Here & Now - The Steps Musical 🛒

#PRInvite #Gifted | God, the tension is high as 'Miss Saigon' arrives in Aberdeen. It could be your last shot to see this blazing production in the Granite City, with limited tickets left. Read the full review below.

Star rating: ★★★★★

All you need is the music this week, cause if you’re down, the Steps Musical is the remedy. Joining an already stacked shelf of jukebox musicals, this brand new show is in Aberdeen - and it's ‘Here and Now’. It’s marked down as the final musical of 2025 at His Majesty’s Theatre, too, ending this year’s glittering musical offering on a high. The show is hoping to become a star-buy for audiences up and down the UK after initial development last year. Reportedly, it was West End bound after its Birmingham tryout; but over the next few months audiences can catch it at local theatres before it stomps its way to London. Nearly three decades on from Steps entering the pop world, ‘Here and Now’ is perhaps an unexpected item in the bagging area - but does it grab your attention, shoppers, or is it Better Best Forgotten?

Audiences meet Caz, a supermarket shopworker at Better Best Bargains. Going through her own personal challenges, she depends on her colleagues, Vel, Neeta and Robbie - and dares them to ‘take a chance on a happy ending’ before her 50th birthday in two weeks' time. Without any explicit reference to this, there is a really lovely undertone of friendship, regardless of age, woven throughout the story – representing the close bonds colleagues can form. It’s a poignant reflection of how the people in a job make the job. Caz is pending approval for adoption, and just as things take a Step in the right direction, her entire world is blown apart. Her story is within a mixed bag of situations across the supermarket; so when she stumbles across a secret about her boss, her actions have disastrous consequences for those closest to her.

A Steps Musical, at its core, makes sense. The music and lyrics of the band of five - Ian ‘H’ Watkins, Lisa Scott-Lee, Faye Tozer, Claire Richards and Lee Latchford-Evans - is intrinsically musical theatre. Pairing the catchy tunes with sharp choreography, the band has always been about telling stories through song and dance - many routines fans have spent hours perfecting in the mirror as teens, which was, of course, obvious last night. 

The band also have their own roots in musical theatre: Scott-Lee landed a spot at the prestigious Italia Conti stage school; Tozer has appeared in ‘Everybody’s Talking About Jamie’ and ‘101 Dalmations’; Richards has performed in the West End - and Latchford-Evans visited the Granite City in February in ‘& Juliet’. So if you thought creating a musical based on the music of Steps was the last thing on their minds, it was always on the conveyor belt making its way to you. 

But this is not just a show for those drowning in their history, ‘Here and Now’ contains some of the band's new hits since their reunion. “Something in Your Eyes”, “What The Future Holds” and my favourite, “Scared of the Dark” are some of the best numbers of the night. The music of the show has been supervised and arranged by Matt Spencer-Smith and it is the unbeatable element of ‘Here and Now’. Whilst the staging, set and costumes are captivating, the music and new orchestrations are the very beating heart of this show. There's no cast album, but I really wish there was.

With Georgia Rawlins and Jonny Knight at the helm as Musical Director and Assistant Musical Director respectively, expect the Steps discography to be brought to life in a new way. The end of the first half is a clever overlapping of songs; and a turning point in transitioning the show into something a bit more gritty.

Shaun Kitchener pens the book, which is arguably surface level in comparison to the wider production. For those familiar with the Stock Aitken tour of ‘I Should Be So Lucky’ which arrived in Aberdeen last year: ‘Here and Now’ is very similar. It contains some serious topics and pivotal conversations, but it doesn’t dig deep enough to make this a taxing watch. It is bright, colourful and kitchen sink - a supermarket soap opera. I don’t feel it stands on its own in comparison to other shows in the same vein, but its entertainment factor still cannot be ignored.

Steps have played an integral part in the conception of the show. From their first time watching Mamma Mia! in the West End twenty years ago, the band had long wanted their own stage show. They have helped in its production, and their influence is clear. The story explores LGBTQ+ themes within its relationships and drag persona emphasising that the show is fit for the ‘Here and Now’. 

Set designer, Tom Rogers, has made a fantastic job. Starting with a striking pre-show frontier of the supermarket’s exterior, the production design is laced with references to Steps throughout - including aisles 5, 6, 7, 8. There are hidden details in most of the set and trucks - so keep an eye out! The show is almost explicitly set in the supermarket only, giving the audience a tour of a different part of the store with each change of scene. 

Though visually appealing, this seems to be the biggest criticism of the night, as the stage rarely changes from its backdrop and bright hues of pink and Neon Blue. Another visual weakness of the show was the empty baskets and trolleys the ensemble would use, rarely filled with more than one item. With every product stacked so neatly - really, the workers at Better Best Bargains are unbelievable - it creates soulless scenework which could be fixed really easily by Propworks.

Gabriella Slade has designed the costumes, and these are ‘great value’ items. Slade uses colour effectively throughout, creating saturated scenes up until the end of Act 1 where it becomes easy to spot the plot twists before they happen - only through the use of costuming. It’s an easy trick, but has a great payoff in the show.

Rebecca Lock is astonishing as Caz. A clear vocal standout, handling the complexities of her character’s struggles with becoming a mother, yet belting out hit after hit with such precision. I previously saw Lock as Ms Fleming in Heathers in London, and the role of Caz is a far departure from this comedic role. Aberdeen audiences are being treated to Lock’s final few weeks in this role, before she takes her final bow with the show on November 9th.

Lock is supported by Rosie Singha as Neeta, Blake Patrick Anderson as Robbie, Ben Darcy as Ben and River Medway as Jem. Making her debut in the role of Vel last night was Rosemary Annabella Nkrumah, and this was magic to see. Anderson was a standout in the supporting roles category, with his modern styled vocal being an excellent match for Lock’s more mature portrayal.

With a healthy ensemble, the show really does come to life during the big numbers, with choreography by Matt Cole. Cole used the set to his advantage, with staging happening on top of tills and disco washing machines. Whilst the majority of this was effective, some of the routines could be distracting at times, where I wished for a softer approach in different pockets of the show.

Before TikTok dance trends, Steps had this nailed. Each of their songs can be matched with iconic choreography and I expected to see most of this last night. However, Cole has reinvented every pop anthem, only recycling the original moves occasionally to give the audience a flavour of familiarity. Fear not, though, the cast perform an 8 minute megamix at the end of the show - where you can get up and join in as the performers take you through Steps’ entire catalogue.

‘H’ stands for how good it is: though the show won’t win Best Musical anytime soon, it doesn’t need to be complex for audiences to have a good night. It’s loud, bubblegum pop, and something to help any surface tension break. Stomping into Aberdeen for the week, and heading to the checkouts on Sunday, the Steps Musical is ‘Here and Now’. It would be a Tragedy to miss it!

Credits

Instagram links: @theatregramuk, @aberdeenperformingarts, @thestepsmusical

Review by Joel Simpson cc: theatregram@gmail.com

Production photos supplied by Aberdeen Performing Arts