Rita Simons, Harriet Thorpe, Hayley Tamaddon, Leanne Jones & Wendi Peters star in the new tour of STEPPING OUT
A new UK tour of Richard Harris’ Stepping Out has been announced, starring Rita Simons, Harriet Thorpe, Hayley Tamaddon, Leanne Jones and Wendi Peters, opening on 5 September at Kings Theatre Portsmouth.
Stepping Out 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. Mavis, a former professional dancer, teaches a troupe of adult would-be tappers, but before the dancing starts, she must mediate the drama that erupts between this group of students of different ages and from disparate backgrounds until love and friendship unites them all.
The cast features Hayley Tamaddon (Emmerdale, Chicago) as Mavis, Wendi Peters (Coronation Street) as Vera, Rita Simon (EastEnders, Hairspray) as Maxine, Harriet Thorpe (Absolutely Fabulous) as Dorothy, and Leanne Jones as Sylvia (Hairspray).
Completing the cast are 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, and sound by David Hart for Seventh Wave Audio.
Following its opening in Portsmouth, the show will visit Dartford, Cardiff, Truro, Peterborough, Barnstaple, High Wycombe, Cheltenham and Eastbourne, with further dates to be added.
