Tonight, I had the pleasure of being invited along to Grand Opera House York to review the UK touring production of “Here and Now”, the brand new musical based on the songs of Steps. I knew pretty much nothing at all about this show going into it, knowing only one or two of Steps’ songs and my only knowledge of the plot being from one production image, so needless to say I was going into this pretty blind and neutral.
The show is based in the seaside supermarket Better Best Bargains and revolves around a core group of four employees, Caz, Vel, Neeta and Robbie, as they make a pact together for a summer of love to come but this is put in peril when their workplace faces closure. We follow the twists and turns this friendship takes (and believe me there are plenty of twists, just not all good ones…)
The strong point of this show is definitely its cast. Lara Denning delivers a vocal powerhouse of a performance as the main character Caz, with her rendition of “Better the devil you know” being one that I enjoyed. Denning’s performance really is this glue that holds this show together and believe me that is no small feat given the material she is given to work with. Rosie Singha was promising as Neeta. Singha was brilliantly likeable, exactly what was required for a character such as this, and her lusting for Ben did tickle me at times. Blake Patrick Anderson was strong as Robbie, with a lovely vocal and a touching relationship with his beau in the show. Jacqui Dubois was fair as Vel, with a very naturalistic performance but for me it felt like she was somewhat going through the motions and on autopilot rather than fully being invested in the material. River Medway was fabulous as Jem, with her performance as a drag washing machine being a particular highlight of the show, although it still made no sense… I’ll let that one slide though! Sally Ann Matthews was very funny as Patricia, slightly grinding on me at first but by the end she had ground me down and I loved her character!
Unfortunately, in my opinion the talented cast is where the positives for this show ends. The script and story is weak, there’s no two ways about it, and this was evident from the very beginning. My only hope at the start was that the script would turn out to be so bad it was good and alas I was disappointed again. From shoehorned romances to primary school show level script writing, this musical unfortunately encapsulates everything some people hate about jukebox musicals, and that is coming from an avid defender of the genre. The choreography itself was strong but the execution by the ensemble was sloppy in my opinion, with a lack of clarity of movement being evident throughout from more than one ensemble member. The individual vocal performances were strong but for me the music as a whole felt very samey and forced in at times, more there so we don’t forget to include this song rather than it making sense for the plot, and this led to the overall plot being an absolute mess all over again. I must praise the production design however as the lighting, sound and set design were all very strong.
Overall, I did have an enjoyable evening at Here & Now, although I feel this was definitely more to do with impressive vocal performances than being invested in the story and wowed by the spectacle. Perhaps more of a Tragedy than a triumph.
Playing until 15th February, https://www.atgtickets.com/venues/grand-opera-house-york/
Reviewer: Adam Craddock
Reviewed: 10th February 2026
North West End UK Rating: