Joyous celebration of life - and the music of Steps!

She’s playing Caz, the leading lady on a joyous night in the theatre, but given that it’s a long tour ahead and that she sings 95 per cent of the score, Lara really, really does have to look after herself along the way

“I have to be very disciplined. I have a big routine that I follow and I don't usually speak between 10:30 and 12:00 in the morning and I drink lots and lots and lots of water. I have a full warm-up and I use what's called a nebuliser.

“I barely go out and I don't have a life!” she laughs. But it is more than worth it to be taking part in a show she adores. Here & Now – The Steps Musical plays Theatre Royal Brighton from December 2-13 and Southampton’s Mayflower Theatre from January 20-24.

“When people first heard about it, I think a lot of people thought that it was going to be a Steps biography. It is not. It has been written by Shaun Kitchener and what he has done is woven these amazing characters into the Step songs and it's just so much fun. It takes the joy and the friendship and the love and the disappointment that we all experience as human beings and it peppers it all up with this great music and lots of fun..

“It is set in Southend in a supermarket called Better Best Bargains. Shaun comes from there and I think he's written about what he knows. Caz is the leading lady of the piece. She's got friends Vel, Robbie and Neeta, and Caz is just about to turn 50. She is someone who looks like she's got her life together and she is just about to embark on something very exciting with her husband but then everything goes wrong for her, but during this she says ‘I'm about to turn 50 so let's make this our big summer extravaganza!’ She is in such a positive mood.

“I think everybody knows a Caz. What I love about her is that everybody who sees the show says that they know someone just like her, a woman whon is kind-hearted and mum to everybody and who seemingly has got her whole life sorted out. She's the glue that keeps everybody together and I love that about her. When I'm doing the show, I keep that in mind that that is what she does.”

It helps that Lara comes to it as a huge fan of Steps: “I was a massive fan. I remember in woodwork at school and 5, 6, 7, 8 had just come out. And my teacher was so lovely. He would stop everything and we would do the choreography to 5, 6, 7, 8 during woodwork. My woodwork was awful but my choreography was great!”

Lara’s previous credits include Aunt Fanny in The Famous Five (Theatr Clwyd and Chichester Festival Theatre), a show she loved: “It was my first time in Chichester and I had a blast. The show was so lovely. There were so many gorgeous things happening in there.”

She was also in the area with & Juliet, which played The Mayflower in Southampton: “That was another show that I love just for the same reasons I love this one, just in the way that it brings joy and escapism to everybody.”