Here And Now, Steps On Tour

Happiness is only a heartbeat away... So goes the opening line to attract the masses to the brand new Steps-inspired musical, Here and Now. Having just opened at The Alexandra Theatre, Birmingham, the Shaun Kitchener-penned comedy musical takes audience members on a journey through the epic back catalogue of 90s pop boppers Steps. Here and Now, which features music from each era of Steps' now incredibly credible career, tells the story of four supermarket workers seeking their happy ending.

The story, set in the aptly titled supermarket, Better Best Bargains, Here and Now, quickly introduces the main premise. Caz (Rebecca Lock) appears to have it all together. She is approaching her 50th birthday and is on the verge of adopting a child with her husband. Her friends, Neeta (Hiba Elcheeke), Vel (Sharlene Hector), and Robbie (Blake Patrick Anderson), meanwhile, all have major life changes they need to make. They make a pact over a pineapple to enjoy a Summer of Love. What ensues is the collapse of their world as they know it.

Here and Now is a success in many ways. While there are few too many storylines packed in between a huge chunk of Steps' massive back catalogue, a little more focus on ensuring that the story was as important as the exploration of the songs themselves would have lifted the show. While there is no denying Kitchener managed to successfully make 5, 6, 7, 8 a feature of the show, there are other songs that were simply thrown away—either due to a lack of need in the storyline or the flat performance by the weaker of the cast's vocalists.

While there is no denying the striking vocals of both Lock and Hector, it is when the show fully embraces the camp of Steps' appeal with Jem's (River Medway) performance of Chain Reaction on top of lit-up washing machines that the show revealed how much potential it really owns, but with a little more editing of the script and a bigger directorial vision.

Although a very enjoyable journey watching the cast take their chance on a happy ending, it says something when several members of the audience don't return for the second act, which was a shame as it was in the second act that the bar was really raised.