JADAR

Unashamedly camp and cheesy, with bangers for days, the only thing surprising about a Steps musical is that it was not made sooner! Ahead of its premiere, I had the pleasure of sitting down (well, standing up) with all five members (not even This Morning got all five of them!) to talk about their musical, Here & Now, which has its tour premiere in Manchester next week.

Steps are a British dance-pop group consisting of Lee Latchford-Evans, Claire Richards, Lisa Scott-Lee, Faye Tozer, and Ian “H” Watkins. They were formed in 1997 and achieved two number-one albums in the UK, as well as 14 consecutive UK top-5 singles, including two number ones (one a double A-side). The group has sold over 22 million records and 15 million albums worldwide.

Written by Shaun Kitchener, Here & Now is set at Better Best Bargains, a seaside supermarket. Employee Caz is elated that she and her husband, Gareth, have been approved to adopt a child. Her friends Vel, Neeta and Robbie are in awe at how her life is perfect, so – in lieu of a present for her upcoming 50th birthday – she challenges them to “take a chance on a happy ending” for themselves and have the Summer of Love they’ve been dreaming of: Vel must end her loveless relationship, Neeta must confess her feelings to her workplace crush Ben, and Robbie must learn to give potential boyfriends a chance without finding tiny reasons to push them away. However, when Gareth tells Caz he is ending their marriage, meaning the adoption is ruined, her own ‘happy ending’ is in tatters and she must follow her own advice. When she puts her faith in the wrong person and jeopardises the entire store’s future, the friends’ Summer of Love is at risk of becoming a Tragedy.

Making the Musical

“This is quite possibly the most exciting interview I have ever done,” I told Steps, to cheers and woos. I had previously met Clare (at the premiere of The Thunder Girls) and Faye (at The Stage Debut Award), which was exciting enough, but meeting the entire group – interviewing the entire group – was an absolute dream.

I told Faye that when I interviewed her at The Stage Debut Awards the year prior, I had said that they should do a Steps musical, and she said, “Hold that thought,” so I thought then that something might be in the works – and I thought right!

I asked the band if they had ever considered the idea of a Steps musical before they were approached. They all immediately, proudly, told me that the musical was their idea.

“We did the approaching,” Lisa told me. “Instigators,” added Clare.

“We weren’t approached,” Lee said. “We actually have had this idea for many, many, many years, and it’s took a long time to get it to where it is now, but it’s definitely our idea that we’ve found the right time and got the right help and the right creative team, the right management. Just everything has kind of clipped and gone in alignment to where we out today.”

“It’s our baby,” added Faye.

I asked the group what it’s like trying to come up with an idea for a musical when there are five of them.

“Hell!” joked Lee. “We all argue. Terrible!”

“There was a lot of emails, and there was a lot of input, especially in the very beginning,” said Clare. “Unfortunately, that’s our manager, Adam’s job to kind of filter.”

“You know what, though, I think it helped Shaun out a great deal – Shaun Kitchener, our writer – because we’ve all kind of had input, we’ve all put our ideas forward, some of us even wrote little ideas as well, with characters and storylines, and it’s kind of built up and built up as it’s gone on, and I think it’s helped Shaun go, ‘I know what they don’t want.’ And he’s really come up with something incredible, the way he’s worked the music into it, he’s just a genius,” explained Lee.

Making the Music Fit

Speaking of the music, Steps have so many hits – when I saw them live a few years back, it was banger after banger after banger.

“People forget how many hits you had,” I said, with H admitting, “We forgot as well!”

“We were watching, we were like, ‘We’ve got a lot of songs, haven’t we?’”

I asked what it’s like seeing other people sing their songs – which, in the context of the show, take on a new meaning.

“Sometimes, it’s really, really beautiful, and sometimes you’re like, ‘Yes, that vocal – nice!’ It takes it somewhere else. It’s a real celebration,” Faye said.

“I think what’s really interesting in this show as well is that there’s a lot of gender-swapping, so the original songs were sung by females, and vice versa as well, so there’s different vocalists, and it’s beautiful. There’s some incredible arrangements,” said H. “I will say, my favourite moment is ‘Story of a Heart’, and it just means so much to me as a queer person. That moments hits home for me.”

“Yeah, you need to bring your tissues. It’s funny, and it’s really uplifting, but you do need your tissues,” Faye told me.

“But you will cry,” Clare said in agreement. “It is a rollercoaster.”

