The producers of the brand new musical HERE & NOW, presented by UK pop sensation, Steps, are delighted to announce the principal cast for the UK & Ireland tour which opens at Aylesbury Waterside Theatre on 29 August and head to Norwich Theatre Royal between 14 – 19 Apr 26.
Returning from the successful original run in Birmingham will be Rebecca Lock* (ELF – The Musical, West End; School of Rock, UK Tour) as Caz, Finty Williams* (The Baker’s Wife, Menier Chocolate Factory The Ocean at the End of the Lane, National Theatre Tour) as Patricia, Blake Patrick Anderson (Emojiland, West End; RENT, Hope Mill Theatre) as Robbie, River Medway (fan favourite on the third season of RuPaul’s Drag Race UK, BBC) as Jem, Edward Baker Duly (The King and I, Broadway & West End, The Third Man, Menier Chocolate Factory) as Max and John Stacey (Kiss Me Kate, Barbican; My Fair Lady, The Coliseum) as Lesley.
Joining the principal cast are new cast members Jacqui Dubois (Ghost The Musical UK tour) as Vel, Chris Grahamson (NOW That’s What I Call A Musical UK and Ireland tour) as Gareth and Rosie Singha (& Juliet UK and Ireland tour) as Neeta.
Further casting is to be announced.
Featuring Steps’ most beloved hit songs, HERE & NOW has an original book by Shaun Kitchener and is produced by the band and ROYO with Pete Waterman. It will be directed by Rachel Kavanaugh, with choreography by Olivier Award-winning Matt Cole and Matt Spencer-Smith as musical supervisor, orchestrator and arranger.
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…
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, with 14 top five singles, 4 number one albums, 22 million record sales, 500 million streams & 11 sold-out national arena tours under their belts. The band’s hits include #1 singles Tragedy/Heartbeat and Stomp, the gold certified One For Sorrow & Better Best Forgotten, the silver certified 5,6,7,8, Last Thing On My Mind, Love’s Got A Hold Of My Heart, Chain Reaction, all of which will feature in the musical alongside many more.
Steps’ 2017 comeback tour sold out all 300,000 tickets, making it one of the biggest pop tours of the year. The band have since continued to release new music including two further iTunes #1 singles, the Sia-penned What The Future Holds in 2020 and the Michelle Visage duet Heartbreak In This City in 2022. In 2022 Steps celebrated their 25th anniversary with a headline summer tour and released the #1 album Platinum Collection which means they join ABBA, Rolling Stones and Stereophonics as the only groups in UK history to score #1 albums in four consecutive decades.
Musical supervision, orchestrations and arrangements by Matt Spencer-Smith, set design by Tom Rogers, costume design by Gabriella Slade, lighting design by Howard Hudson, sound design by Adam Fisher, wigs, hair and makeup design by Sam Cox, casting by Will Burton for Grindrod Burton Casting, Music Technology by Phij Adams with Production Management by Setting Line.
*Please note Rebecca Lock and Finty Williams are only in the production until November 2025
