Something Strange (Musical)

## Something Strange

*Not to be confused with Something Strange Part One (Song) or Something Strange Part Two (Song).*

## Information

Something Strange is a Comedy-ish Scifi musical involving one dead girl, her missing father and brother, and three young upcoming journalists trying to figure the whole story out. Join our teenaged trio to uncover the Lowery Mystery.

## Synopsis

### Act One

The show opens with the late **Catrina Lowery** introducing the audience to the events leading up to this point, such as her death, and the trio making their way to where they believe the mysterious **Vincent Lowery**, Catrina’s father, is. [*Something Strange Part One*] The trio stand outside the gate of what is commonly believed to be an abandoned facility, and are about to go in, when **Andrew Maple** remarks that he believes something strange is in the air. [*Something Strange Part Two]* **Gabriella Neglotski** believes he’s just being silly, and together with **Rose Russyl**, they head inside.

On the inside, Jacob, otherwise known as **Jack Lowery** can tell that something is crawling closer, and this time it’s not one of Vincent’s creatures that he makes in his lab. Jack believes that if he can’t get rid of whatever is coming, he’s worthless. [Better Off Dead] Gabriella, Rose, and Andrew enter with a bang. Gabriella, using her trusty weapon, a rusty pipe, knocks out Jack.

Gabriella and Rose wonder what they should do with Jack. Andrew believes they should let him go, or at least ask him a few questions. Gabriella dismisses Andrew’s opinion, and explains that her gut feeling believes Jack is no good. [*My Ever So Strong Gut Feeling*] Jack wakes up and demands answers from the trio. Gabriella thinks they shouldn’t give anything away. However, Andrew is quick to introduce himself… and give their identities away, much to Gabriella’s chagrin. Jack goes off about how illegal this all is, and demands answers to why they are here once again. Rose and Andrew explain they are here to figure out the mystery of Vincent Lowery. Jack promptly loses his marbles at this, causing Rose to catch on that Jack knows something. She asks for more information on Vincent, which Jack denies to give her. Rose doesn’t give up though, and asks Jack if he’s sure he can’t give her anything more. [*Are You Sure of That?*] Jack gets sick of the trio’s shenanigans and runs off.

Meanwhile, Vincent is cooking up trouble in his lab. A large machine containing a silhouette of one seemingly normal person is present in the room. Vincent explains that he believes he has finally recreated his deceased daughter, and will finally have a complete family again. Vincent presses a big blue button, and the machine opens to reveal **The Creatures**, Leslie & Alexis. Vincent becomes distraught, and calls the girls monsters, much to their dismay. The girls attempt to leave, but are stopped by Vincent, who states he needs to retrace his steps to find where he went wrong. [*Retracing Steps*] Jack enters in a huff, and tries to tell his father about the intruders. Vincent becomes angered with Jack, and orders him not to interrupt him when he’s busy. Jack tells his father that it’s different this time, and that there are intruders in the facility. Vincent believes it is a miracle, causing Jack to become confused. Vincent goes on to explain that once one of the “stupid pests” comes into his sight, they will be “dealt with.” By this, he means locking them in a room. Which offscreen, Vincent, with the reluctant help of The Creatures, does.

In said locked room, Gabriella is enraged that she didn’t even get to ask Vincent a single question. However, Rose is happy that they at least know he’s alive. Gabriella pushes that aside, and kicks and tugs at the door to be let out. Jack, hearing the commotion, approaches the door and shouts. The Trio then realize that there is an opportunity at hand, and they take it. The Trio tries to convince Jack to let them out by promising to not hurt him. Jack is unconvinced. All he wants the reason they came. Rose tells him that they are only there to learn about and interview Vincent, but he doesn’t believe it’s the full story. Andrew pipes up and feeds into this. He then tells Jack that if he lets them go, they will “elaborate…more.” Jack accepts this, and lets them go, only for them to run right past him and into another part of the building. Jack gives up and retreats to the lab.

In the lab, Jack worries about how furious his father would be if he finds out he let the trio go, and how stupid of a move it was. [*STUPID!*] Vincent enters, furious. He seems to already have figured it out. Jack successfully cons his father into believing they escaped on their own, and Vincent remarks that they need to be found and exterminated. The use of the word exterminated alarms Jack, and he questions his father on it. Vincent goes on to tell Jack that “It may seem cruel, but it has to be done. With them poking around, who knows what they’ll stumble upon. We can’t let them discover our little secret, can we?” Jack feels ill because of this statement, and decides to go and lay down. Little do either Jack or Vincent know, someone was watching their conversation.

