Little Shop of Horrors announces festive season run for 2026

Following its revival at Manchester’s Hope Mill Theatre next autumn, Little Shop of Horrors will transfer to the Liverpool Playhouse for a Christmas season.

Directed and choreographed by Tony and Olivier Award-nominated Carrie-Anne Ingrouille, the new staging of Alan Menken and Howard Ashman’s musical comedy features set and costume design by Morgan Large, musical supervision and arrangements by Paul Schofield, lighting design by Rory Beaton, sound design by Kelsh Buckman-Drage, and casting by Rob Kelly. Further creative team and casting details will be announced next year.

Nathan Powell, creative director of Liverpool Everyman and Playhouse, said: “We’re really looking forward to welcoming this cult classic musical to the Playhouse next Christmas. Little Shop of Horrors is wonderfully odd, full of cracking tunes, and offers a brilliantly different take on festive entertainment. After bringing The Rocky Horror Show to the Playhouse in 2024 and preparing to present Young Frankenstein this Christmas, Little Shop of Horrors will be another chance to enjoy a gloriously offbeat holiday season with plenty of laughs and, yes, a rather hungry plant.”

It will play from 3 December 2026 to 9 January 2027, with a press night on 4 December. Tickets are now on sale. The Manchester run, which takes place from 25 September to 29 November 2026, together with Liverpool, marks the longest sit-down production of the musical in the UK since the 2007 West End run.

Producer Thomas Hopkins added: “I am truly honored to be entrusted with the opportunity to produce the first major sit-down production, not in one city but two, of Little Shop of Horrors since its celebrated West End run in 2007. With Carrie-Anne and such an exceptional creative team, it’s a dream collaboration. When the team at the Liverpool Playhouse invited us to follow our already announced ten-week run at Hope Mill, we couldn’t be more grateful. This production promises to be one of the most exciting and faithful interpretations of Little Shop of Horrors the UK has seen in many, many years.”

Little Shop of Horrors features music by Alan Menken and book and lyrics by Howard Ashman. The production is presented by arrangement with Music Theatre International.