The producers of the UK and Ireland tour and WhatsOnStage Award-nominated musical HERE & NOW, presented by UK pop sensation Steps, are thrilled to bring the show to Milton Keynes Theatre for a week-long run from Tue 31 Mar – Sat 4 Apr.
The show stars Lara Denning (& Juliet, UK Tour; Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, West End) as Caz, Sally Ann Matthews (Coronation Street, ITV) as Patricia, Jacqui Dubois (Ghost The Musical UK tour) as Vel, Blake Patrick Anderson (Emojiland, West End) as Robbie, Rosie Singha (& Juliet UK and Ireland tour) as Neeta, River Medway (RuPaul’s Drag Race UK, BBC) as Jem, Chris Grahamson (NOW That’s What I Call A Musical UK and Ireland tour) as Gareth, Edward Baker-Duly (The King and I, Broadway & West End) as Max, Ben Darcy (Pretty Woman, West End) as Ben, John Stacey (Kiss Me Kate, Barbican) as Lesley and Lauren Woolf (I Should Be So Lucky, UK Tour) as Tracey.
Completing the cast are Georgia Christofi, Kade Ferraiolo, Albert Green, Harry Jack, Casey Jay, Charlie-Jay Johnson, Rosemary Annabella Nkrumah, Dean Rickards, Markus Södergren, Genevieve Taylor, Jessica Vaux and Jack Palmer.
Packed with Steps’ biggest and best-loved hits, HERE & NOW features an original book by Shaun Kitchener and is produced by the band and ROYO with Pete Waterman. Direction comes from Rachel Kavanaugh, with choreography by Olivier Award-winning Matt Cole and Matt Spencer-Smith as musical supervisor, orchestrator and arranger.
It’s Friday night and the vibe is right as Caz and her fabulous friends set their sights on the ultimate summer of love. But when Caz learns her ‘happy ever after’ isn’t quite what it seems, and the group’s romantic plans turn into a total tragedy, they’re left wondering – will love ever get a hold on their hearts? Or should they just take a chance on a happy ending…
Steps (Claire Richards, Faye Tozer, Ian ‘H’ Watkins, Lee Latchford-Evans and Lisa Scott-Lee) are the UK’s most successful mixed sex pop group of all time, boasting 14 top-five singles, 4 number-one albums, 22 million record sales, 500 million streams and 11 sold-out national arena tours. Their chart-topping hits include #1 singles Tragedy/Heartbeat and Stomp, alongside favourites such as One For Sorrow, Better Best Forgotten, 5,6,7,8, Last Thing On My Mind, Love’s Got A Hold On My Heart and Chain Reaction — all featured in the musical, plus many more.
Their 2017 comeback tour sold 300,000 tickets, making it one of the year’s biggest pop tours. Since then, Steps have continued to release new music, including two further iTunes #1 singles: the Sia-penned What The Future Holds (2020) and the Michelle Visage duet Heartbreak In This City (2022). In 2022, the band marked their 25th anniversary with a headline summer tour and the release of their #1 album Platinum Collection, joining ABBA, Rolling Stones and Stereophonics as the only groups in UK history to achieve #1 albums across four consecutive decades.
Musical supervision, orchestrations and arrangements are by Matt Spencer-Smith, with set design by Tom Rogers, costume design by Gabriella Slade, lighting design by Howard Hudson, sound design by Adam Fisher, wigs and hair design by Sam Cox, make-up design by Jackie Saundercock, casting by Will Burton for Grindrod Burton Casting, Music Technology by Phij Adams and Production Management by Setting Line.
