Casting announcement for Here & Now

The producers of the brand-new musical HERE & NOW, presented by UK pop sensation, Steps, are delighted to announce that West End actress Lara Denning will take over the role of Caz and appear for the show’s run at The Grand Opera House York in February 2026.

Lara Denning recently finished playing Anne Hathaway in the UK and Ireland tour of & Juliet. Her extensive theatre credits include Standby Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard (Savoy Theatre), Miss Hedge in Everybody’s Talking About Jamie (Apollo Theatre), Doreen/Miss Elf in The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged 13 ¾ (The Ambassadors & Menier Chocolate Factory), Mrs Wormwood and Miss Honey in Matilda (Cambridge Theatre), Mrs Bucket in Charlie & The Chocolate Factory (Theatre Royal Drury Lane), Lex Logan in Eugenius! (Turbine Theatre), Mrs Mullin in Carousel(Kilworth House Theatre), Miss Hedge in Everybody’s Talking About Jamie (UK Tour), Mrs Cratchit in Scrooge The Musical (Curve Theatre, Leicester), The Rocky Horror Show (European Tour), Gotta Sing, Gotta Dance (UK Tour), All the Fun of the Fair (UK Tour) and Dirty Dancing in Concert (UK Tour). Her TV and film credits include: Rosalind in I Came By (New Regency/Film4), singer for Matilda (Sony Pictures), Ruthless The Musical (BroadwayHD), Dick Whittington (UK cinema release/Kaleidoscope), Glass Body (short film), Leave a Light On (online concert), Menthos (commercial), and various recordings including The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged 13 ¾, The Little Big Things (promo), Toast of London (Channel 4) and Dear Evan Hansen (Noël Coward Theatre).

Welcome to seaside superstore 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. Have they all lost their chance of a ‘happy ever after’? Or does love have other plans in store…

Featuring Steps most beloved hit songs, HERE & NOW has an original book by Shaun Kitchener and is produced by the band and ROYO with Pete Waterman. It is directed by Rachel Kavanaugh, with choreography by Olivier Award-winning Matt Cole and Matt Spencer-Smith as musical supervisor, orchestrator and arranger.

Here & Now plays at The Grand Opera House York in Feb 26. Tickets are available here.