Here & Now The Steps Musical At Mayflower Southampton Review
DISCLOSURE – TICKETS TO SEE THE SHOW WERE GIFTED TO THE REVIEWER AND GUEST FOR THE PURPOSES OF WRITING THE REVIEW
Reviewed by Amy Jade
I had the opportunity to review ‘Here and Now’ – The Steps Musical at Mayflower Southampton on their opening night of their current tour. This is a Brand new musical based around the music from Brit award winning band Steps.
What a blast! from the opening scene, the brightly lit stage almost blinding you as much as the neon-coloured outfits, with pinks and blues heavily dominating the costumes throughout. The musical is based on the storyline of the four main characters working in a store (not unlike a branch of discount stores – B&M or Home Bargains), where they are going through their own trials and tribulations, all backed by some of the greatest hits from Steps. The storylines touch on adultery, sexuality, relationships, baby loss and adoption, so although it’s a cliché cheese at times, there are quite sombre moments beautifully backed by some of the less dance tunes.
A stand out singer was the main lead Caz (played by Lara Denning), with a powerful voice, conveying the emotion of some of the more sombre songs in their repertoire. Caz was in a large proportion of the songs throughout the musical showing a fantastic range and performance. Robbie (played by Blake Patrick Anderson) had a surprisingly deep voice and at times had cracks in his voice that hinted to the teen role he was portraying.
Jem (played by River Medway) had fantastic stage presence as the star Drag Act and shone in Chain reaction, with fantastic costumes and the longest lashes.
My friend who accompanied me stated, ‘what did we just watch? Genuinely how do you even start to explain the different scenes, storylines etc which in fairness is true, there was so much going on with a storyline woven through the songs and focus on the four leading characters. With the often garish costumes and backing dancers taking over the stage you are swept up into each song, and visually it is very busy on stage.
With 22 songs covered throughout the musical, with a mega mix in the finale, it’s difficult to identify my favourite but one of the best ones was Chain Reaction, with some risqué dance moves and adult humour, and fantastic costumes it was a feast for the eyes and ears. You can look forward to a fantastic Drag star dancing on kitchen appliances and backing dancers leaving not much to the imagination in their skin tight attire.
The theatre was packed for the press night and you could see people bopping along in their seats to some of the more upbeat songs, I’m sure it will be a sell out on its tour. It was difficult at times not to sing along, but you do get a reminder at the start to hold in your voices until the finale where you are encouraged to get up and join in.
For an evening of reminiscing to Steps hits and being shown a different perspective of familiar songs with the storyline in the musical I would give a 5/5 rating.
Rating: 5/5
Tickets cost from £19.50
Here & Now- The Steps Musical is at Mayflower Theatre, Southampton from 21st January to 24th January 2026. For more information or to book tickets visit https://www.mayflower.org.uk/whats-on/here-and-now-the-steps-musical-2026/ or call the box office on 02380 711811
Mayflower Theatre, Commercial Road, Southampton, SO15 1GE