World Premiere Theatre, New Musicals and Riveting Cabaret Coming to Perth in 2026

Perth’s cultural calendar is packed with heavy hitters this summer and autumn, including suspenseful and silly theatre shows as part of Perth Festival, homegrown talent in brand-new work from Black Swan State Theatre Company, and new touring musicals. 

Here are our picks of the best stage shows to see in Perth in the first half of the year, in chronological order. 

George Glass’s Dial M For Mushrooms

Beef Wellington, anyone? Too soon? This Fringe World musical comedy takes audiences to court in an absurd and silly show based on the gripping murder trial of 2025. Dinner won’t be served, but the George Glass trio (Adelaide’s Nic Conway, Pud Hamilton and Chris Nenov) will bring their A game with funk-rock songs and knife-edge humour. 

George Glass’s Dial M For Mushrooms runs from February 4 to 8 at Studio Underground. Buy tickets here. 

Lacrima

Gripping, cinematic and suspenseful, this large-scale show thrusts audiences into the cutthroat world of haute couture. There are beadmakers in Mumbai, lacemakers in Normandy and a fashion designer in the UK who are all integral in the making of a wedding dress fit for a princess. The ambitious Perth Festival show by French director and filmmaker Caroline Guiela Nguyen is already sold out, but if your on-the-pulse cultural friend suddenly can’t attend, make sure you’re first in line to snap up their ticket.

Lacrima runs from February 6 to 10 at Heath Ledger Theatre. Tickets are sold out.

POV

There’s no dress rehearsal for becoming a parent, and this widely praised 70-minute show uses that anxiety-inducing premise to put two unrehearsed actors through their paces with one camera-wielding pre-teen. In this Perth Festival iteration, 11-year-old Bub is played by alternating actors Yuna Ahn and Grace Tione. Her parents are played by a pair of adult actors (from a troupe of 14), whose only task is to react in real time. It might be funny, it might be sad, but as the grown-ups are unprepared, no two shows could possibly be the same. 

POV runs from February 10 to 15 at Subiaco Arts Centre. Tickets are on sale now.

Haribo Kimchi 

At a pojangmacha (street food cart), an aproned Jaha Koo invites a couple of audience members to sit cartside for a four-course Korean meal. While they see Koo slice cucumber or fry pancakes up close, everyone else sees the performer chop, sizzle and scorch food through video projection. Koo isn’t just here to cook, he’s here to share a personal story of migration, nostalgia, comfort and loneliness. A gummy bear also makes an appearance. 

Haribo Kimchi runs from February 18 to 22 at Studio Underground. Tickets are on sale now. 

Meow Meow’s The Red Shoes

Black wig, long lashes, red lips and cigarette in hand, Meow Meow’s signature style is ever present in her latest interpretation of a Hans Christian Andersen fairytale, and we wouldn’t have it any other way. Just like in her reworkings of The Little Match Girl (2012) and The Little Mermaid (2016), the cabaret genius is here to remedy the wrongs of Andersen’s story. Where the original Karen was cursed to never stop dancing, Meow Meow is plagued to never stop performing. 

Meow Meow’s The Red Shoes runs from February 26 to March 1 at His Majesty's Theatre. Tickets are on sale now.

Anastasia The Broadway Musical

Faithful to the 1997 animated film, Anastasia The Broadway Musical is touring Australia for the first time with Georgina Hopson (Titanique) in the lead role. Hopson honours the magic of the movie, especially in her renditions of Journey to the Past and Once Upon a December. Joining her on stage is Robert Tripolino as Dmitry. There’s romance, adventure and sparkle, and just a sprinkle of deception, rebellion and defiance.

Anastasia The Broadway Musical runs from March 3 to 28 at Crown Theatre. Tickets are on sale now. 

RBG: Of Many, One

Heather Mitchell is a powerhouse in any role, but as Ruth Bader Ginsburg she’s the walking, talking trailblazing “notorious RBG”. Mitchell embodies the US Supreme Court justice with a certain grace and quietness that makes you feel like the jurist is right there on stage. Written by Olivier Award-winning playwright Suzie Miller (Prima Facie), the one-woman play is an entertaining and emotional whiz through RBG’s pivotal moments, from her teen years to her death in 2020. 

RBG: Of Many, One runs from March 19 to April 4 at Heath Ledger Theatre. Buy tickets here. 

Pretty Woman: The Musical

Relive the innocence of the 1990s in a musical adaptation of one of the most unlikely romcoms to be turned into a musical. Yes, a wealthy client still falls for the charms of a living-for-the-moment sex worker and promises to rescue her with the trappings of capitalism, but this time there are belting songs, such as I Can’t Go Back and Anywhere But Here. Samantha Jade and Perth-born Ben Hall play Vivian and Edward, and you can guarantee the audience will chime in on “Big mistake. Big. Huge.”

Pretty Woman: The Musical runs from April 18 to May 10 at Crown Theatre. Tickets are on sale now. 

The Shepherd’s Hut

Friendship can be forged in the most unlikely places. For 15-year-old Jaxie, on the run after the death of his abusive father, it’s in the remote saltlands of Western Australia where he meets Fintan MacGillis, a disgraced Irish priest living in exile. WA is the backbone of this Tim Winton story about survival, masculinity and forgiveness, which has been adapted for the stage by acclaimed playwright Tim McGarry (Boy Swallows Universe) and director Matt Edgerton. See it at its world premiere in May. 

The Shepherd’s Hut runs from May 9 to 31 at Heath Ledger Theatre. Tickets are on sale now.