Something's Afoot - Original World Premier Studio Cast (2020)

EU import

Warning: extremely self-indulgent post follows.

Something's Afoot is a murder mystery comic musical spoof which had a brief run on Broadway of 61 performances back in May through July of 1976. The Showtime cable channel aired a filmed stage production in 1982 starring Jean Stapleton and Andy Gibb. The plot, liberally stolen from Agatha Christie's 1939 book And Then There Were None, is recapped on Wikipedia. The 1976 Broadway run was so brief, in fact, that a cast recording was not released. However, this studio recording was finally made in 2020 with London actors/singers and is the first professional recording of the material. The performances here are great and this CD makes for a great souvenir of the show.

Despite being a Broadway flop, the musical has had a long life in regional, community, and school theater performances. And that's where I come in.

Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: Did not chart

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: In the fall of 1982, I participated in our high school's production of Something's Afoot, playing the role of Nigel, described in the script as "the dissolute nephew." I can't find that our performances were ever recorded - that's probably for the best - so this 'studio cast' album was purchased in order to hear these show tunes once again. Stream-of-consciousness random thoughts about my experiences in that 1982 production follow.

I believe the illustration on the program cover was intended to be a tombstone - for a murder mystery, ya know? - but somehow (through poor communication? poor sketches?) that morphed into a sardine can? Ah, high school. The show had two performances, one on a Thursday and another the following Saturday. More than half of the cast and crew, including myself, was in the marching band and had to perform at a football playoff game on Friday. Looking back, that seems like a lot of work for only two performances.

The show's program had short blurbs about each cast member - activities, previous productions, future plans, etc. - written by another member of the cast with our input. Mine stated that I spent my time "listening to New Wave records" so they got that right. After listing the activities with which I was involved (band, choir, etc.), the blurb went on to read "Mark's plans for the future include medical school in preparation for becoming a pediatrician." Any thoughts of a career in medicine vanished when I awoke to the fact I didn't care much for my science courses and, reportedly, there's a lot of those involved in medical training.

We had a fresh-out-of-college new theatre teacher/drama coach at our high school that fall. My friends and I were very excited to meet her and start the school year with a musical production. There really weren't any stand-out actors in the senior class, so my junior class brethren and I took to the auditions like top dogs, confident we would be getting the leading roles we wanted. Plus, we had brand-spankin'-new drivers licenses and wouldn't have to rely on others to get to rehearsals. We were on top of the world! Unfortunately, that feeling didn't last long after the auditions. Not familiar with the students or the school in any way, the new director wisely made two choices: 1) her first production would be something with which she was familiar, having recently participated in a production of Something's Afoot as a college undergrad, and 2) not even a decade older than her students, she would understandably adopt a tough, no smiling, always-in-charge demeanor. Fools not suffered gladly.

As the school year began, my close friend Scott, easily the best actor on campus, had just returned from a 3 or 4 week summer drama camp at The University of Texas at Austin. Serendipitously, during the time of the drama camp, the college students at UT produced Something's Afoot, so Scott was already quite familiar with the show and knew exactly what role he wanted: Nigel, the dissolute nephew. I auditioned for the show's romantic lead role, Geoffrey. Geoffrey got the girl and enjoyed the most onstage time of all male roles, so my ego and I both figured that role would go to me since Scott didn't want it.

Needless to say, I didn't get the role I desired; I got the part Scott wanted. And since Scott talked about his recent drama camp experiences more than any of us really wanted to hear, the new director decided to knock him down a peg by giving him a smaller role. We all persevered and enjoyed the show because it was a more professional production than we had been involved in previously. We designed and built a more-than-respectable set, there was advertising and promotion, technical aspects were upgraded, and, most importantly to us cast members: the local newspaper was sending out their critic to review the show. My name or character didn't merit a mention in said review, but it was written that "there was not a bad performance in the group" so I'll count that as a win.

Above is the only picture I could find of the cast and I'm afraid it's not very good. My best guess is that we're all onstage following a performance, but I have no idea what we're all looking at or why some of us are attempting a chorus line kick. I'm the skinny kid fourth from the left in the tuxedo holding onto a drink with two hands (a little more foreshadowing there than I'm comfortable admitting right now). The girl in blue to my left was my girlfriend at the time. We would continue to see each other off and on throughout our junior and senior years, but, to be honest, since I had no idea how to properly handle a steady girlfriend, my ignorance caused things to completely deteriorate - I take full responsibility for screwing up that relationship. And, from the "small world" department: the girl second from the right is currently my dental hygienist.

Off the top of my head, I can think of at least three cast and crew members who are no longer with us including my dear friend Scott and the aforementioned then-"fresh-out-of-college new theatre teacher/drama coach." Admittedly, those losses put a damper on the hearing of these songs these days.

Ultimately, it turned out I liked the idea of being part of a production more than actually being part of a production, so I can count the number of my acting roles subsequent to this show on one hand. However, I enjoyed the time spent with my friends in the cast and crew (isn't there a Motörhead song about "teenage, backstage, sex, and outrage"?). My character, Nigel, sang the first solo in Act 2 (The Legal Heir, track 9 on this CD) before - spoiler alert! - getting killed off by an automated wall sconce. In spite of the fact that my character barely lasted more than one act, I think it was my best role in high school.