Here and Now description
Wow! 2024 is a big year for Steps and the group’s millions of fans. Their hit albums Step One, Steptacular and Buzz are being released on vinyl for the first time, and their brand new musical Here & Now is due in the West End later this year following a world premiere at the Alexandra Theatre in Birmingham.
A new musical full of fabulous chart toppers by Steps
This is the latest musical spectacular to be created around a smash hit chart topping group’s back catalogue, preceded by shows featuring Abba’s songs, Take That’s music, and the Spice Girls’ hits. The musical takes its name from Steps’ 2001 number 4 single Here and Now, and it’s written by playwright Shaun Kitchener, creator of numerous episodes of TV’s soap Hollyoaks with theatre credits including Positive (Park Theatre) and All That (King’s Head Theatre, Queer Season headliner).
Directed by the award-winning Rachel Kavanaugh (Half a Sixpence, The Great British Bake Off Musical) and produced by Steps themselves, the theatre company ROYO and the pop music superhero Pete Waterman, all the signs are in place for a magical new musical to remember. So what’s the plot?
A summery plot full of love
The show whisks us away to the seaside superstore Better Best Bargains. It’s Friday night and the staff are getting ready for the weekend, dancing in the aisles. When Caz discovers the shelves are stocked with lies and betrayal, she’s not confident the summer of love she and her friends dreamed of will happen after all. It’s starting to look a lot more like a tragedy. Will it be a case of happy ever after or does love have other plans?
According to the band members, fans have been asking about a Steps musical for ages. So it’s wonderful to see it on the cards at last. They’re delighted with the story, which forms the perfect backdrop for their songs, and the plot itself is warm-hearted and hilarious, full of friendship, romance and community. As Lee Latchford-Evans, Claire Richards, Lisa Scott-Lee, Faye Tozer and Ian "H" Watkins said, “it’s packed with our biggest hits and sure to have everybody laughing, crying and dancing in the aisles. We can’t wait to open the doors later this year, and see you there!”
Top class talent from top to bottom
Pete Waterman’s awesome productions packed the charts throughout the 1990s and beyond, creating smash hits for legends like Kylie, Rick Astley, Bananarama, Donna Summer, and Jason Donovan. Steps enjoyed 13 top 5 pop-dance singles in a row during the height of their fame, 14 in total, shooting them to super-stardom and keeping them there. The show’s jammed with brilliant Steps tunes including Tragedy, Heartbeat, One For Sorrow, Love's Got A Hold Of My Heart, Chain Reaction, 5, 6, 7, 8, Stomp, Better Best Forgotten, and Last Thing On My Mind.
Playwright Sean Kitchener is a BAFTA Rocliffe-winning, two-time Offie-nominated stage and screen writer. And the rest of the creative team is just as impressive with Choreography by Matt Cole and Set Design from Tom Rogers, Costume Design by Gabriella Slade, Sound Design by Adam Fisher and Casting by Will Burton for Grindrod Burton Casting.