One of the members of 90s pop group Steps will be taking to the stage as part of the cast of a jukebox musical when it plays Bristol in January. Lee Latchford-Evans has been announced in the supporting role of Lance in &Juliet, which is coming to the Bristol Hippodrome between Wednesday, January 15, and Saturday, January 25.
Lee will only be playing the role at certain venues when the hit musical embarks on the second leg of its tour across UK and Ireland in the new year. He’s set to alternate the role with Ranj Singh who will be performing at Wimbledon, Dublin, Bradford, Birmingham, Sheffield and Cardiff – Lee will take on the role when the tour reaches Bristol, Aberdeen, Leicester, Woking, Milton Keynes, Nottingham, Southend, Stoke, Newcastle, and Truro.
While having a successful career on stage, Lee is best known for being one fifth of the UK pop phenomenon Steps, the UK’s most successful mixed gender pop group of all time (with 14 top five singles, over 22 million record sales, 500 million streams, 11 sold out national tours, and awards including a prestigious Brit Award, and now making history by becoming the first British mixed gender group to achieve a number 1 in four consecutive decades).
This year saw Lee and his fellow band mates co-produce their own musical ‘Here & Now’, breaking all box office records at The Alexandra Theatre in Birmingham, where it played a limited run last month. This musical is set to embark on a UK and Ireland tour in September 2025.
In &Juliet, Lee joins the current tour cast members, Gerardine Sacdalan (Juliet), Lara Denning (Anne), Sandra Marvin (Angelique), Jack Danson (Romeo), Kyle Cox (Francois) and Jordan Broatch (May), as well as newly announced cast member Jay McGuiness of The Wanted, who plays Shakespeare at all venues between Bristol and Nottingham next year.
The show’s synopsis reads: “There is life after Romeo! Get whisked away on a fabulous journey as Juliet ditches her famous ending for a fresh beginning and a second chance at life and love—her way. Created by David West Read, the Emmy-winning writer from “Schitt’s Creek,” this hilarious new musical flips the script on the greatest love story ever told and asks, what would happen next if Juliet didn’t end it all over Romeo?
“Juliet’s new story bursts to life through a playlist of pop anthems as iconic as her name, including Britney Spears’ ‘…Baby One More Time’, Katy Perry’s ‘Roar’ and chart toppers ‘Since U Been Gone’, ‘It’s My Life’, ‘I Want It That Way’, and ‘Can’t Stop the Feeling’ — all from Max Martin, the genius songwriter/producer behind more #1 hits than any other artist this century, and his collaborators.
“Break free of the balcony scene and get into this romantic comedy that proves there’s life after Romeo. The only thing tragic would be missing it.”
Tickets for &Juliet at the Bristol Hippodrome in January are on sale now – book yours here.