two performances that present starkly contrasting but equally exquisite visions of humanity.

Handel’s clever, thrilling, and magical opera comes to life with this Olivier Award-winning production by Richard Jones, which returns with many of the original cast. On a magical island, the enchantress Alcina transforms her lovers into animals, but her latest victim’s wife Bradamante embarks on a deadly quest to rescue him, leading to a battle of wits between the two women. With its strong female heroine, dazzling plot twists and firecracker arias, Handel’s Alcina has become a favourite for opera lovers.

The team behind the 2025 production of Three Sisters, Caroline Steinbeis and Rory Mullarkey reunite as director and translator for Chekhov's timeless story of ambition and desire, inspired by Shakespeare's Hamlet. In this outstanding piece of Russian drama, the lives of four individuals intersect on a rural estate when Konstantin Treplev, a brooding young experimental playwright, falls deeply in love with a local ingenue named Nina, who finds herself drawn to Konstantin's mother Arkadina's lover Boris. What follows is a thrilling psychological drama.

The London Palladium's beloved festive tradition returns this Christmas with a brand-new panto retelling of Cinderella: the magical rags to riches fairytale that we all know and love, told with several cheeky, delightful twists. This fabulous, funny, and outrageous retelling stars Julian Clary as the Fairy Godfather, alongside iconic comedy duo Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders reuniting onstage as the ugly stepsisters. Get ready for a one-of-a-kind festive treat with this sassy panto, filled with spectacular costumes, dazzling special effects, and lots of laughter.

Globe Director of Education Lucy Cuthbertson and Splendid Productions' Kerry Frampton and Ben Hales team up for a brand new original play for the Globe Theatre's magical summer season. Perfect for the whole family, it follows a boy named Cass, who invents a rich imaginary world of adventuring and heroism, inspired by his grandmother's love for Shakespeare. Don't miss this whimsical and heartwarming celebration of the joy of storytelling.

Gluck's rarely performed opera, Iphigénie en Tauride, makes its ENO debut in a new staging by Olivier award-winning director Lyndsey Turner. Siblings Iphigenie and Oreste are separated by the bloody legacy of their parents, Agamemnon and Clytemnestra. What does fate have in store for these doomed siblings? Find out in this heartbreaking story of a family divided by fate and united by hope, a powerful take on a classic Greek myth, told through a thrilling score and a talented cast of performers.

This hilarious pairing of two operettas tell a delightfully chaotic and joyfully absurd story about love and marriage. In The Zoo, a pair of young lovers get engaged, and then in Trial by Fury, we see them going head to head in a courtroom. Filled with wit, romance, and unexpected twists, these rarely performed works come together in tandem to show a rare glimpse at Sullivan's early works. Lovers of Gilbert & Sullivan and newcomers alike will be instantly charmed by the humour, satire, and irresistible sound of this witty double act.

A comic opera in two acts composed by British-Russian Elena Langer, this exuberant black farce is based on Nikolai Erdman's twice-banned 1928 play The Suicide, in which a man's suicide is due to be broadcasted life on television - but what happens when he changes his mind? Darkly funny and clever, it is a satire about our fixation on fame, and the shameless exploitation for profit, entertainment and voyeurism of other people's misery, all which feel deeply relevant to our modern world.

Based on the classic 1952 MGM musical comedy starring Gene Kelly and Debbie Reynolds, the joyful, witty musical adaptation of Singin' in the Rain returns to the stage, packed with romance, high-energy choreography, and dazzling set design that will immerse you right into the glamorous world of the Golden Age of Hollywood. Set during the transition from silent film to talkies and featuring a silent film actor forced to adapt, a leading lady with a terrible voice, and a chorus girl who dreams of being a serious actress, Singin' in the Rain will have you bobbing your head along to its irresistible soundtrack.

Ancient Rome comes to the beautiful candlelit Sam Wanamaker Playhouse as Julius Caesar kicks off Shakespeare's Globe's winter season. Joe Hill-Gibbins (Ghosts, Sam Wanamaker Playhouse) returns to direct Shakespeare's brutal and timely tale of friendship, betrayal and political violence, staged for the first time ever in the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse. In this classic Roman tragedy, the ambitious dictator Caesar's growing power causes his allies to turn against him in a murderous plot, but public opinion quickly turns against them, giving way to bloody civil war.

Olivier-nominated director Jaz Woodcock-Stewart (Paradise Now!, Bush Theatre) makes her Globe directorial debut with Shakespeare's rarely performed masterpiece. This is one of Shakespeare's least performed plays but remains a fascinating exploration of the harsh realities of power and politics, in which King John takes the throne after the death of his beloved brother and finds his rule challenged on all sides. 

From the great and influential composer Kaija Saariaho comes a powerful but rarely staged opera, Adriana Mater, a harrowing exploration of war, redemption, and motherhood. Left pregnant after an assault by a soldier, Adriana struggles to raise her son to resist the temptations of revenge and break the cycle of violence. In this collaboration between Artistic Director Annilese Miskimmon and Music Director Designate André de Ridder, inspired by war correspondent Amin Maalouf's experiences, witness a moving story that feels urgently relevant to our times.

Adapted from Lars von Trier's multi-award-winning 1996 film of the same name, Missy Mazzoli's Breaking the Waves follows a married couple navigating a strange new reality in the wake of the husband's debilitating accident. This hauntingly beautiful story, packed with psychological depth, explores the nature of love and a test of faith, set to a hypnotic and utterly unique score from one of the most influential composers of the modern age.

Director Philipp Stölzl makes his Royal Opera debut with this playfully surreal new production of Verdi's gripping, passionate opera based on a real historical royal assassination. Consumed by desire for his best friend's wife, King Gustavo is warned of his impending death by a fortune teller. Experience a tangled web of passion and treachery, prophecy and politics told through a visually stunning and emotionally resonant opera. 

John Caird's award-winning stage adaptation of the beloved Studio Ghibli film returns to the stage in 2028. Join Chihiro on an adventure into the spirit world, filled with unforgettable, larger-than-life characters, like the terrifying Yubaba and the eerie No-Face, in this whimsical tale from the great storyteller Hayao Miyazaki. Jaw-dropping puppets bring the colourful spirits of Spirited Away to life, while a live orchestra plays Joe Hisaishi's iconic score from the original film. Don't miss your chance to see this one-of-a-kind story when it returns to London.

In this bold, clever new play by one of the UK's leading playwrights, Timberlake Wertenbaker, humanity is called to the negotiating table by the animals demanding an end to exploitation and ecological destruction. Bringing together politics, wit, philosophy and mischief in an audacious experiment about stepping into someone else's shoes, this is an urgent, timely, and unflinching response to the crisis facing our planet, told in a delightfully creative way.