HERE AND NOW
Photo: Pamela Raith
Back in the mists of time I had a lodger who was a massive Steps fan, I was able to get tickets to see them live and as a treat took him along. I was not really a fan myself but after the show admitted that their music and their performance was special. I came away a convert.
Now we get a musical created around that music and that sense of fun. Here And Now is very much a jukebox musical, a feast of their pop triumphs strung around the story of a group of friends who work in a supermarket. If you think that the music is cheesy then you have no idea how cheesy this can get. Not that cheesy is necessarily a bad thing, far from it, but this is an evening of fun strung around those songs.
This is never going to win awards for dramatic content for sure, but what you get is a full on extravaganza of energy, costumes and talent. Never has so much talent and energy been thrown at the flimsiest tissue of a story. But that said it works and the audience lap it up. The joy though comes from the cast, an ensemble of dancers and singers who belt out hit after hit, deliver the story knowing that it is a bit of nonsense and make the whole an excellent seasonal treat as we head into Christmas.
And whilst I describe the story as thin there are moments when I genuinely laughed out loud, “You find me face down in a box of fondant fancies” being one of them.
Photo: Pamela Raith
But the real stars of the evening are the principals. Laura Denning is excellent as Caz, the voice simply soaring and she makes the very most of the role as the cheated on wife, desperate to be a mother and finally realising that she is the mother figure in her chosen family. Jacqui Dubois has comedy bones, a real delight and wow, what a voice, that woman can sing! As can Rosie Singha in the role of Neeta, she can really belt out a number and again make us laugh.
Photo: Pamela Raith
Blake Patrick Anderson is a delight as Robbie, the young gay man frightened of commitment and played so charmingly. He too can deliver the numbers with power. Jem is played by Ru Paul star River Medway, a role that they were born to play with a truly show stopping number in the second half with glitterball washing machines and more lurex then I have ever seen on a stage.
Photo: Pamela Raith
Finty Williams has the best lines in the show, all the real comedy coming from her delusional character as supermarket manager Patricia, lost in love to the crooked Max/Henri played by Edward Baker-Duly with that classic air of the upper class cad. Lauren Woolf’s Tracey gets some of the best lines and better gags in the piece and she know just how to deliver them. Ben Darcy’s lovely voice is not given enough to do and the same can be said of Chris Grahamson as Gareth who has a very fine and rich voice. John Stacey is very funny and particularly when he returns in the second half as an airline employee.
This is by far the campest theatrical manifestation I have ever seen, and I have seen camp writ large. It makes Priscilla Queen of the Desert look like a kitchen sink drama. It is enormous in every sense, loud, brash, silly, sumptuous and thoroughly entertaining. The ensemble work their neon pink socks off, the band belt out the tunes and I never thought I would see what I can only describe as trolleyography! Well it is set in a shocking pink and baby blue supermarket!
So much energy, so many familiar songs and so much glitter… I only wish that the story was as good as this very talented company, but that said, what a great night of fun.
Andrew Kay
2 December
Theatre Royal Brighton
Rating:
