News Reviews

"True beauty lies within."

Samuel Harjanne is thrilled to announce that one of his next projects will be Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, produced by Lion Musicals in collaboration with Live Nation.

The production is set to premiere on July 8th, 2025, and marks a special milestone for Samuel, as it will be the first time he directs a musical in his new home country, Denmark. Following the premiere, the musical will embark on a tour across Denmark, bringing this beloved tale to audiences nationwide.

Beauty and the Beast is one of Disney's most cherished musicals, based on the iconic 1991 animated film that captured hearts around the world. The original score, composed by the legendary Alan Menken, features timeless songs with lyrics by Howard Ashman and additional lyrics by Tim Rice. This enchanting story of love, transformation, and acceptance has continued to resonate with audiences for decades, making it a true classic of musical theatre.

Samuel is deeply excited to bring his vision to this grand production and to share the magic of Beauty and the Beast with Danish audiences in what promises to be a spectacular and unforgettable experience.

The wait is finally over! On September 5th, 2024, School of Rock will make its grand debut in Finland at Tampereen Työväen Teatteri, bringing the electrifying energy of rock ‘n’ roll to the stage. This highly anticipated musical, based on the hit film, follows the story of Dewey Finn, a wannabe rock star who transforms a class of straight-A students into a mind-blowing rock band. Packed with high-energy performances, unforgettable music, and a lot of heart, this production is set to be a highlight of the theatre season!

The creative team and an incredible cast have poured their passion and talent into making School of Rock an unforgettable experience. From the seasoned professionals to our outstanding child actors, who will leave you in awe with their musical and acting skills, this show is sure to captivate audiences of all ages.

Let’s rock the stage! 🎤🎶🎸 ROCKING AWESOME!

"If you wanna rock, you gotta break the rules!"

Dewey Finn

This concludes our 5-year anniversary celebrations. Thank you to all our collaborators who has given us the trust in the past years, we look forward to work with you all again in the future. And thank you to all of You who had showed interest in this celebration. Here’s to 5 more years, at least!

Harjanne Company Ltd are so proud of what we have achieved during our first years, with a lot of great partnerships with amazing theatres, creatives, performers – yes, the list of occupational groups goes on and on. Thank you to each and every one of you. But we won’t stop here, we have a lot of fun projects coming up in the future, both secrets and already published ones. Here are a few of our future productions.

Kinky Boots
The success story of Kinky Boots continues abroad when the highly praised production moves to Estonia in Vanemuine Theater and premieres in November 2024. We cannot wait to Raise You Up once again! Estonia – let’s get Kinky!

School of Rock
School of Rock the musical is premiering at Tampereen Työväen Teatteri in September 2024! Based on the hit film, this hilarious musical follows Dewey Finn, a failed, wannabe rock star who decides to earn a few extra bucks by posing as a substitute teacher at a prestigious prep school. There he turns a class of straight-A students into a guitar-shredding, bass-slapping, mind-blowing rock band. Soon you will see what we have accomplished in our weekly rock school with our School of Rock children!

La Traviata
Harjanne Company will dive into the world of Opera with the force of our entire team! La Traviata is opening February 2024 at Tampere-talo. La Traviata is a tragic tale about a Parisian courtesan, Violetta, who attempts to leave the life she knows behind to try and finally allow herself to follow true love. But family and reputation try to stand in the way of her and her love Alfredo.

We are so excited about what the future has to bring!

Now here we are taking a look at some of our most busy years so far. 8 shows premiering in only 2 years’ time, and in 3 different countries!

Come From Away
A musical based on a true story of 7,000 passengers stranded in the small town of Newfoundland, Canada, and how the community welcomed them with open arms! This show celebrates the best of human generosity, kindness and compassion. This feel-good musical ran at Tampereen Työväen Teatteri from 2022 to 2023 and deeply touched audience members in every performance.

