Review: Stepping Out, Joseph Rowntree Theatre

8:31am Friday 27th October 2006

THE most diverse people come together in the funniest of ways.

This idea is crystallised in Richard Harris and Dennis King's musical, Stepping Out, currently showing at York's Joseph Rowntree Theatre, performed by York Stage Musicals.

The tale spans a year in the life of a weekly tap dancing class and the lives and loves of the nine women and one man who attend.

The audience is thrown right in the thick of it, with the gaggle of women (and shy widower, Geoffrey, sympathetically played by John Hall) setting the scene with a tap routine and opening song, One Night A Week.

The characters soon emerge, notably the anxious, awkward Dorothy, a singleton who cares for her elderly mother, who is undoubtedly the worst "tapper" in the class, brilliantly played by Mandy Oxley, whose impeccable comic timing won plenty of laughs; brassy, bubbly Maxine (Sarah Barker), whose "front" hides another side to her personality; and posh, cleaning-obsessed Vera, whose foot is never far away from her mouth, convincingly portrayed by Sandy Nicholson. As the characters' individual stories are played out through dance, song and conversations about men, and what each wants out of life, what is revealed to the audience is that life, as we all know, is not always what it appears to be.

But, nonetheless, the characters trudge on and deal with their lots or not, as the case may be.

As is always the way in life, some people get on and others don't, and even though this is a warm comedy with plenty of laughs to be had, the audience soon becomes aware of some of the tensions building up between the characters, which inevitably come to a head, with revealing consequences.

One criticism: at nearly three hours long, the show could have done with some trimming down here and there, as at times the pace of it starts to drag.

However, with its glitzy, spangled finale and warm comic resonance which rung around the theatre even after the final bars had been sung, Stepping Out left the audience with a smile on their collective face, and a feeling that life isn't so bad after all.

• Stepping Out, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, until tomorrow.