"Here And Now - The Steps Musical"

Nottingham Theatre Royal.

You can't beat a good old cheesy pop tune and this jukebox musical is absolutely packed with them, and when the songs are by one of the best pop groups of the 1990's, what's mot to love about this show?

All of your favourite hits are here “Better Best Forgotten”, “Tragedy”, “Deeper Shade of Blue”, “Story of a Heart”, “One For Sorrow”, “Summer of Love”, “After the Love Has Gone”, “Last Thing on My Mind”, “5, 6, 7, 8” and many more.

The story is based around four of the shop assistants who make a promise to follow their dreams and their ambitions before Caz, one of the shop assistants' 50th Birthday. This pledge is done with all hands on a pineapple. Pineapples are very important in this story by the way! They discover that Better Best Bargains is due to be shut down to make room for executive condos, which would really be a tragedy for all involved.

Lara Denning plays Caz, and having seen Lara earlier this year in "& Juliet", I knew vocally that this role was going to produce powerhouse vocals; and Lara didn't disappoint. What makes a good jukebox musical is where the songs are placed within the storyline and the arrangement of the song. "Heartbeat" is beautifully arranged and comes at a time in the musical where we discover part of Caz's past.

Jacqui Dubois plays Vel. All the main vocals are stupendously gorgeous but Jacqui's has that old school Motown vibe running right through its' core, and what power. Vel is Caz's best friend, they've known each other for 25 years, but there are some things that have stayed hidden but is revealed later in the musical.

Rosie Singha is Neeta who has trouble finding the man of her dreams, but does she need to look a little closer to home? Another powerhouse set of vocals to add to a vocally excellent cast.

Blake Patrick Anderson is Robbie on most of the nights but on Tuesday night, opening night Dean Rickards stepped into the role. Another big voice and such energy in every scene. Robbie is looking for love but is afraid of commitment, until he meets a certain someone, and after a few false starts, Robbie gets his happy ending.

River Medway completely steals the scene as Jem, the Drag Artist who performs "Chain Reaction" on a washing machine with a glitter ball in its' drum. River we saw last year in "Unfortunate" as Ariel and is just as wonderful in this role as he was last year.

Finty Williams is Patricia, the superstore's boss. This is a brilliant role as when we first see her she is bossiness personified with a penchant for using the French language in the same way as Del Boy from "Only Fools" used to. Why? Caz discovers that she has a French lover, but even that is not as it first appears. Wonderfully funny role.

Ben Darcy plays Ben, who has a secret admirer in store, but who could that be?

Lauren Woolf is Tracey.

Chris Grahamson plays Gareth, Caz's partner who drops a bombshell on Caz before her birthday. We get to hear two sides of Chris's voice; first is an almost classical set of vocals as he drops his serious bombshell, but then later on we hear the looser style vocals which also sound great.

Edward Baker-Duly is Max. Max is the devious one who will do anything and promise anyone anything to get what he wants, but fails to deliver, stepping on toes all the way. The twist in the story was not seen until right at the end, and the results of an action that I certainly didn't spot coming.

John Stacey plays Leslie, who used to operate the car park at the Superstore. After he quit that job his new role at the airport was a major lead in the turn around of the whole plot.

The ensemble are made up of Georgia Christofi, Kade Ferraiolo, Albert Green, Harry Jack, Casey Jay, Rosemary Annabella Nkrumah, Genevieve Taylor, Jessica Vaux with On Stage Swings being Charlie Jay Johnson and Markus Sodergren.

The musical is produced by Steps themselves, ROYO and pop legend Pete Waterman.

Directed by Rachel Kavanaugh and written by Shaun Kitchener. This musical is as camp as candyfloss and I couldn't have loved it more. The songs were woven into the storyline as if they had been written for a musical and sounded natural in their placings.

Choreographed by Matt Cole. High energy choreography throughout with cast members and ensemble leaping around as if they had springs in their shoes. It would have been so easy to just take the choreography from the original Steps videos, but while there were certain moves we'd all expect to see, there were also a lot of original choreography to see.

The Set Design is by Tom Rogers. Every inch of that stage was covered with scenery, lighting and props, all with that Steps flavour running through. For example, the waste skip around the back of the Superstore was managed by Trash-Edy! A more exciting and colourful design you could not wish to see for a story like this one. And of course, the aisles we could see were aisles 5,6,7 and 8.

The Costume Designer is Gabriella Slade. From the sort of overalled style shop worker style to Jem's drag queen costumes, every one was superb.

Wigs and Hair Design by Sam Cox.

The Musical Supervisor, Orchestrator and Arranger is Matt Spencer-Smith and Musical Director is Georgia Rawlings. Big sound from that orchestra pit, a sound that made you want to get up and stomp all night.

Lighting Designer is Howard Hudson. Steps are big, bright and flashy and the lighting design reflected their look perfectly, at one stage the whole stage set seemed to throb with light.

Sound Designer is Adam Fisher. Big and flashy and with those big voices on stage it was like attending one of the best New Years Eve party where only Steps music is allowed. Possibly the best party ever?

I've been looking forward to this musical for ages and it did not disappoint. If ever there was a party on stage, this is it, so get your tickets while you can otherwise your neon blue may turn a deeper shade of blue. Don't let buying a ticket for this be the Last Thing On Your Mind this week.

"Here & Now The Steps Musical" is at the Nottingham Theatre Royal until Saturday 15 November.