Fans whooped and cheered as Steps’ Faye, Lee, Claire, H and Lisa headed onto the stage
Pop legends Steps stunned theatre-goers in Manchester(Image: Manchester Evening News)
Pop legends Steps stunned theatre-goers in Manchester – with a surprise performance on the opening night of their new musical Here and Now in the city.
All five members of the reunited band – Faye Tozer, Lee Latchford-Evans, Claire Richards, Ian “H” Watkins and Lisa Scott-Lee – were in attendance at Manchester Opera House for the press night of Here and Now on Thursday.
The musical played to rave reviews on its premiere run in Birmingham last year, and a new UK and Ireland tour has now begun, starting at the Opera House this week.
And on opening night in Manchester, fans were in for an unexpected finale.
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The show features a host of Steps’ biggest hits including Stomp, Better Best Forgotten, One For Sorrow, and 5,6, 7, 8 weaved around a new story, that sees a cast of characters working in a seaside superstore.
At the curtain call each night, the cast perform a megamix of Steps hits for audiences to sing and dance along to.
But to fans’ delight in Manchester, Steps themselves walked out to perform some of their chart-topping hits alongside the cast on opening night.
Faye, Claire, H, Lee and Lisa wore white and silver outfits as they walked out to huge cheers to perform their megahit Stomp with the cast from the show.
Then Claire thanked fans for their support of the show saying: “Thank you for continuing to make our dreams come true.”
Fans were in for an unexpected finale(Image: Manchester Evening News)
The band had earlier caused a stir when they walked the red carpet outside the theatre – and then took their seats inside the auditorium to huge cheers and whoops from fans in the crowd.
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A host of stars also headed to the show, including stars from Coronation Street and Waterloo Road.
Steps have previously told the MEN that Manchester was the “natural next stop for the show”, thanks to their hardcore fans based in the city.
Speaking to the MEN last year Faye said: “From the moment we started talking about this idea 7 years ago, to where it’s come to today with the incredible writers, creative team, we’ve got award-winning writers and directors, we are more than blown away with how this has turned out.
“We’ve been able to see the audience reactions for ourself in Birmingham, it has just been amazing, we feel so proud.”
The musical is produced by the band and ROYO with Pete Waterman, with an original book by Shaun Kitchener. It is directed by Rachel Kavanaugh and choreographed by Olivier Award winning Matt Cole.
The musical action begins at 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.
Faye Tower, Lee Latchford, Claire Richards, Ian “H” Watkins and Lisa Scott-Lee, band members of Steps (Image: Jason Roberts /Manchester Evening News)
Claire said of the story: “It’s more than a jukebox musical, the story has been so cleverly intertwined with the music, you almost forget until the megamix at the end, you almost forget that its Steps music.
“It feels like the songs have been written for this story. We’ve always said there’s more to our songs than most people think, there’s a lot of heartbreak and twists and turns, and it’s leant itself perfectly to this story.”
Lisa added: “We wanted the music to stand up for itself, it takes the audience on a different journey, even as artists, when we see the cast portray the story and sing the songs we’ve been singing for 27 years it’s quite overwhelming.
“I feel so blessed that we’ve all been able to achieve this. It’s a milestone in our careers, and some that many bands don’t achieve. We feel really, really lucky, the reaction has been fantastic and we can’t wait for people to see it in Manchester.”
As to what we can expect from the show, the band say there will be plenty for fans to enjoy.
Lee said: “If you’re a Steps fan there’s nods to our choreography as well. But we want people to just come in and watch the show and leave the theatre beaming.” H added: “There’s a brilliant moment which is fairly unexpected, 5,6,7,8 – it’s amazing. It’s a party with heart.”
Steps 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 and 11 sold-out national arena tours under their belts.
The band’s hits include chart-toppers 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 feature in the musical.
Here and Now is at the Opera House until September 13.