Dust off your tap shoes and join an unlikely group of adult dancers for the acclaimed comedy by Richard Harris – STEPPING OUT. The award-winning play (adapted into a movie in 1991 with Liza Minnelli and Julie Walters) has been reworked by Richard to be set in the present day.
It follows a group of tap dancers who are under the tutelage of a former professional. Mavis, teaches a troupe of bumbling adult tappers, but before the dancing starts, she must mediate the drama that erupts between this motley but loveable crew. A couple of tantrums and time steps later, it’s love and friendship that unites them all!
What a cast they have lined up for the tour, which opens in September in Portsmouth, making its way to us by the 19th at the New Theatre in Cardiff.
Back in the day the show won the Evening Standard Theatre Award for Best Comedy when it originally opened in London’s West End in 1984 and the film version in 1991 was directed by Lewis Gilbert and starred Liza Minnelli and Julie Walters. Richard Harris has worked with the team on this new stage production to update the play and set it in the 2020s.
And you can see from the poster the brilliant cast of familiar faces we’ll have on this tour……
HAYLEY TAMADDON plays Mavis. She first shot to fame playing Delilah Dingle in Emmerdale. Other leading roles include Zoe in Waterloo Road, Calista in Shameless and Andrea Beckett in Coronation Street. Her theatre work includes The Lady Of The Lake in the UK Tour of Spamalot, Roxie Hart in the UK Tour of Chicago, Millie in the UK Tour of Thoroughly Modern Millie and Miss Hedge in Everybody’s Talking about Jamie in London’s West End.
WENDI PETERS, who plays Vera, is best known for her role as Cilla Battersby Brown in Coronation Street. Wendi played the recurring character Cook Jenkins in Hetty Feather (BBC) and her other television credits include Lynda Babbage in Midsomer Murders (ITV), Nicky Connelly in Doctors (BBC), Queen Shania in Hacker Time (BBC), Kelly in Sadie J (BBC), Marion in Crime Stories (ITV) and ‘Podger’ Pam Jolly in Bad Girls (ITV).
RITA SIMON plays Maxine and is best known for playing Roxy Mitchell in EastEnders. Most recently Rita played Velma Von Tussle in Hairspray at the London Coliseum. Previous to this, her credits include Lisa Prescott in The Krays: Dead Man Walking, an untold chapter from the notorious legend of the Kray Twins, Caro Harcourt in the UK Tour of Peter James’s The House in Cold Hill and Miss Hedge in Everybody’s Talking About Jamie at London’s Apollo Theatre.
Playing Dorothy is HARRIET THORPE, who is best known for her roles as Carole in The Brittas Empire and Fleur in Absolutely Fabulous. Work with French and Saunders includes Girls on Top, the French and Saunders series Mirrorball and The Life and Times of Vivienne Vyle. Work with Victoria Wood includes Victoria Wood’s Mid Life Christmas, Victoria Wood’s Short Term Memories and Victoria Wood MoonWalking.
LEANNE JONES, who plays Sylvia, made her professional debut as Tracy Turnblad opposite Michael Ball in Hairspray at the Shaftesbury Theatre in London’s West End, for which, Leanne won the Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical, the Critics’ Circle Award for Best Newcomer and the Theatregoers Choice Award for Best Actress in a Musical. On television, she has appeared in Unforgotten. She also appeared in Tom Hooper’s film musical CATS.
Also in the cast will be Elizabeth Power as Mrs Fraser, Deborah Tracey as Rose, Charlotte Bloomsbury as Andy, Nicole Deon as Lynne and Tom Kanji as Geoffrey.
STEPPING OUT will be directed by Dan Phillips and choreographed by Joanna Goodwin, with set and costume design by Cory Shipp, lighting design by XX and sound design by David Hart for Seventh Wave Audio.
It dances its way into the New Theatre in Cardiff from Monday 19th through to Saturday 14th September with performances at 7:30pm each eveing. There’s also a 2:30pm matinee on Thursday and Saturday. Tickets range from £27 to £40, with a variety of concessions along the way. For more details, and to get yours, go HERE.