“I think it’s got something for everyone,” said Lisa.

“You know what I love? You walk into the theatre and you know you’re in a safe space. You know, it’s bright pink; it’s bright blue; it’s in your face,” said H.

I pointed to my pink jumper, prompting Lee to say, “You’ll fit in fine!”

“But you know what you’re gonna get,” added H. “If you wanna see Shakespeare, you don’t wanna see this… It’s just a party… with heart,” he smiled whilst looking at Lee.

“I’m not saying it,” insisted Lee before exclaiming, “It’s a hearty!”

“Anyway…” said Clare, who seemed to have heard that joke too many times already!

Making a Musical for Everyone

Whilst the musical is obviously targeted towards Steps fans – or at least people who grew up with their music – I wondered if it was universal and had mass appeal.

“That’s what I’ve always wanted from day one of this, because we’re gonna get our Steps fans, of course we are, and [they] are hopefully gonna love it, but I want someone to walk past the theatre and go, ‘Oh, Here & Now – what’s that?’ and they don’t really know much about Steps but the they leave loving the show that they’ve seen,” Lee explained.

Faye added, “And I think the play within the show has got so much heart, and it’s so funny, I think it stands alone without the music.”

“That’s the dream,” Clare agreed. “That’s what we want, for regular theatregoers to come and see – ’cause a lot of them do just go to see new musicals, don’t they, just to see what’s what, and we want those people to walk out of the theatre and feel the same way as all the Steps fans.”

Making New Music for Everyone

This prompted me to talk about us Steps fans!

People often forget that Steps were only together for a few years initially because they had so many hits in such a short space of time. When they reunited, years later, there was a lot of excitement – and unlike with other bands, this excitement never died down. Their last two albums both reached number two in the UK charts, their arena tours always sell out, and now they have a musical using their songs! I put this down, in part, to the brilliance of their new material, which has that classic Steps sound whilst also sounding fresh and current; they have moved with the times without forgetting who they are and what their fans want from them.

“Often, when artists tour, people complain they’re singing too much of their new stuff and not enough of the old stuff [but] your fans, myself included, complained that you weren’t singing enough of your new stuff ’cause it’s so good!” I told them.

“I think that’s interesting ’cause the old fans would probably say they wanted more of the old stuff, and I think people like you, who are probably newer fans, they want more of the new stuff – so we’ve got a real interesting mix,” Clare explained.

“Generational,” I said.

Faye said, “I’d love to do like an old school tour and a new school tour,” with Clare adding, “We’ll have to do a tour where we do each album in its entirety.”

Making a Musical after Starring in Musicals

I asked the group if they were fans of musical theatre previously. I told Faye that I had seen her in 42nd Street, right here in Manchester, before turning to Clare and saying, “I saw you in that crazy alien thing.”

“War of the Worlds!” we both said in unison.

“I love that,” Lee said quietly, before turning to Faye and muttering, “Crazy alien thing.”

“So, it was Clare from Steps, Duncan from Blue – they were married,” I explained.

“Nobody’d believe that!” joked H (gay joke!).

“I died. It was the best part. I was excellent at dying. I really loved that. I really thought it through.” Clare joked.

“You slayed – literally,” I said.

“We’ve all done musical theatre at some stage in our lives, we’ve all been on the West End at some stage in our life, we’ve all trained in musical theatre at some stage in our life, and it’s just great to have that input now that we can put into Here & Now with the experience we’ve all gained over the years,” Lee said.

“A lot of us have played this venue,” H revealed, referring to the Palace Theatre (the Opera House’s sister venue). “I did Josephine. It’s an incredible venue.”

Making an Musical Acronym

“So, people often end their interviews by asking you to describe the show in one word – I wanna do that but with the letters of STEPS,” I said, before giving each member a letter.

“Got one! Ready?” asked Faye. “Sensational.”

“I knew you were gonna say that,” said H, who had to rethink his ‘S’ word.

“Tremendous,” said Lee, with Clare exclaiming, “Extravaganza,” and Lisa calmy boasting, “Phenomenal.”

“I’m gonna say, Sensitive,” said H.

“What a nice way to end it!” I said, before thanking the group for their time.

Here & Now – which had its world premiere at The Alexandra, Birmingham last year – has a two-day preview run at Aylesbury Waterside from August 29 to 30 2025 before transferring to Opera House Manchester, for its official tour premiere, from September 2 to 13, touring the UK until May 16 2026.