The tour will also feature a summer season at London’s Sadler’s Wells.
New adventures has announced that Matthew Bourne’s dance thriller The Car Man will embark on a new UK tour in 20256, opening at Curve, Leicester on 15th June 2026 before visiting a further 16 venues over 22 weeks, including a 5-week summer season at Sadler’s Wells.
Loosely based Bizet’s popular opera, The Car Man was first seen in 2000 and was last seen in a unique revival for The Royal Albert Halls 150th Birthday in 2022. This newly announced tour, marks the first time that the show will be seen across the UK since 2015.
The familiar 19th Century Spanish cigarette factory becomes a greasy 1950’s garage-diner in the American Mid-West where the dreams and passions of a small-town are shattered by the arrival of a handsome and enigmatic stranger. Fuelled by heat and desire, the inhabitants are driven into an unstoppable spiral of greed, lust, betrayal and revenge.
Directed and choreographed by Matthew Bourne, the production features music by Terry Davies & Rodion Shchedrin’s Carmen Suite (after Bizet’s Carmen), with sound by Paul Groothuis, lighting by Chris Davey and design by Lez Brotherston.
Casting for the production has yet to be announced.
Talking of the news, Matthew Bourne said: “I never dreamed when we created this show at the beginning of the new millennium that it would still be around, thrilling audiences, 25 years later! Inspired by vintage movie film noir classics, it holds a unique and special place in the New Adventures repertory as the only piece based on an opera and possibly the first ballet to feature a bi-sexual anti-hero! I’m particularly happy that we are taking the show “on the road” again after more than 10 years and I can’t wait to re-visit the hot and steamy town of Harmony USA – the best place to be next Summer!”
As well as Leicester and London, the production will visit: Salford, Hull, Milton Keynes, Plymouth, Sheffield, London, Bristol, Newcastle, Southampton, Nottingham, Norwich, Birmingham, Bradford, Glasgow, Edinburgh and Canterbury.
For a full list of dates visit: https://www.new-adventures.net/