Priscilla - Queen of the Desert/Aavikon kuningatar
The hit musical Priscilla - Queen of the Desert played in Helsingin Kaupunginteatteri 2022-2023. Based on the smash-hit movie, Priscilla is the heartwarming, uplifting adventure of three friends who hop aboard a battered old bus searching for love and friendship and end up finding more than they had ever dreamed of. The party musical Priscilla celebrates the diversity of gender and sexuality on a scale that had not been seen before in Finnish theater!

Anastasia
Anastasia ran in Tampereen Teatteri 2022-2023. Her past is a mystery - her future an adventure. The story of Anastasia is about discovering who you are and defining who you're meant to be. This sold-out spectacle left the audience lusting for more!

The Bridges of Madison County/Hiljaiset Sillat
The story of a forbidden love affair between a photographer and a housewife changes them forever. “Hiljaiset sillat ei jättänyt ketään hiljaiseksi.” Turun Kaupunginteatteri 2022-2023.

Wicked
Göteborg Opera’s version is the grandest and biggest production ever made of Wicked! The show is about two young witches: Elphaba and Glinda who dislike each other at first but soon form an unlikely bond. The story takes place before the story of Wizard of Oz and tells the story of how the Wicked Witch of the West was born. The show premiered in 2023 and will have its last performances on April 2024. So you still have time!

Disney’s The Little Mermaid/Pieni Merenneito
The Little Mermaid reopened at Helsingin Kaupunginteatteri 2023 and will close in February 2024! Luckily we had the chance to re-live this magical adventure, but this time with Yasmine Yamajako portraying the role as Ariel. She did an outstanding performance, bringing the story to life once again!

Annie
This five-star Christmas musical spectacle opened its doors in 2023 and is closing in January 2024. The show is playing at Folketeateret with Scenekvelder. Annie tells the extraordinary story of a little orphan who believes that her parents left her by mistake. So begins a search for Annie's birth parents which leads to many peculiar events.

Marssi 7 Ihmeeseen
This massive arena spectacle took place in 2023 and was performed in seven different cities. The musical adventure advancing with the strength of more than 300 players combines the pattern marching bands, orchestras and the musical world into a massive and impressive experience! The performance was carried out together with the Defense Forces and military bands.

Continuing the discussion of education, we of course want to take a proud moment and talk about our workshop academy, ACT 2 ACADEMY! The academy opened in fall of 2022 and had provided the Finnish theatre industry with interesting workshops ever since. The academy’s aim is to provide industry professionals a space to keep developing and exploring their craft in different ways with guidance from some of the industry’s most interesting coaches. Example of workshops we have provided are:

• Gregory Haney – Hamilton Choreography
• Saara Aalto – Singing Technique
• Neil Rutherford – Auditions & Casting
• Petrus Kähkönen – Acting Through Song
• Samuel Harjanne – Acting Musical Theatre

And this season we offer the following workshops:

• Chris Bewsher & Jack Johansson – Audition Technique
• Ingalill Rask Wagner – Singing Technique
• Sara-Maria Heinonen – Intimacy on Stage for Actors (brought back by popular demand)

What workshops would you want to see in our catalogue for the future?

Harjanne Company Ltd has always been actively working for education to have its proper place in our industry. Therefor today we would like to share the school production that we have been involved in.

• 9 to 5, Guilford School of Acting, 2018
• Fiddler on the Roof, Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts, 2018
• The Secret Garden, Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts, 2019
• Spring Awakening, Balettakademien Gothenburg, 2021
• Witches of Eastwick, Balettakademien Gothenburg, 2024

If any of the students who were in any of these shows has pictures from the production, please post and tag us so we can share them with our followers!

2020 was filled with worries in our industry, but together we stayed strong by supporting each other! And we managed, even during a global pandemic, to bring life to a lot of musical theatre in both Finland and Estonia

Maailma On Tehty Meitä Varten
This musical, based on the music of Haloo Helsinki!, had its world premiere in 2020 at Peacock Teatteri. The iconic hits of Haloo Helsinki! took the show to the higher levels with a great audience response!

