Sheffield's Lyceum Theatre finally returns in August with musical Hairspray

Sheffield Lyceum Theatre will open its doors again in August with the fun musical Hairspray and new shows have also been announced for the Crucible – including one featuring the actor who played a Star Wars arch-villain.
New Crucible show Typical Girls is a story about a group of women prisoners who set up a punk bandNew Crucible show Typical Girls is a story about a group of women prisoners who set up a punk band
New Crucible show Typical Girls is a story about a group of women prisoners who set up a punk band

The Lyceum has been closed since shortly before the first lockdown last March and now returns with a season of touring shows that last well into next year. One of the highlights will be the ever-popular panto, Sleeping Beauty, with Dame Damian Williams back at the helm from December 3 to January 3.

Hairspray, the ever-popular Sixties musical about the dance-mad teenager with big hair and a big heart, reopens the theatre from August 16-21.

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Matthew Bourne’s dance show The Midnight Bell (September 20-25) delves into the underbelly of 1930s London life, where ordinary people emerge from cheap boarding houses nightly to pour out their passions, hopes and dreams in the pubs and bars of fog-bound Soho and Fitzrovia.

Mischief Theatre return with Magic Goes Wrong (October 12-16) to conjure up an evening of grand illusion. Created with magic legends Penn & Teller, the Mischief company play a hapless gang of magicians presenting a charity event - but as the accidents spiral out of control, so does their fundraising target!

Northern Ballet’s Merlin (November 2-6) will take you on a sweeping, epic adventure of heartbreak, hope and more than a little magic.

STOS Theatre Company bring a host of local talent with Elf the Musical (November 16-20), based on the popular festive film.

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Other shows on the way include Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, Dreamgirls, 9 to 5 the Musical, Fat Friends the Musical, Chicago and Gangsta Granny.

Ian McDiarmid is the star of one-man show The Lemon Table at the Crucible Theatre, SheffieldIan McDiarmid is the star of one-man show The Lemon Table at the Crucible Theatre, Sheffield
Ian McDiarmid is the star of one-man show The Lemon Table at the Crucible Theatre, Sheffield

Beginning the new season in the Crucible is Typical Girls by Morgan Lloyd Malcolm (September 24-October 16). In a mental health unit inside a prison, a group of women form a punk rock band to allow an outlet for their frustration. In a system that suffocates, can rebellion ever be allowed?

Directed by Sheffield Theatres’ former artistic director Michael Grandage, The Lemon Table by Julian Barnes brings his wryly comic perspective to the complicated business of ageing. The one-man show will be performed by Ian McDiarmid, best known as Star Wars’ Emperor Palpatine.

Sheffield Theatres artistic director Robert Hastie directs the Crucible Christmas show, the romantic comedy She Loves Me (December 11-January 15). Based on the story from the creators of Fiddler on the Roof that inspired the movie You’ve Got Mail, the musical focuses on two people who clash at work but, unbeknown to them, both live for the anonymous love letters they exchange.

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After Christmas, Anthony Lau directs Anna Karenina, a bold new production of Tolstoy’s epic masterpiece about desire, duty and defiance (February 5-26).

Highlights at the Studio include the rescheduled Operation Crucible (September 2-25). Created by Kieran Knowles, this is the moving story of four steelworkers trapped in the cellar of Sheffield’s Marples Hotel during the Blitz of December 1940.

Robert Hastie said: “We’re so excited to announce new productions. Making theatre again for our audiences and with our communities, working with talented artists and brilliant partners, is what we’re here for, and what everyone who loves theatre in Sheffield has striven so hard to protect.”

Victoria Wood’s comedy Talent continues at the Crucible until July 24.

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