Jack falls asleep, and we get a flash to the past. We see a young Jack, accompanied by his twin sister, Catrina, at the age of 10, go to ask Vincent if they can preform their magic show, named Something Strange, for him. Vincent, in the middle of doing important lab work, tells the twins to go preform it for their mother, **Anastasia Lowery**, as he doesn’t want them in his lab so they don’t get hurt. The twins tell him they have already preformed it for her three times, but he still makes them leave, much to their disappointment. Vincent turns back around and continues his work, unaware that the curious daughter of his has came back into the room to see what he’s doing. Vincent accidentally adds the wrong chemicals together, and takes cover on the other side of the room, when only then, he notices Catrina is still there. Catrina, unaware of what’s to come, runs closer to the chemical mixture, when only then, it explodes, damaging the whole side of the room it and Catrina were located on, while also swarming it with fog. The fog clears, and Vincent hurries to see what’s been done, to reveal Catrina, on the floor. They rush Catrina to the hospital, and await outside her hospital room for answers. Anastasia assures Vincent and Jack that things will turn out alright. [*The Lowery Family*] A doctor exits the room and informs the family that Catrina has passed on.

Jack wakes up, saddened by the memory, [*Catrina*] only to be greeted by Gabriella. Jack is alarmed, and wonders why on earth she’s there. Gabriella explains to Jack that she has questions that she needs to ask him. Jack tells Gabriella that she’s crazy. Gabriella informs Jack that he’s not alone on thinking that, and remarks about how people laugh at her and say she’s “looney tunes after so much loss”. Jack reluctantly agrees to answering Gabriella’s questions, but they have to follow his rules. Gabriella is appalled by this, and the two argue. [*Power Struggle!*] The two decide to form a truce, but as soon as Gabriella is about to ask her questions, Vincent calls for Jack.

Gabriella retreats back to Andrew and Rose, where she laments about how they haven’t gotten any new information. Rose decides to come forward that she snooped on Vincent and Jack’s conversation from the night before about them being exterminated. [*What I Heard Last Night!*] Gabriella believes that the trio should die in the name of journalism, which baffles Rose and Andrew. The trio lament about being slightly terrified and not knowing what to do. [*Exterminated (Pre-Reprise)*] Gabriella excuses herself, and exits to be alone.

The Creatures, having snuck into another room from the lab, sit around, bored. They start to mock Vincent, until Gabriella enters. The Creatures hide behind a tipped over cabinet, as Gabriella monologues about her sad past to herself. [*Remembrance*]. As the Creatures sneak away, Jack enters, having heard the whole ordeal. Jack sweetly tries to comfort Gabriella, explaining how he feels a similar way to her, and that she isn’t alone. Gabriella finds comfort in this…until she doesn’t. She accuses Jack of trying to gain her trust and being sweet with her just to betray her and “exterminate” her. He tries to explain himself, but Gabriella does not care, and she leaves. Jack, sadly exits the other way. Catrina, being young, thinks Jack has a crush on Gabriella. [*At Last!*]

Meanwhile, Anastasia laments to her sister, **Lulu-Amina Areberry,** about how she’s searched almost everywhere and still hasn’t found Jack. Anastasia believes that Jack has probably forgotten her, and couldn’t care less about returning home. Lulu insists that it isn’t true, and urges her to look just one more time. Anastasia, encouraged by her sister’s words, heads out to look even closer and even farther. [*Too Much*]

Gabriella, feeling bad, comes to Jack to apologize and ask for a bit of help. Jack is delighted to hear this, hoping maybe they can be friends, and asks Gabriella what she needs help with. Gabriella explains that the Trio has decided that they need to leave. He is surprised by this, and asks “What about journalism? Hasn’t this been like..your life’s work or something?” Gabriella goes on to tell him that Rose heard about what Vincent said about “extermination”, and that they decided in order to live, they have to leave. Jack promises to help them escape, as long as she promises to not tell anyone about him or his father, because if word got out about the whole “bringing Cat back to life” thing, Vincent would literally kill him. Gabriella agrees to this, but tells Jack that he should just come with her. Jack turns this idea down, not wanting to abandon his already unhinged father. Gabriella tries to change his choice, but Jack has already made up his mind. After making an escape plan, the two part ways to get ready to initiate it.

Jack, accompanied by The Creatures, distracts Vincent so The Trio can get to the door. [An Idea That’s TOTALLY Not a Distraction at ALL!] Once distracted with the Creatures, Jack sneaks away to bid the trio farewell. As Andrew and Rose exit, Gabriella gives Jack something to remember her by: A bracelet. He is confused by this, thinking she had next to no positive feelings about him. But he accepts it nonetheless. Gabriella leaves, and Jack sits down, lonely once again. [Stupid (Reprise)] Vincent enters, and seeing the bracelet, is furious. He tears the thing out of Jack’s hands in rage and stuffs it in his pocket. Promptly, Vincent puts his hands around Jack’s throat and begins to strangle him. [Last Hurrah] Jack drops to the floor, and Vincent retreats to his lab, slamming the door behind him.

