By Neil Durham

WORTH A LOOK?: ****

WHEN?: Sunday 24 November (matinee) and runs through 30 November 2024 Tours UK and Ireland in 2025 and 2026 Tickets RUNTIME: 155 minutes (including a 20-minute interval)

A Steps musical needs a vocalist with the power of the band’s Claire Richards and, luckily for Here And Now, it has 3.

• Read on for reasons including how this is moving, a lot of fun and a knowing budget Mamma Mia

Rebecca Lock (Heathers, Other Palace) plays Caz, a fortnight before her 50th birthday, who brings a tear to our eye singing Heartbeat reflecting on her own stillbirth and failed adoption bid.

Fellow Better Best Bargains supermarket worker Vel played by Basement Jaxx’s Sharlene Hector (A Strange Loop, Barbican) bosses Neon Blue and Hiba Elchikhe (Brooklyn – The Musical, Greenwich Theatre) brings the joy to Something In Your Eyes and big notes to Scared Of The Dark.

This new Steps musical closes in Birmingham soon before touring the UK and Ireland in 2025 and 2026.

We saw the band live onstage at Portsmouth Guildhall last century and more recently at London’s 02. Author Shaun Kitchener even wrote an unauthorised 1st Steps musical called 5,6,7,8 we reviewed in London.

Here And Now is the story of staff at a seaside supermarket under threat of closure during a summer of love in which our heroine Caz is determined to sort out the love, or lack of love lives of her fellow co-workers.

Kitchener’s script is very funny and we enjoyed Blake Patrick Anderson’s (Be More Chill, Shaftesbury Theatre) Robbie explaining his commitment issues during Story Of A Heart and River Medway’s (Unfortunate, Southwark Playhouse) drag queen Jem’s Chain Reaction retort complete with washing machines and their own discoballs.

We also loved how unconvinced Robbie was while singing Love’s Got A Hold Of My Heart with his co-workers while hiding from Jem who gave an hilarious and withering: ‘I can hear you, you know’ as she waited for him outside the locked supermarket.

We’ve also never seen Finty Williams (The Baker’s Wife, Menier) having so much fun onstage as unsympathetic supermarket manageress Patricia.

Jukebox musicals can sometimes struggle under the weight of having to crowbar unsuitable material into their story’s book but Here And Now is light enough on its feet and this audience so willing to go with it that everything’s carried off successfully with the cheekiest of winks.

We also loved how the audience reacted with audible shock to some of the more unlikely plot twists.

We had so much fun here as did the predominantly female middle aged audience with a smattering of gays, ourselves included, that our description of this as a budget Mamma Mia is meant as the highest compliment.

It reminds of the recent Stock Aitken Waterman musical I Should Be So Lucky but is much more fun. The vibe is pure hen party when 5,6,7,8 strikes up during the store’s ‘half price hoedown’.

It’s not perfect however and the introduction of jeopardy at the end of Act 1 seemed unlikely and solely to tee up the arrival of the barnstorming Tragedy as the Act Two opener.

Can’t wait to do it all again though when the tour reaches London. It can’t arrive soon enough.

• Main pictures via Facebook courtesy Here And Now Tickets
• Have you seen a Steps show before and what did you think of this 1? Let us know what you thought in the comments below
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