Nunnad Hoos/Sister Act
In 2020 a story about disco dancing nuns against dangerous gangsters landed in Vanemuine Theatre! This is a feel-good musical comedy about friendship and sisterhood and is still running in Vanemuine, and there is no end in sight!

Kinky Boots
The story of Kinky Boots continued 2020-2022 in Tampereen Työväen Teatteri. The 2^nd run of this show about kindness, understanding and friendship had yet another successful season and the response from the audience was as warm and welcoming as before! And the story will still be continued…

Groundhog Day the Musical/Päiväni murmelina
It’s a story about a meteorologist who finds himself stuck in a time loop, repeating the same day over and over again in a little town called Punxutawney! It premiered in Helsingin Kaupunginteatteri 2020 and Maria Lund's performance was highly praised in this musical spectacle!

Matilda the Musical
Matilda landed in Tampereen Työväen Teatteri 2021-2022 and had a whirlwind of effect in the Finnish theatre world! Matilda is a joyous girl who loves to read books, and has learned that sometimes, to make things right, you have to be a little bit naughty. The show is a powerhouse packed with high-energy dance numbers and catchy songs with the unforgettable story about a little girl who is overcoming obstacles in her life!

Let the introductions begin!

Samuel Harjanne, CEO

Samuel is the founder, CEO and corner stone of Harjanne Company Ltd. He started his career as an actor but has been directing ever since 2008. Samuel has his directing education from GSA – Guilford School of Acting, where he was taught by some of the best musical theatre professionals in the world. His work is strongly influenced by the theories of Keith Johnstone (UK) and Sanford Meisner (USA). Improvisation has had a huge impact on his career. His works has been seen in Finland, UK, Estonia, Sweden, and Norway. With Harjanne Company Ltd he hopes to strengthen the musical theatre industry, not only in Finland, but internationally. And we are sure that when it comes to Samuel and Harjanne Company Ltd, this is only the beginning.

Henri Sarajärvi, Production Assistant

The newest member of our team is Henri "Henkka" Sarajärvi whose first contact with Samuel and Jack was in Helsingin Kaupunginteatteri's KINKY BOOTS. In the future Henri will be working as the Director's Assistant in the opera LA TRAVIATA at Tampere-talo and in SCHOOL OF ROCK – THE MUSICAL at Tampereen Työväen Teatteri.

Jack Johansson, Project Coordinator

Jack Johansson is a musical theatre performer educated at Balettakademien, Gothenburg, Sweden. He moved to Finland in 2018 to work with KINKY BOOTS at Helsinki City Theatre and quickly him and Samuel connected over their way of working and envisioning musical theatre. Jack joined Harjanne Company Ltd in 2020 with the title Project Coordinator and has since worked for multiple projects in various positions together with Samuel.

Les Miserablés

A show about courage, love, heartbreak, passion and the resilience of the human spirit! Hüljatud opened in Vanemuine Theatre 2017 and played until 2020. By popular demand this masterpiece reopened in 2023 for it’s 2nd round!

Kinky Boots

This Hit Musical about acceptance had its first run in Helsingin Kaupunginteatteri 2018-2019! The musical is based on a true story about an unlikely partnership between a cabaret performer and drag queen Lola and a shoe factory heir Charlie. The success of this musical was unprecedented, and we had a feeling that the story of Kinky Boots would not end there…

Billy Elliot

A heartwarming story about a boy from a mining village in England - who just wanted to dance! The show ran from 2018 till 2019 at Tampereen Työväen Teatteri. The story of Billy Elliot captured people's hearts and became the beginning of a great partnership with Tampereen Työväen Teatteri.

Disney’s The Little Mermaid / Pieni Merenneito

The Little Mermaid premiered for the first time in 2019 and had its first run ended fall 2020 due to Covid restrictions. This magical underwater world got rave reviews from the audience and critics! And luckily the journey did not end there.