### Act Two

The act opens from beyond the grave with the **People of the Void,** otherwise known as the late **Mrs. Neglotski & Dr. Neglotski,** (Gabriella’s parents), **Jake Neglotski & Rebecca Sawyer**, (A far back relative of Gabriella and his best friend, who both died extremely young.) & of course, Catrina. Catrina worries that Jack is going to die, and wishes that she hadn’t been so curious, then the whole thing would never have happened. The group comforts her, as Mrs. Neglotski comes up with a plan. She believes that Gabriella’s gut feeling will tell her that Jack is in danger, and she will return to help him. [*One Problem at a Time*]

Back with the living, Gabriella starts to have a bad feeling as she and the others walk home. [*My Ever So Strong Gut Feeling (Reprise)*] She decides that she needs to return, as she believes Jack is in trouble. As she leaves, Andrew and Rose get bored and reminisce about their past. [*The Promise*]. At this moment, Anastasia comes through looking desperately for her son. Andrew and Rose get confused by the way Anastasia is talking, and are no help. She passes them by, and they continue walking home.

Meanwhile in the lab, Vincent ponders to himself about the weight of his decision, believing Jack to be completely dead. Catrina reprimands Vincent from the void, and he finally starts to feel bad about his actions. [*Exterminated*]. However, Vincent talks himself out of this feeling as he travels to a back alley to dispose of Jack. After around half an hour, Gabriella crosses through this alley on her way to the factory. Looking for a map, she fishes through the rubbish, only to find Jack, carelessly tossed behind a couple of trash cans. [*Soon*] Jack wakes up in a tizzy, and tells Gabriella that they need to find his father so he can “pay”. Gabriella doesn’t believe that this is a spectacular idea, and the two agree that they should just confront him. As they exit, People of the Void appear to discuss the recent events. [*Jack’s Choice*]

Gabriella and Jack meet up with the others, and as a group they venture on to confront Vincent…That is until a familiar face comes onto the scene. Completing her goal, Anastasia finally finds Jack after all this time. She tells Jack that they can finally return home together after Vincent is found. [*Home*].

The group finally find Vincent, standing on the bridge over the “little secret”. A giant pit of acid. Vincent notices the group, more specifically Jack, who to his surprise is alive. [*Vincent’s Last Stand Pt. 1*] Anastasia yells at the man, and asks him what the whole ordeal is for. Vincent explains that the acid is merely for more efficient extermination, and that he knew he’d need a more drastic option since he found the bracelet Gabriella gave Jack. Vincent proceeds to grab Gabriella and threaten to throw her over, but Jack steps in his way. He shouts at his father, but it isn’t any use. Vincent just calls him stupid and rolls his eyes. He goes on to ask Jack if he really even cares about Catrina. Jack tells him that he isn’t stupid, and that he does care about Catrina, but that none of this is about Catrina. It’s all about Vincent, and that if he truly cared about Catrina, he’d care about his son, too. [*The Son Who Was*] Vincent gets angry at this, and charges at Jack, causing the side of the frail bridge they were standing on to break, leaving Jack and Vincent dangling off of it, holding on for dear life. Vincent begins to “apologise” for his actions, then quickly turns it into a sour remark. He then attempts to pry Jack’s fingers off the ledge, but fails, loosening his grip. Vincent attempts to apologise for real, but it’s no use. [*Vincent’s Last Stand Pt. 2*] Vincent lets go of the bridge, and falls to his death. Gabriella helps Jack up, and Andrew, Rose, and Anastasia exit. Jack tells Gabriella about feeling like a horrible person because of his dad, but Gabriella assures him that he’s anything but horrible. She then goes on to tell him that it’s all in the past, and it’s the start of a new era. [*End of an Era*] [*Finale*]

## Trivia

* While the show was first being conceived, “Something Strange” was just a placeholder title. However, it stuck!
* Something Strange was loosely based off of an earlier scrapped series titled “Blueberry Flavoured Revenge”. Catrina was the only character to truly carry over, keeping her name and role in the story, with the new addition of being the narrator. The rest of the cast, however, got significant changes, with their names and some of their roles being changed.
* The original plan for Vincent was that he wanted to take over the world because it “took Catrina from him”. However, this was scrapped in favour of something that made more sense to the story and the character, and something that wasn’t as basic.