The best: Theatre shows to book now in Manchester

Brimming with beautiful choreography and sumptuous sets and costumes created by legendary designers Nicholas Georgiadis and Peter Farmer, prepare to be whisked away into an enchanting world of fairytale, accompanied by one of Tchaikovsky’s greatest ballet scores, played live by English National Ballet Philharmonic.

Award-winning duo Malandra Jacks invite you into a world of spellbinding projection, real voices and unapologetic heart. Census is described as part theatre, part time capsule and a love letter to working class communities.

An iconic tale of deception, desire and deadly ambition descends on Lowry this November, as The Talented Mr Ripley comes to the Salford stage.

The electrifying new stage adaptation brings Patricia Highsmith’s much-loved psychological thriller, which inspired the acclaimed movie and Netflix series, to life like never before.

Set to the pulse-pounding soundtrack of her iconic hits, including The Best, What’s Love Got To Do With It?, Private Dancer and River Deep, Mountain High, TINA dives into the heart and soul of the Queen of Rock ‘n’ Roll.

Presented in association with Tina Turner, the production is written by Olivier Award and Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Katori Hall (The Mountaintop) and directed by the internationally acclaimed Phyllida Lloyd (Mamma Mia!).

Arguably the most famous musical ever made, Director Raz Shaw returns to the Exchange, following his smash hit production of The Producers with Singin’ In The Rain. Seamlessly blending song and dance audiences will find themselves in the heart of the action of this much-loved musical on the Exchange’s iconic in-the-round stage.

Starring Coronation Street’s Brian Capron (Richard Hillman) as the wicked Abanazar – the original stage inspiration for Jafar – Stockport Plaza’s family-friendly pantomime spectacular whisks audiences on a magic carpet ride through the souks, streets and desert caves of Agrabah in a dazzling festive extravaganza this December.

The Accrington Pals is set against the backdrop of true events from the First World War. The play focus a sharp and witty lens on the private lives of these working-class Lancashire women. While they attempt to survive living on hope and ‘official’ misinformation about what was actually happening to their partners in France.

Transforming the cavernous AO Arena into a breathtaking big top experience for one night only this Christmas, the World’s Biggest Productions presents an all-new staging of the Wicked Wizard of Oz with a show-stopping circus twist, as forty performers rework the beloved play in a whirlwind of aerial stunts and spellbinding special effects.

Led by the stars of Elf – The Arena Spectacular, the iconic pantomime collides with jaw-dropping acrobatics and incredible choreography as Dorothy, Scarecrow, the Cowardly Lion and and the Tin Man – reimagined as a ten-foot transformer – venture over the rainbow and along a yellow brick road filled with high wires, broomstick-borne witches and flying monkeys on the way to the wicked wizard’s Emerald Circus.

Aaron Sorkin’s riveting, award-winning stage adaptation of the seminal American novel about racial injustice and childhood innocence comes to Lowry in the new year. Set in 1934 Alabama, To Kill a Mockingbird was inspired by novelist Harper Lee’s own childhood and has sold more than 45 million copies worldwide. It won the Pulitzer Prize for Literature and was long at the top of the banned book lists.

The original psychological thriller, Macbeth, is brought to life in this exciting new production about greed, fascism, war & the price of pride at the award-winning King’s Arms.

Winner of the 2024 Olivier Award for Best New Musical and nominated for the Tony Award for Best Musical on Broadway, the West End smash-hit Operation Mincemeat delivers a dynamic and razor-sharp recount of the impossible mission that secured victory in the Second World War.