Here & Now: The Steps Musical - Birmingham Alexandra / Tour

I find these comments really strange. I totally get that someone would say that the show doesn’t have a good plot, or isn’t a good musical (I’m sure many will - this really won’t be to everyone’s taste). But to say it doesn’t have a plot, and isn’t really a musical is just odd. It has a plot, and contains every element needed for a musical! Some people claim that Six isn’t really a musical, and I understand that - but Here & Now is very much a regular jukebox musical in the vein of Mamma Mia or I Should Be So Lucky.

In terms of an outline of the plot (spoilers follow - don’t read on if you don’t want to know anything about it), the show is set in a supermarket (Better Best Bargains), and focuses on the lives of the people who work in, or visit, the supermarket. There are four main characters, but the main thread of the narrative centres around Caz (played by Rebecca Lock), who works in the supermarket. She’s approaching 50 and wants to adopt a child, but hasn’t been successful in doing so. A rich businessman comes on the scene and tricks Caz into helping him to secure a purchase of the store, in return for help in achieving her dreams of adopting a child - unbeknown to her, he wants to buy it so that he a close it and turn it into luxury condos. The story progresses from there, with various subplots and inevitable love stories developing in the store, and an ending which I’m sure you can guess!

I day-tripped up to Birmingham yesterday to see this. I echo what Joseph says; I don't get some of these comments at all. Having seen the amazing Benjamin Button a few days earlier, I never in a million years thought I would prefer this, but dare I say it, I probably did. It is a joy from start to finish.

Acorn Antiques is a solid comparison; the plot and comedy are quite Victoria Wood (shades of 'dinnerladies', too), though the music obviously not so much. It's big & over-the-top but also heartfelt and kind. The plot is no deep masterpiece, but it ties the songs together really well. The placement of '5,6,7,8' stretches credulity a bit, but you buy it along with the rest! The vibe is similar overall to &Juliet, tongue-in-cheek but wittily clever. The cast is amazing; I was expecting they'd be wasted on this material, but they aren't. Lock is tremendous.

There were a fair few empty seats, but I doubt that'll remain the case. Everyone around me was having a ball. Five stars from me. I hope to see it in London before too long.

She plays the store's owner. She and Edward Baker Duly appear to have a lot of fun in their roles!

Totally agree with matty above.
It’s got the feel good factor that & Juliet had
Loved it
It’s simply a good fun night out and everyone in the audience seemed to have a great time.
A smash imo!

I’m not sure why they’d go in the first place. They must have money to burn. 🔥

Well that is one of the best shows I've ever seen at the theatre, it's just so much fun 😊 I am a huge Steps fan so it was always going to be right up my street. The cast are all brilliant and all seem to be really enjoying themselves - that riff in One For Sorrow, just wow!!

It's definitely in the same bracket as I Should Be So Lucky in that it's cheesy with songs shoehorned in to very little storyline. The 5,6,7,8 scene is insane, in a good way. But it's not trying to be a serious show, it's just a fun night out. And it got the best audience reaction I've seen in a long time, lots of cheers for all the songs and we were all dancing along at the end.

I think it's the first show I've seen where I've known every single one of the songs. I really hope it goes on tour soon, as I could easily get attached to this, and I'm going to need a new show to follow next year.

If you dislike the music of Steps then no. If you just don’t know it then yes. This is a high quality production from top to bottom and the script is genuinely funny.

My thoughts remain as positive at the end of the show. One of the best jukebox shows I’ve seen in ages with a phenomenal cast, and probably the best megamix I’ve seen.

What do you think of "Mamma Mia?"

What about "The Girls" or "The Band" Musicals?

I ask because I saw Thursday's matinee, and if you're saying that you want a truthful human story, you won't get it because the story is highly contrived like "Mamma Mia," (or most movie romantic comedies) in that it's fun to watch but you won't believe any of it.

Character-wise, it's in the Gary Barlow Musical genre (like"The Girls" or "The Band"), in that the characters are recognisable ordinary people that you can relate to. Their aspirations are everyday, relatable and the characters are familiar and loveable.

If you are actively against "Steps" music, there is no point seeing this at all, but Steps are pretty close to Abba (a bit less rooted in poignant sadness, a bit more celebratory for celebration's sake), so I struggle to believe the majority of people can resist the charm of this music, and this is ram packed with recognisable chart hits for anyone who listened to the radio back in the day.

I was having a bad day when I saw this (my phone packed up completely, leaving me with no amusement on the train and having to queue and beg at help desks for train tickets that had been on my phone) but I found this loveable, silly, contrived, joyous, celebratory show to be so much fun I forgot about my phone problems, though I did have more difficulty remembering the song list not being able to input the titles into a phone at the interval lol.

Some spoilers follow. . .

The contrived but enjoyable plot features Edward Baker Duly negotiating every aspect of Hugh Grant's career as he goes from cutesy stutteringly charming to completely morally bankrupt over the course of a couple of hours. His actions affect all the protagonists, who, like the characters in "Love Actually" (also featuring Hugh Grant) are ALL aiming at connections and relationships, and who all will move towards achieving those connections and relationships by plot end (I told you this was a high concept contrived kind of plot lol: peak Richard Curtis!).

Luckily, the characters are so damn likeable, and the songs they get are all chart hits, so this Mamma Mia/Gary Barlow hybrid type musical really does feel like two hours of fast-moving, loveable joyous escapism.

Rebecca Lock, who I will forever be slightly scared of because she knew my name in "Heathers" at The Other Palace (she had to call out one "Steve" a day, but I didn't know that, lol), is absolutely pivotal in making this story work, as she brings great conviction to her role as an aging wannabe mother, desperate to adopt, who is betrayed, and who betrays her friends in turn. She smashes the songs out of the park, with "Tragedy" and "One for Sorrow" highlights.

But this cast is laden with terrific musical performers, and likeable characters (this is MUCH better than "Love Actually," which is a bit dull actually) doing funny quirky turns ("Chain Reaction" is off-the-scale camp fun): Hiba Elchikhe is adorably shy as a woman who can't even speak to her love object; Finty Williams's bolshy boss, Patricia hilariously speaks Frenglish at every opportunity ("Ecoutez everyone!"); Blake Patrick Anderson's effervescent character worships River Medway's Jem so much he just might blow it; and Sharlene Hector, in supreme voice as best friend, Vel, might just find a new relationship even without looking!

This is all very very silly, taking relatable characters on a contrived joyful journey that successfully manipulates both us and them to be as happy as the relentlessly upbeat Steps songs want us to be.

4 stars from me.

Enjoying the show but the audience is horrific. The drunk obnoxious woman behind me thinks it’s ok to jump up and dance and shriek lyrics out…

Well. Behaviour was shocking so I won’t give the show a rating as it’s not fair - I hated every moment of act 2 but it wasn’t the show’s fault per se.

Between everyone filming, the woman shrieking into my ear, the entire auditorium screaming every time anyone on stage did anything and booing the villain for minutes every time he appeared, this was horrific.

Home nursing a headache and a bar of chocolate.