SOMETHING'S AFOOT A Murder/Mystery Musical in 2 acts: Book, Music and Lyrics by James McDonald, David Vos and Robert Gerlach. Additional music by Ed Linderman. LyceumTheatre Broadway - 27 May, 1976 (61 perfs) SYNOPSIS Scored for eight instruments (but can be performed with one piano) this play is a musical spoof of the whodunnit genre which takes a strong satirical poke at Agatha Christie murder mysteries as well as at many musical styles of past years. Ten people are stranded in an isolated English country estate during a raging thunderstorm. One by one they are picked off by cleverly fiendish devices. The bodies begin to pile up in the library as the survivors frantically race to discover the identity and motivation of the cunning culprit. An engaging, funny, refreshing and original musical." New York Post STORY Act 1 In the country estate of Lord Dudley Rancour in the English lake district in late Spring, 1935, Dudley's servants; Clive, the overworked widower butler, Lettie, the new maid, and Flint, the "gripper" handyman, prepare for the arrival of guests. The guests; flighty Hope Langdon, proper Doctor Grayburn, black sheep nephew Nigel Rancour, supposedly French grande dame Lady Manley-Prowe, retired military Colonel Gillweather, and artist/detective Miss Tweed express surprise at the presence of other guests, but look forward to their stay. Soon after they arrive, Clive announces that a storm has made the estate inaccessible, the power is in danger, Lord Rancour is dead, and that dinner is served. He is immediately killed when the staircase explodes. Miss Tweed appoints herself as leader of the survivors, and they express surprise that "the butler didn't do it". Doctor Grayburn discovers that Lord Rancour has been shot, and that the revolver is missing. The men leave to confirm that the bridge is flooding, leaving the women alone. Miss Tweed, Hope, and Lettie comfort Lady Manley-Prowe about her fears and the women patrol the mansion with ornamental spears. Geoffrey, a college student, arrives in the mansion drenched, and is immediately tied and interrogated by the women. When the men return, they examine him and find a pistol, but they find that it is a starting pistol for his college's rowing team. He suggests that they telephone for help, but they find that the wire on every telephone has been cut with Flint's garden shears. Doctor Grayburn is tricked into answering a ringing telephone emerging from the wall, which gasses and kills him. Geoffrey and Hope are left in a room together, and they find that they have fallen in love. Nigel confronts Lady Manley-Prowe about a letter he finds from her begging Lord Rancour for money. She reveals that she is the ex-wife of Lord Rancour, and that they divorced after she had an affair with an army lieutenant named Shirley. Nigel enlists her in his search for Rancour's will, in which he expects to be named the legal heir. While trying to distract Colonel Gillweather from Nigel's search, she discovers that he is the same Shirley, and the two reunite. She tells him that she had had his child, but that Lord Rancour had taken it from her to make it his heir. Nigel discovers the two of them, and they bicker until Miss Tweed interrupts. Geoffrey discovers a gun on Clive's body. Miss Tweed examines the clues, but she herself is under suspicion by the other guests because she "knows too much indeed." The power suddenly goes out. The Colonel yells to flip the light switch, and it electrocutes Lady Manley-Prowe when she tries to turn it on, killing her too.sa-plb Act 2
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