STEPPING Out, the musical adapted from the play by Richard Harris, is the funny and heartwarming story of seven women, one man, their dance teacher and a pianist, who meet up in a church hall for their weekly tap dance class.

As the story unfolds, we learn about the personalities of each character and their troubles through the songs; there is ex-dancer Mavis (Cassandra Fisher), who runs the class, having been a West End understudy who never got the chance to go on stage before giving up the dream; sparky loud-mouth Sylvia (Julie Baker); shy and serious Andy (Emma Holmes), the delightfully snobbish Vera (Freddie Underwood), who speaks her mind and has an obsession with cleaning; confident and mouthy Maxine (Liz Sharman), who is always trying to sell everyone clothes all the time; anxious Dorothy (Tor Burt), who is over enthusiastic in her dancing; nervous nurse Lynne (Amber Weyman) who is very serious about dancing, larger than life Rose (Lou Cox) and insurance salesman Geoffrey (Craig Fisher), the lone widowed male, who seems to be scared of women, along with the sharp-tongued Mrs Fraser (Susan Braunton) at the piano.

Initially, the group is all left feet and seem to be having trouble getting the basics, when they are asked to perform in a charity gala. This throws the group into a panic at the prospect of having to learn a proper routine – complete with top hats and canes – well enough to perform in public. The strain exposes their differences, leading to confrontation between several of the characters, which has to be resolved before they can pull together for the big glitzy finale – which is superbly danced.

I really enjoyed this performance, particularly the dancing, which brought back many memories for me. as I too attended a weekly adult tap class in a local hall. performing in a show every couple of years - in fact the choreographer for the big finale is my old dance teacher, Jacqui Davidson (the rest of the show was choreographed by Cassandra Fisher).

Whilst the acting and singing is very good, I though there were far too many songs (around 15), which made the show very long (three hours including the 20 minute interval) and I think several could be dropped without detracting from the story. Apart from that, I would thoroughly recommend the show. On until June 11.