Just in time for Musicals week on Strictly, I managed to squeeze in an actual musical viewing. Here & Now - The Steps Musical made its debut in Birmingham, and I rocked up to take in one of the shows. It was brilliant! I love Steps, their kind of wonderful guilty pleasure of music that you know isn’t exactly great art but is one heck of a crowdpleaser.

That sums up this show completely, it was funny and moving and bright and colourful and accepting and wonderful, not arty or clever, but a joyous journey and absolutely packed with Steps songs from start to finish.

The show is a jukebox musical using Steps songs old and new, and it has an original story, rather than telling anything to do with the band. The blurb says:

Welcome to seaside superstore Better Best Bargains, where it’s Friday night, the vibe is right, and everyone’s dancing in the aisles. But when Caz discovers the shelves are stocked with lies and betrayal, the summer of love she and her friends dreamed of suddenly feels like a tragedy. Have they all lost their chance of a ‘happy ever after’? Or does love have other plans in store…?

The four friends go on their summer of love adventure and although it’s pretty obvious where each is going to end up (won’t spoil anything here but the Vel storyline is great), I have to admit there were some surprising twists and turns along the way. The songs all fit the narrative perfectly, except perhaps “5, 6, 7, 8” which is a little shoehorned in, although cleverly done. It wouldn’t be a Steps musical without the song that started it all though, would it?

Even though there’s plenty of drama as the story unfolds, it’s a real life-affirming pick-me-up. Bright colours, catchy tunes and great dances - when they do that encore bit at the end (the fun bit that you ARE allowed to film on your phone), they recap a medley of the songs and do the actual Steps dances so everyone can join in. JOY.

The show has finished in Birmingham now but is embarking on a UK tour so I recommend heading out to see it if you get the chance.