Here and Now: The Steps Musical is a new musical based on the music from Steps. It’s a really fun musical, full of laughs and feel-good inspiration. Here’s my Here and Now: The Steps Musical theatre review.
Plot synopsis of Here and Now: The Steps Musical
Here and Now: The Steps Musical is a fun musical with the songs of Steps. It follows an original story – not the story of how Steps came to be famous like many jukebox musicals. It’s a really fun show. My Here and Now: The Steps Musical theatre review will first give a quick overview of the plot, and then I’ll talk about what I liked and didn’t like about the show. The plot of Here and Now: The Steps Musical is easy to follow, and there aren’t any big plot twists so it doesn’t matter if you know the plot before you go.
Act One
Here and Now: The Steps Musical is set in a shop, called Better Best Bargains. It follows the story of Caz, who works in the shop, along with some of her colleagues. The show starts with the song ‘Stomp’, which is a really fun, high energy way to start the show.
Caz and her partner Gareth hear the great news that they’ve been approved to adopt a baby. Caz is about to celebrate her 50th birthday, and as a birthday present, she wants all her friends/colleagues at the shop to find their ‘Summer of Love’. Her colleague Vel needs to break up with Lesley, an awkward guy who does the trolleys at the shop. Robbie, who is struggling to process trauma from his Mum dying when he was younger, and then his Dad abandoning him when he was 16 and came out as gay, needs to move past his trauma and allow himself to fall in love. And Neeta needs to confess her love for another colleague, Ben.
However, Gareth then breaks up with Caz, so the adoption that Caz has dreamed about for so long can’t happen. Gareth sings the song ‘After The Love Has Gone’ when he breaks up with Caz, leaving her heartbroken now her ‘perfect’ life has been shattered.
The manager of the supermarket, Patricia, is having an affair with a mystery French man. But she’s trying to keep it secret and encourage her staff to focus on their jobs. There’s a fun dance scene to the song ‘5,6,7,8’ where Patricia tells the shop workers to do a ‘half price hoedown’.
Caz meets a man in the shop, and then spills something on his shirt accidentally, so she takes him into the back office to find him a clean shirt. Caz ends up talking to the man, confiding about losing her son Jack when he was born sleeping. She performs a really nice, emotional version of the song ‘Heartbeat’ about the son she lost. Meanwhile, Robbie is taking Caz’s advice, and approaches a Drag Queen who comes into the shop, asking him on a date, to the song ‘Say You’ll be Mine’.
Caz then discovers that the man she met in the shop is actually Patricia’s ‘French’ love interest. He asks for Caz’s help to get CCTV footage to expose their affair to bring down Patricia, promising to help Caz get a pay rise and get re-approved for adoption without her husband. Caz does this but then realises she’s been lied to – he’s going to close the store and turn it into condos, so they’ll all lose their jobs.
Act Two
Act Two starts with the song ‘Tragedy’, as Caz and her colleagues panic about the shop closing and losing their jobs. Caz’s friends feel they’ve been lied to, and they don’t want to do her idea of the ‘Summer of Love’ anymore. Robbie breaks up with his Drag Queen because he feels that Caz lied to him to get him to commit to love, and he also exposes the secret that Neeta likes Ben. There’s the song ‘Deeper Shade of Blue’, with everyone upset at how things have changed. And Caz sings ‘One For Sorrow’ – she’s not going to get the life she wanted.
However, Caz’s friends start to get back on track with their love lives. Neeta and Ben end up getting together after Robbie revealed Neeta’s secret. And the Drag Queen sings the song ‘Chain Reaction’ to get back together with Robbie.
Vel, who broke up with Lesley earlier, also strives to get her own happy ending. With the song ‘It’s The Way You Make Me Feel’, she confesses she has feelings for Tracey. At first, she is hesitant, because she thinks Tracey is already in a relationship with someone called Sophie. However, Tracey reveals that Sophie is actually her cat – and so her and Vel can be together.
Gareth comes back to Caz, asking her to get back together, and move to Australia together. Caz, at a low point in her life, agrees and gets ready to go.
But Caz’s friends decide to intervene to stop her making the mistake of going off with Gareth after he left her. They go to airport. At the airport, Lesley (who used to do the trolleys) now works there, and he reveals that Gareth made a last minute ticket change – he was going to take Cheryl from the Chippie to Australia. And it was only when Cheryl decided not to go, that he went back to Caz. Caz realises this and leaves him.
Back at the shop, Caz comes up with a plan to save the shop. She exposes the man who was trying to close down the shop, showing CCTV evidence of him shoplifting a pineapple. He is disgraced, and can no longer shut down the shut and build the condos. Caz becomes manager, and they all celebrate, to the songs ‘Better Best Forgotten’ and ‘Here and Now’.
What I liked about Here and Now: The Steps Musical
I really enjoyed Here and Now: The Steps Musical. It was so fun, and outrageously silly at times. But I really liked it.
The fun set and colours
The whole set was bright and colourful, and straight away added to the fun atmosphere. The bright pink and turquoise colours used throughout the show were really fun. The bright pink shop-worker aprons, and fluorescent high-vis jackets, were great fun as costumes.
The set of the shop was great as well. The theme of ‘5,6,7,8’ features a lot in the set design for Better Best Bargains, the supermarket where most of the show is set. There are signs saying ‘Aisle 5, Aisle 6, Aisle 7, Aisle 8’ etc. And also conveyor belts 5,6,7, and 8.
