Everything you need to know about 'The Greatest Showman' musical

The hit movie is coming to the stage in 2026 in a new stage musical, starring Oliver Tompsett and Samantha Barks.

Summary

• The Greatest Showman is going from screen to stage in a new musical
• The theatre production has its world premiere at Bristol Hippodrome
• Oliver Tompsett and Samantha Barks lead the cast
• The show features songs by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul

Ever since the 2017 movie The Greatest Showman, about the life of circus impresario P.T. Barnum, burst onto cinema screens and became a sensation, fans have been calling out for a stage musical version. After all, it features incredible songs by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, Tony Award winners for Dear Evan Hansen.

Happily, you can now enter the tent at the jaw-dropping Come Alive! The Greatest Showman Circus Spectacular at the Empress Museum, and in 2026 The Greatest Showman premieres in Bristol as a musical – perhaps en route to the West End!

Learn all about how The Greatest Showman is coming to the stage, and who is succeeding the likes of Hugh Jackman, Zac Efron, Zendaya and Keala Settle in the lead roles.

Check back for The Greatest Showman tickets on LondonTheatre.co.uk.

What is The Greatest Showman about?

Since The Greatest Showman musical is based on the beloved film, we can expect it to follow a similar story. Our protagonist is P.T. Barnum, a real-life 19th-century showman who went on an extraordinary rags-to-riches journey thanks to his creation of a circus – initially featuring so-called “freaks”, like a bearded lady, then expanded to feature luminaries like a famed Swedish singer.

The film also looks at Barnum’s relationship with his wife and daughters, how the performers labelled “freaks” battle for acceptance, and a covert romance between a playwright, Phillip Carlyle, and an African-American trapeze artist, Anne Wheeler.

Who wrote The Greatest Showman?

Just like the film, the stage show features songs by the award-winning writing team of Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, whose other work includes musicals Dear Evan Hansen and Dogfight, and the Oscar-winning movie La La Land.

The Greatest Showman’s book is by Tim Federle, whose work includes Broadway musical Tuck Everlasting, TV show High School Musical: The Musical: The Series, and the Golden Globe and Oscar-nominated animated film Ferdinand.

Who are the characters in The Greatest Showman?

The characters in The Greatest Showman include:

P.T. Barnum: The driven and flamboyant circus boss who experiences plenty of ups and downs as he strives for success.

Charity: Barnum’s long-suffering wife and mother to his two daughters, Caroline and Helen.

Phillip Carlyle: A popular, upper-class playwright who partners with Barnum and falls in love with a trapeze artist.

Anne Wheeler: The talented African-American trapeze artist who also falls for Phillip, but faces racist social opposition.

Jenny Lind: A famous singer who Barnum recruits, and also grows close to, known as the “Swedish Nightingale”

Lettie Lutz: A bearded lady who performs in the circus and is part of a group of oppressed people demanding acceptance.

What songs are in The Greatest Showman?

We don’t yet know the full score for The Greatest Showman on stage, but it might well feature some of our favourite numbers from the film, such as: “The Greatest Show”, “A Million Dreams”, “Come Alive”, “The Other Side”, “Never Enough”, “This Is Me”, “Rewrite the Stars”, “Tightrope”, and “From Now On”.

Where is The Greatest Showman playing?

The show is having its world premiere at the Bristol Hippodrome. The theatre has a capacity of 1,951.

When is The Greatest Showman playing?

The Greatest Showman is booking from 15 March to 10 May 2026. Hopefully we’ll see a London transfer after that!

How long is The Greatest Showman?

The running time of the show is to be confirmed.

Who is in the cast of The Greatest Showman?

The fantastic cast of The Greatest Showman is led by Oliver Tompsett as P.T. Barnum. His past West End shows include Wicked, & Juliet, Kinky Boots, and Pretty Woman: The Musical. Starring opposite him as Charity is Samantha Barks, whose numerous shows include Les Misérables, The Last Five Years, Chess, and Disney’s Frozen.

The company also features Ben Joyce (Back to the Future, Jersey Boys) as Phillip Carlyle, Lorna Courtney (West Side Story, Dear Evan Hansen) as Anne Wheeler, Vajèn van den Bosch (Wicked, Les Misérables) as Jenny Lind, and Malinda Parris (Disney’s Hercules, The Little Big Things) as Lettie Lutz.

Who is in the creative team of The Greatest Showman?

The Greatest Showman is directed and choreographed by Tony-winning Broadway and West End veteran Casey Nicholaw. His work includes The Book of Mormon, Some Like It Hot, Aladdin, Mean Girls, and Monty Python’s Spamalot.

The creative team also features music supervision, incidental and dance music arrangements and orchestrations by Alex Lacamoire (In the Heights, Hamilton), scenic design by David Korins (Hamilton, Beetlejuice), and costume design by Gregg Barnes (Kinky Boots, Legally Blonde) and Sky Switser (Mr. Saturday Night, The Unsinkable Molly Brown).

What are some fun facts about The Greatest Showman?

• It’s not just P.T. Barnum and his family who formed a real-life inspiration for the story. Several of the characters were actually based on real people, including singer Jenny Lind and circus performers such as the Bearded Lady and Tattoo Man.

• Barnum’s circus itself has an extraordinary legacy. It began in 1871, originally travelling around America by train, and is still running today: it relaunched in 2023 without animal performances, and more than 1,000 acts auditioned to be part of the show.

• Zendaya herself did many of the gravity-defying trapeze stunts in the movie, setting a high bar (quite literally!) for her stage successor, Lorna Courtney. But of course seeing these astonishing circus acts live will be part of the fun for audiences.

• As well as the iconic songs from the film, such as “This Is Me” and “The Greatest Show”, Pasek and Paul are apparently rustling up several new numbers specially for the theatre version. We’ll have to wait to see which characters get an extra chance to sing in the stage musical.

• The movie of The Greatest Showman went very authentic with its costuming, actually borrowing pieces from Feld Entertainment, the current owners of Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus.

Check back for The Greatest Showman tickets on LondonTheatre.co.uk.

Main photo credit: The Greatest Showman stars Oliver Tompsett and Samantha Barks (Photo by Sebastian Nevols). Inset: Hugh Jackman, Zac Efron and Zendaya in The Greatest Showman (Photos courtesy of 20th Century Fox)