Here & Now - The Steps Musical at The Alexandra, Birmingham

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Tue 19 Nov 2024 - Sat 30 Nov 2024

There are times when you just want to disengage your brain and enjoy a fun, frothy, feel-good show at the theatre. Leaving behind the TV news, full of stories of nuclear threats, imminent economic meltdown and protesting farmers, I travelled to Birmingham city centre and found the show that ticks all the right boxes at The Alexandra .

I’m talking about the world premiere of the musical Here & Now, featuring the songs of the top pop act Steps . Claire, Lisa, Faye, H and Lee have co-produced the show with Pete Waterman , and they were all present and correct to see the gala performance. Steps even joined the cast on stage for a song at the end, and to announce that Here & Now will tour the UK during 2025 and 2026.



It was a fitting conclusion to an evening full of singing, dancing and laughter, delivered by an energetic and enthusiastic cast. Written by Shaun Kitchener (Hollyoaks) and directed by Rachel Kavanaugh (formerly artistic director of Birmingham Rep), Here & Now is set in a seaside supermarket that finds itself in the hands of a property developer. Before their fate is sealed, four of the staff make a pact to each find love before one of them reaches her 50th birthday in a few weeks’ time.



What follows is a madcap comedy romp that leads to a satisfying, if predictable, conclusion. Not that the story really matters: it’s just a peg on which to hang song after song, all delivered fantastically by everyone involved. It’s no wonder that the supermarket, Better Best Bargains, is in danger of closure – we see very few customers and the staff seem to spend all their time dancing at the checkouts and around the shelves! As manager Patricia (Finty Williams) tells them at the beginning: “Less bopping, more shopping”. Not that they pay any heed.

It was fun to see how elements of the story were adapted to fit in with the hits of Steps. Their hillbilly-flavoured debut hit, 5-6-7-8, was used when the store was having a Half-Price Hoedown (I’d like to see that at my local Morrisons!). The Bee Gees cover, Tragedy, was aired when news of the store closing was announced, and when leading lady Caz (Rebecca Lock) decides to welcome back her estranged husband it’s to the tune of Better The Devil You Know. Yes, it’s that kind of show, but the audience loved it.



The performers can’t be faulted. Rebecca Lock takes centre stage as the lady approaching 50, with a broken marriage and no children. Her singing is impeccable, especially on Heartbeat, when she recalls her stillborn son, and One For Sorrow, which had the audience roaring their approval.

Sharlene Hector, as her supermarket chum Vel, runs her a close second in the vocal department, while Blake Patrick Anderson as Robbie, impresses as the shy boy with a crush on the local drag queen (River Medway from RuPaul’s Drag Race UK). Completing the quartet is Hiba Elchikhe as Neeta, an ‘artist’ (“I’ve used till receipts to make a scale model of Alison Hammond"), who is afraid to declare her love for colleague Ben (Dan Partridge).

Finty Williams (Judi Dench’s daughter), is hilarious in every scene she is in (she should be in more) and Edward Baker-Duly, as villainous property developer Max, gets some well-deserved panto-style boos from the crowd.



The first half is slightly slow to get going as we acquaint ourselves with the characters, but Act Two motors along, propelled by hits such as Tragedy, Chain Reaction and Better The Devil You Know. Full marks to musical director and keyboardist Amy Shackcloth and band members Jack Bennett, Ben Lochrie, Katy Trigger, Frank Tontoh and Matt Hodge.

If you’re a fan of bright and breezy pop, quickstep to The Alexandra where Here & Now is on stage till November 30.


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