REVIEW: Here & Now | The Steps Musical
Last night I STEPPED into the Theatre Royal Brighton for the new Steps musical....it would’ve been a Tragedy to miss it!
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If you missed the memo, Steps announced their Steptacular musical Here & Now last year and they were even on Strictly Come Dancing the other week performing a medley of hits from the show. Now Here & Now has arrived at Theatre Royal Brighton.
It’s running nightly (apart from Monday 8th December) until Saturday 13th December and it's gloriously campy and I'd even say....a festive treat! Get tickets HERE.
Last night I was at the opening night at Theatre Royal with the boyf and BFF, it would’ve been a Tragedy to miss it and I'm not usually out on a school night.
Basically, the musical unfolds inside Better Best Bargains, a beach side superstore where Friday nights sizzle and the aisles burst into dance. But when Caz (Lara Denning) stumbles upon a web of deceit and betrayal hidden among the shelves, a Deeper Shade of Blue if ever there was one. The sunny Summer of Love she imagined with her friends Vel (Jacqui Dubois), Robbie (Blake Patrick Anderson) and Neeta (Rosie Singha) quickly spirals into a heart wrenching saga. Are their dreams of happily ever after doomed or does love still have a few surprises in store?
Oh and for fans of RuPaul Drag Race....River Medway stars as Jem but my lips are sealed on spoilers don't worry.
Produced by *THE* Steps themselves, pop legend Pete Waterman and ROYO, Here & Now is directed by the award winning Rachel Kavanaugh written by Shaun Kitchener (Hollyoaks) and choreographed by Olivier Award winning Matt Cole.
Yessssss Here & Now features Steps' most beloved hit songs-of course! I wanted to know before I went too. You can expect classics such as 5, 6, 7, 8, Stomp, Better Best Forgotten and Last Thing On My Mind, Tragedy oh and my personal fave Deeper Shade of Blue and plenty more but again, my lips are sealed on spoilers.
Steps aka Claire Richards, Faye Tozer, Ian ‘H’ Watkins’, Lee Latchford-Evans and Lisa Scott-Lee are the UK’s most successful mixed sex pop group of all time, with 14 top five singles, 4 number one albums, 22 million record sales, 500 million streams and 11 sold out national arena tours under their belts.
The band’s hits include number 1 singles Tragedy/Heartbeat and Stomp, the gold certified One For Sorrow and Better Best Forgotten, the silver certified 5,6,7,8, Last Thing On My Mind, Love’s Got A Hold Of My Heart, Chain Reaction, alllll of which feature in the musical alongside plenty more bangers.
Steps’ 2017 comeback tour sold out all 300,000 tickets, making it one of the biggest pop tours of the year. Oh and they did Brighton Pride too remember?! The band have since continued to release new music including two further iTunes number 1 singles, the Sia penned What The Future Holds in 2020 and the Michelle Visage duet Heartbreak In This City in 2022.
In 2022 Steps celebrated their 25th anniversary with a headline summer tour and released the number 1 album Platinum Collection which means they join ABBA, Rolling Stones and Stereophonics as the only groups in UK history to score number 1 albums in four consecutive decades, no big deal. I always said to my mum growing up that they're like the modern ABBA ha.
Here & Now began previews at The Alexandra, Birmingham in November last year and the musical was The Alexandra’s fastest selling on sale in history, which saw 50% capacity sold within 24 hours!
Musical supervision, orchestrations and arrangements by Matt Spencer-Smith, set design is by Tom Rogers, costume design is by Gabriella Slade, lighting design by Howard Hudson, sound design by Adam Fisher, wigs, hair and makeup design by Sam Cox, casting by Will Burton for Grindrod Burton Casting, Music Technology by Phij Adams with Production Management by Setting Line.
Here & Now is the Last Thing On My Mind now. I can’t stop thinking about it and the cast nailed every move, not a single One For Sorrow moment! Any true Steps fan simply has to see this show. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
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