The props are also very shop-themed. There are a lot of dances with shopping trolleys. And washing machines, or a costume of ‘Frozen Goods’. Or suitcases in the airport scene. It sounds a bit random when it’s written down, and to be honest it was. It was all a bit silly. But it was good fun as well. It definitely worked.
Great songs and dances – and the silly/fun moments
My favourite part of Here and Now: The Steps Musical was the songs and dances. The music is brilliantly. Obviously, I’m a fan of the music of Steps. I imagine everyone in the audience was a fan of Steps – otherwise why would you even go to the show. But even though I know all the Steps music well, it was still great to see it performed on stage.
All of the performers made each song their own. It was funny seeing Gareth sing ‘After The Love Has Gone’ – he seemed quite a serious guy, so having him sing this was quite funny. It reminded me of Colin Firth and Pierce Brosnan singing the Abba songs in the Mamma Mia film. I can definitely imagine Here and Now: The Steps Musical being made into a film, with the role of Gareth being played by someone like in Mamma Mia.
Some of the songs were performed in a more emotional way, which was a nice change of pace from everything else being quite fun and silly. Caz sang a really nice emotional version of ‘Heartbeat’ when telling the story of the son she lost. I’ll never listen to ‘Heartbeat’ in the same way again, now it’s been given this extra meaning. And her performance of ‘One For Sorrow’ was also really emotional and moving. All of Caz’s performances were amazing, and it was nice to have a few calmer, more emotional moments in the show before going back to the fun side of the show.
The weird and the wonderful
Here and Now: The Steps Musical definitely had some moments that were so weird, they ended up being quite wonderful. The one that really stood out to me was the performance of ‘Chain Reaction’. It was performed by Robbie’s boyfriend, the Drag Queen. And it was just so silly, and so fun. I still don’t really understand why there were suddenly five washing machines on stage. Or why his costume at one point was a bag of ‘Frozen Goods’. I remember turning to my friend in this song, with a look that just said ‘what on earth is going on…’. But then I was laughing out loud. It was so silly, but honestly, it really did work.
The whole show was just this mix of weird and wonderful. It was definitely silly, and weird. Having a musical set in a supermarket is a bit weird. But it worked. The dances with shopping trolleys were really good fun. And then there was Neeta and Ben’s scene, when they finally get together. It’s set in the area of the dustbins, when they’re taking the big bags of rubbish out. And they end up in the industrial-size dustbin at the end, with the lid closed, and then they get wheeled off stage at the end of the song still in the massive wheelie bin. It’s weird, but wonderful, and so much fun.
The feel-good show and ending
The whole of Here and Now: The Steps Musical is feel-good. It’s so much fun, that it’s impossible not to smile and laugh. I liked how fun and uplifting it was. The whole audience was buzzing at the end, and everyone left in a really good mood which was nice.
I also found the show, and the ending, quite inspirational as well. The whole basis of the show is to take the risk, and reach for your dreams. There are lots of messages in the show, about how it’s never too late to fight for what you want. As well as being fun and cheesy and camp, the show is also inspiring and motivational. It really makes you want to go out and ‘take a chance on a happy ending’. They say this line from the some ‘Better Best Forgotten’ throughout the show a lot, and it’s a great message to take away from the show.
What I wasn’t so sure about
I definitely enjoyed Here and Now: The Steps Musical. But I can definitely see that it might not be for everyone. If you’re not a fan of the music of Steps, it might not be for you. And it’s definitely not for anyone who doesn’t enjoy silly, cheesy musicals. The show is fun, but it’s quite loud, quite rowdy, and extremely camp and cheesy. I enjoy that type of thing. But I know some people wouldn’t.
It’s also not the type of show to go to if you expect the audience to sit there silently, and just clap at the end. The theatres do try to discourage audience participation, saying that singing isn’t allowed until the Medley at the end. But a lot of the audience don’t follow this rule. There’s a lot of singing along (even from groups of men in the audience – it definitely wasn’t just the women). There’s a lot of clapping throughout the songs, and a lot of loud laughter. It probably didn’t help that I went on a Saturday night, where a lot of the audience had probably had a few drinks.
I’m really not a fan of audiences singing or being disruptive during shows. In the production I saw, the audience behaviour was just about tolerable – I was just about able to fully enjoy the show and block out the singing and over-the-top shrieks of laughter from women who had had a few too many drinks. But it was on the edge of being ok. But in a show like this, it’s probably inevitable that there will be some audience disruption.
Would I recommend Here and Now: The Steps Musical
I would definitely recommend going to see Here and Now: The Steps Musical. It’s very cheesy and very fun. It really is a great night out. Here and Now: The Steps Musical will have you laughing all the way through, and dancing along to the songs. The plot is a bit silly (and ‘Chain Reaction’ is beyond silly), but it really works, and it’s really funny. And there are a few more sad and serious moments which are a nice change of pace. But generally it’s good fun, and perfect for a night out with the girls (although a lot of men in the audience seemed to be loving it as well). It was really fun, really feel-good, and nicely inspirational as well. We all need to take a chance on a happy ending.
Hope you enjoyed my Here and Now: The Steps Musical theatre review! Check out my other theatre reviews for more shows in the West End, across the UK and the world.
