REVIEW: A boot scooting evening at Here & Now – The Steps Musical!

If you grew up stomping along to 5, 6, 7, 8 and still feel a little thrill when Deeper Shade of Blue comes on, then Here & Now at the Grand Opera House in Belfast is basically your dream night out.

This is not a biography of Steps. Instead, the show is set in a seaside town supermarket called “Better Best Bargains” (see what they did there?!) and follows four friends who are determined to have the perfect summer of love. Naturally, everything goes wrong. Hearts get broken. Secrets spill. The shop faces closure. And somehow, in the middle of it all, Steps’ greatest hits slide in like they were always meant to be there.

It is proudly camp, a little bit silly and completely unashamed of itself. The script is full of wink-at-the-audience humour, clever one-liners and just enough heart to stop it becoming pure parody. Even if you are not a mega fan, the story is easy to follow and genuinely charming.

The genius lies in how the songs are used. Yes, it is a jukebox musical, but the show owns that with confidence. Some numbers land surprisingly emotionally, while others exist purely to make you grin. A reworked One for Sorrow is a proper showstopper, and by the time Heartbeat appears, you may find yourself feeling things you did not expect from a Steps song.

The choreography is athletic and impressive. Shopping trolleys become dance partners. Aisles become stages. It is big, bold and bursting with energy.

And then there is the finale. An eight-minute megamix that feels like being dropped into a glitter cannon. Nobody stays sitting down. Nobody leaves in a bad mood.

Here & Now is not trying to be clever theatre. It is trying to be a brilliant night out. And it absolutely succeeds.

www.goh.co.uk