Rebecca Lock, left, as Caz, Sharlene Hector as Vel and  Hiba Elchikhe as Neeta Scared of The Dark. Pictures: Pamela Raith

Here & Now: The Steps Musical

The Alexandra Theatre, Birmingham

****

Well it’s certainly here and it’s certainly now and it certainly does what it sets out to do and gives the legions of Steps fans out there a night of glorious nostalgia as hit after hit rolled down the aisles of Better Best Bargains.

Better Best Bargains being a sort of quirky Poundland of pop which seems to have just four tills and four aisles 5, 6, 7, 8 which for the uninitiated just happens to be the group’s first single back in 1997 and sets the tone for the evening.

With 21 songs to go at out of the group’s back catalogue of some 37 singles and 23 albums, writer Shaun Kitcherner has woven a tale of lost and found loves, a dastardly villain and a boss whose man management skills seem to be somewhat horizontal and don’t include her staff.

The real star of the show though is the music, the raison d'être as our villain might have put it, filling the night with memories and magic for fans of the 90’s super group who have sold more than 22 million records and 15 million albums worldwide.

The music is the backdrop as we join the end of shift on a Friday night in the somewhat kitsch seaside supermarket set from Tom Rogers as Caz and her friends make a pact for A summer of Love.

West End star Rebecca Lock’s Caz is the stand out character bringing a sense of fun and warmth along with sadness to proceedings, and what a voice, her emotive Heartbeat was the highlight of the night. She is on the verge of adopting a child, the heartbreaking significance of which we are to learn later.

The story revolves around Caz and her close friends amid the army of shelf stackers and checkout staff in their rather colourful and shapeless uniforms exuding the budget vibe of Better Best in Gabriella Slade’s inventive costumes.

There is Neeta, played with a girlish innocence by Hiba Elchikhe. She fancies Dan Partridge’s somewhat unaware Ben to distraction but is too nervous, frightened, who knows what, to even speak to him, let alone let him know her feelings, so she avoids him like the plague.

Then there is Vel, played by Sharlene Hector who has ended her affair with car park Lesley, played with a permanently happy air by John Stacey, she just hasn’t got round to telling him yet. Her wonderful voice was worth more of an airing than it got with just It’s The Way You Make Me Feel – she can really give a song wings.

Hiba Elchikhe as Neeta and Dan Partridge as Ben having a sort of rubbish meeting

Blake Patrick Anderson's Robbie is a somewhat confused young man. He’s gay but convinced he is not cut out for a long term relationship, perhaps because of a past we are to discover later. That means his affair with local camp celebrity Jem, played by River Medway, is a challenge – as indeed is Jem’s sales pitch for washing machines. You don’t get that in Curry’s.

Their boss is Patricia, given a hard nosed attitude to her underlings by Flinty Williams. She is having a secret but doomed extra marital . . . we’ll leave it at that except to say that’s the catalyst of what is to happen, that, and Gary Milner’s Gareth and his surprise dumping of Caz After the Love Has Gone. A pair of troubled affairs combining to create a crisis affecting everyone – a sort of two for the price of one catastrophe in supermarket speak.

Incidentally, it was never established why Gareth always looked like he was about to start or had just ended the three peaks challenge, but there you go. Chip shop Cheryl also comes into it somewhere but as we never met her we’ll leave it at that.

So, with Caz’s relationship on the rocks, threatening her application to adopt, enter smooth-talking, clean-cut Max, charming his way around the store in the shape of Edward Baker-Duly. Max is the silver-tongued villain of the piece promising the earth and brilliantly proving the old adage that if it seems too good to be true the chances are it probably is. Something to be learned to their cost by Caz and Patricia.

Thrown into the mix is a sort of teen cupid, which seems to be Here and Now’s special offer equivalent to Grease’s Teen Angel and we also have the pineapple of destiny – which it turns out is rather prophetic as happy endings abound including Vel, free from Lesley, changing sides, so to speak, and taking up with Tracey, played by Helen Colby, and Sophie . . . don’t ask.

River Medway as Jem, left, and Blake Patrick Anderson as Robbie

It’s a bit of a colander of a plot, logic not being one of its strong points while either the audience showed a somewhat feeble sense of humour at times or there was a collection of in jokes included which were privy only to diehard Steps fans but that hardly matters.

They were there for the music with hits including One for Sorrow, It’s the Way You Make Me Feel, and a barnstorming opening to Act II with the Bee Gee’s 1979 classic, Tragedy as well as the eponymous Here and Now.

The music was accompanied by lively choreography from Matt Cole utilising a big, hard working ensemble and a mention too for an excellent six piece band under musical director Amy Shackcloth.

Howard Hudson's lighting added a veritable son et lumiere of LEDs as Max might have put it, with a text transfer particularly inventive, but as show it suffered the common problem of sound levels in a new venue and initially it was harsh and top heavy, the second act was more balanced and rounded and with first night and world premiere out the way the quirks of the Alex acoustics should soon be sorted.

The songs are catchy, lively, sometimes emotional and are the foundation for a plot that doesn’t tax the intellect, more a foot tapper than brain teaser, it is all good humoured with a few laughs and funny moments along with happy endings on special offer and a buy one get one free promotion on feelgood factor.

And on Press night for the world premiere we even got an appearance by the real Steps, checking up on their musical no doubt, for an up on your feet, dance and sing along finale.

It’s a show that does just what it says on the price matched tin, creating a delight for Steps fans who showed their enthusiastic approval for a new addition to the jukebox musical genre. It even has advice for anyone who wants to find love and a relationship . . . just get yourself a job at a supermarket. Directed by Rachel Kavanaugh, The Steps musical runs at the Alex to 30-11-24 with a national tour from September next year, returning to the West Midlands at Wolverhampton Grand in March 2026.

Roger Clarke

19-11-24

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