STEPPING OUT Taps Away in the West End, Starting Tonight

Natalie Casey joins the previously announced Amanda Holden, Tracy-Ann Oberman, Tamzin Outhwaite and Nicola Stephenson in heart-warming comedy Stepping Out when it opens in London this Spring. Directed by Maria Friedman, this brand new staging of Richard Harris's award-winning play which toured UK venues last year, will open at West End's Vaudeville Theatre with preview performances from tonight 1 March 2017 and opening night for press on 14 March 2017.

Further cast in the West End production of Stepping Out include Judith Barker, Jessica-Alice McCluskey, Sandra Marvin and Dominic Rowan with Janet Behan, Suzy Bloom, Emma Hook, Marcia Mantack, Katie Verner and Nick Warnford.

Stepping Out charts the lives of seven women and one man attempting to tap their troubles away at a weekly dancing class. Initially all thumbs and left feet, the group is just getting to grips with the basics when they are asked to take part in a charity gala. Over the course of several months we meet the group, and all of them have a story to tell. There's perfectionist Vera, mouthy Maxine and uptight Andy, bubbly Sylvia and shy Dorothy, eager Lynne and cheerful Rose, and, of course, Geoffrey. At the piano is the dour Mrs Fraser and spurring them all on, the ever-patient Mavis.

This uplifting comedy originally premiered in the West End in 1984 starring Barbara Ferris and Marcia Warren, winning the prestigious Evening Standard Award for Best Comedy and enjoying extended runs both in the West End and on Broadway. Stepping Out has also been made into a musical, which became a film in 1991, starring Julie Walters, Liza Minnelli and Shelley Winters.

One of the UK's best-loved personalities, Amanda Holden plays Vera. Nominated for an Olivier Award in 2004 for her leading role in Thoroughly Modern Millie, she also starred in the U.K. premiere of Shrek The Musical as Princess Fiona. Her numerous television credits include Wild at Heart, Kiss Me Kate, The Grimleys, Big Top and This Morning. She has been a judge on the award-winning Britain's Got Talent throughout all of its ten series.

Natalie Casey is well known to TV audiences as playing Carol Groves in Hollyoaks and Donna Henshaw in Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps. West End theatre credits include Fame, Legally Blonde, Well and Abigail's Party with other stage work including 9 to 5, Hobson's Choice, The Wedding Singer, The Vagina Monologues and Oklahoma!

Tracy-Ann Oberman played Chrissie Watts on EastEnders, and has also worked extensively with the RSC and National Theatre. She appeared with Kenneth Branagh in Edmond, and in the West End run of Boeing-Boeing. Her television appearances also include Toast of London, Friday Night Dinner and New Tricks.

Tamzin Outhwaite is well-known for the role of Melanie Healy in EastEnders which she played for four years. Her stage credits have included West End productions of Sweet Charity, Boeing-Boeing and How The Other Half Loves.

Nicola Stephenson's many television credits include Brookside, Holby City and Emmerdale. Her stage credits include War Horse in the West End and roles with the National Theatre and the Royal Shakespeare Company.

Best known as a three-time Olivier Award winning star of the musical stage (with seven nominations), director Maria Friedman made an astonishing directorial debut in 2012 with a hugely acclaimed production of Merrily We Roll Along. In 2005 she won the award for Best Debut Performer on Broadway for Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Woman in White.

A prolific writer for both television and stage, Richard Harris's credits include A Touch of Frost, Shoestring, The Darling Buds of May, The Last Detective, and Outside Edge, which won the Writer's Guild Best Comedy Award, the British Comedy Award for Best Comedy Drama Series and the Television and Radio Industries Club Award for Best Comedy.

Presented by Theatre Royal Bath Productions and the James Grant Group, Stepping Out is directed by Maria Friedman, designed by Robert Jones and choreographed by Tim Jackson with lighting design by Peter Mumford, sound design by Gregory Clarke and orchestrations by Christopher Walker.

For more, visit www.steppingoutplay.com.