The record-breaking world premiere run of pop group Steps’ new musical Here & Now will now play an extra week at The Alexandra in Birmingham.
Already The Alexandra’s fasting selling on-sale in the venue’s history with 50% of capacity sold out within 24 hours, the musical which takes its inspiration from the songs of the chart-topping pop group will now run from 9 to 30 November.
Produced by Steps, ROYO and super producer Pete Waterman, Here & Now has an original book by Shaun Kitchener. Directed by Rachel Kavanaugh, the production will feature choreography by Olivier Award winner Matt Cole with 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 make-up design by Sam Cox, casting by Will Burton for Grindrod Burton Casting, associate direction by Matt Hassall, associate choreography by Jane McMurtrie and associate sound design by Ollie Durrant.
Casting will be announced at a later date.
Commenting on the reaction to the musical, Steps said: “We were thrilled and grateful for the response we received when we announced the show, people were queuing up outside the theatre from 3am to purchase tickets! For the past few weeks we have been workshopping the script and songs; it is so exciting to see it lift off the page. We can’t wait to share this with you!”
The feel-good musical love story will showcase the band’s most famous hits including ‘Tragedy’, ‘Stomp’, ‘One For Sorrow’, ‘Better Best Forgotten’, ‘5,6,7,8’, ‘Last Thing On My Mind’, ‘Love’s Got a Hold of My Heart’ and ‘Chain Reaction’.
The UK’s most successful mixed-sex pop group of all time, Steps (Claire Richards, Faye Tozer, Ian ‘H’ Watkins’, Lee Latchford-Evans and Lisa Scott-Lee) have 14 top five singles, four number one albums, 22 million record sales, 500 million streams and 11 sold-out national arena tours to their credit.
Steps’ 2017 comeback tour sold out all 300,000 tickets, making it one of the biggest pop tours of that year. The band has continued to release new music including two further iTunes number one 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 number one album Platinum Collection, joining ABBA, the Rolling Stones and the Stereophonics as the only groups in UK history to score number one albums in four consecutive decades.
Angela Thomas
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