After 29 seasons of the old staging, The Snowman returns to the Peacock Theatre in a production rebuilt from scratch by Will Tuckett, with Howard Blake's score and Walking in the Air intact. Here is everything you need to know before you book.
Few Christmas shows in London can claim a run like it. Sadler's Wells has presented The Snowman at the Peacock Theatre every winter since 1997, in a staging that first opened at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre in 1993. This year the two theatres have started again. A brand-new production began performances in Birmingham on Tuesday 20 October and comes to the Peacock from Saturday 21 November 2026 to Sunday 3 January 2027.
Who is starring in The Snowman?
The piece is told in dance and music rather than words, so the company is a dance company. Four young performers share the role of The Boy: Felix Anderson, Jake Durant, Tristan Marwa and Tate Masuku.
Around them is a twelve-strong ensemble: Teague Applegate, Andrew Ashton, Serafina Sofia Barbieri, Ross Black, Natasha Chu, Eleanor Copping, Kynda Ng, Alice O'Brien, Andrii Osadchyi, Suzy Osadchyi, Ben Randall and Aaron Smyth.
What is The Snowman about?
The story is the one every family knows from Raymond Briggs's wordless 1978 picture book. On Christmas Eve a boy builds a snowman, which comes to life in the night. The boy shows his new friend around the house, and the Snowman returns the favour by taking him by the hand and flying him over a snowy landscape, past Father Christmas and a herd of reindeer, to a party under the Northern Lights. Anyone who knows the book knows how it ends, and the ending is the reason it lasts.
The new production works from the book rather than the famous animation, and keeps the music that has always carried it. The early photographs from Birmingham show a house that opens up into a lamplit kitchen, and a projected winter landscape for the flight. Families are invited to come in their pyjamas, which is part of the tradition rather than a novelty.
Who is behind the production?
The new staging is directed and choreographed by the Olivier Award winner Will Tuckett, whose credits include Into the Woods at the Royal Opera House and The Nutcracker for the National Ballet of Japan. Anna Fleischle, whose recent work includes Punch and 2:22 A Ghost Story, is production designer. The music and libretto are by Howard Blake, after Briggs's book.
The Snowman's own costume is made by Tahra Zafar, who won an Olivier Award for the bear in Paddington The Musical at the Savoy Theatre. The illusions are by the Tony Award winner Chris Fisher, whose work also appears in Stranger Things: The First Shadow, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child and The Hunger Games: On Stage.
Video is by Nina Dunn for PixelLux, puppets by Daisy Beattie, lighting by Matt Daw and sound by Kelsh Buckman-Drage. Floyd Hughes and Adam Bailey direct the flying for Flying by Foy, and casting is by Amy Beadel CDG for Grindrod Burton Casting. Emma Brunton is associate puppetry director, Keziah Ferguson associate production designer, and Paul James Rooney assistant director and choreographer. The production is presented by Sadler's Wells and Birmingham Repertory Theatre.
When and where can I see it?
The Snowman runs at the Peacock Theatre, Sadler's Wells' West End home just off Kingsway in Holborn, from Saturday 21 November 2026 to Sunday 3 January 2027. Before that it finishes its Birmingham run on Sunday 1 November, with press night there on Thursday 29 October.
Our listing gives the running time as about 1 hour 30 minutes including an interval. The show is for all ages, and every child aged two and over needs a ticket. Tickets currently start at £22 on our The Snowman page.
What else should I book if I like it?
- Matthew Bourne's Cinderella is the other big Sadler's Wells Christmas, a fairy tale told entirely in dance and moved to wartime London, from Tuesday 1 December 2026.
- The Nutcracker from English National Ballet is the classic Christmas Eve ballet, at the London Coliseum from Thursday 17 December 2026.
- Room On The Broom brings another much-loved picture book to the stage with puppets and songs, at the Lyric Theatre from Friday 27 November 2026.
- Paddington The Musical is where to see more of Tahra Zafar's work, at the Savoy Theatre.
