Synopsis:

Act 1

Back in the Bottle begins with our narrator, ALEX, and his friends at the Heely Foundation Arboretum. ALEX has a job there, and he likes to invite his friends to hang out while he’s working. Alex tells his friends how much his life has changed in the past few months. Then, he explains to the audience how confused he is about his best friend, RHAIL, and how he hopes this crowd can help him figure it out.

Alex is concerned about Rhail, who seems distant and depressed. Not far away, Rhail is sitting crossed-legged, meditating in a yellow garden. Rhail is a 20 something Pakistani, and a very talented musician. Rhail and Alex play music together in a rock band. Alex wants Rhail to hang out and jam, like they used to, but Rhail has become smitten with his new girlfriend and his infatuation has consumed him. None of Rhail’s friends has ever met his girlfriend, JEANNIE. Alex and his friends try to get Rhail to hang out by singing “Yellow Garden,” a song about having fun with your friends.

In “Violet Vinegar,” Jeannie offers Rhail violet petals, vinegar, and some magic dust in a cup of tea as a cure for the common cold. The smell of the concoction makes Rhail feel ill, and he refuses the remedy. To make Rhail feel better, Jeannie uses astral travel to share a fantasy with him. They take a magic carpet ride to seek the terrorist, SHEIKH HASSAN, in Afghanistan; then, they visit a pirate ship in the Bermuda Triangle and save the SHIP’S CAPTAIN and his MISTRESS from the DREAD PIRATE ANDRE.

Rhail, now seemingly psychotic in the belief that his girlfriend’s actions are causing natural and political disasters; he sings “Orange Genie” to explain to his best friend, Alex, the truth: his genie is real! Alex thinks Rhail has lost his mind, and he tells his girlfriend, CAT so.

Act 2

At a birthday party in Rhail’s honor, Alex and Cat are anxious to finally meet Jeannie, but when she doesn’t show up at the party, Cat coaxes her friend, LIZ to spend some time with Rhail because he seems sad. Liz thinks Rhail is cute, so she woos him with her song, “Blackened Blues.” Then, Liz takes Rhail home; they get drunk, but Rhail falls asleep on Liz’s bed before anything happens between them.

Back at the party, Cat thinks she sees Jeannie in an alcove, but the genie disappears before Cat can meet her.

Back at Liz’s apartment, it is morning. Though nothing naughty happened, Rhail seems freaked out. He tells Liz that his girlfriend, Jeannie, is actually his stepsister, and that she gets very jealous and vengeful. Rhail doesn’t want to hurt Jeannie because she helped him escape poverty and get to America. Still smitten, Liz tries to seduce Rhail by showing him her Miss Louisiana Sash; however, the sash reminds Rhail of the humiliation of his past, so he sings, “Purple Sash,” about his childhood.

After Rhail leaves, Cat shows up at Liz’s apartment. Cat asks Liz to go with her to Rhail’s house to see what they can find out about this “genie.”

As the two girlfriends spy on Rhail’s house from the bushes outside, they see a woman leave through the front door. They decide not to follow her, but rather to check on Rhail. They knock on Rhail’s front door, but he doesn’t answer. Cat sings, “White Light,” about how people hide behind drawn blinds when they don’t want to face the world. Liz joins in the song.

Cat and Liz check in with Alex, but he hasn’t seen Rhail, so the girlfriends decide to go out to dinner. Alex promises to check on Rhail then meet up with Liz and Cat later that night… At a local restaurant, The Cajun Rooster, Cat and Liz talk about the genie over dinner. Liz thinks she catches a glimpse of the genie lurking behind a tree, but just as Liz tries to tell Cat, she begins choking on her food. A brave waiter saves Liz with the Heimlich maneuver, but Liz is convinced that the genie casted a spell to kill her.

Liz gets angry, she takes Cat back to her apartment, and they uses a voodoo spell Liz learned growing up in the Louisiana bayou. Sticking a pin in a voodoo doll, the girls cast their own spell of wicked machinations.

INTERMISSION

Act 3

In his darkened bedroom, Rhail is sleeping. A fish tank glows with fluorescent colors as Rhail dreams that he’s underwater. The room is transformed into an underwater sanctuary. Sleepwalking, Rhail sings a fantastical song, “Rainbow Trout,” about his dreamlike respite under the sea. Outside, Alex is pounding on the front door, and Rhail finally awakens.

Rhail answers the door and talks with Alex who expresses his concern. Alex tells Rhail that he is acting crazy. Then, Rhail tells Alex that he has a plan to get back on track. He is going to put his genie back into her bottle and throw it back into the sea. Alex doesn’t believe Rhail, but he thinks that maybe Rhail needs to find a graceful way out of his lies. Alex leaves, hoping Rhail can find a way to come to grips with his demons.

Jeannie confronts Rhail about his night with Liz, and she vows to get revenge. In the meantime, Jeannie travels to North Korea to ask the Supreme Leader to use a nuclear missile to kill the Magic Man…

Genie confronts Rhail about his night with Liz, and Genie vows to get revenge. In the meantime, Genie, travels to North Korea to ask the Supreme Leader to use a nuclear missile to kill the Magic Master…

Back in his bedroom, Rhail sings “Blood Red,” as he rehearses his plan to get rid of his genie. He’ll act like he’s going to murder her to get her to turn into orange smoke and retreat back to her bottle. Then, he’ll trap her inside the bottle.

When Genie comes home, Rhail follows through with his plan, and in the morning, he throws the genie bottle back into the sea.

Inside the bottle, Genie laments her plight in the song, “Green with Envy.” She can’t understand how she always winds up back inside this bottle while all her masters roam free in the world. She begins reflecting on her vengeful actions, and she realizes that she has been the cause of all her misfortunes. She vows to change the next time she’s released.

It is nearly a month later, and nobody has heard a word from Rhail. In a field behind Rhail’s house, bulldozers level the ground for a new sub-division. In front of a construction trailer, DETECTIVE BROWN and his partner, DETECTIVE 2, talk with a CONSTRUCTION FORMAN. In the background a CONSTRUCTION WORKER drives a noisy bulldozer. Detective Brown sings a song about how a big “Brown Bulldozer” dug up a bloody shirt, a switchblade knife, and bloody gloves. He bags the evidence and declares the construction site a crime scene. The detectives call out the dogs who sniff out the body of a young woman in her twenties, she has been dead for about a month.

Detective Brown has heard stories about a young man named Rhail who has been acting strangely, talking to himself on the street and not taking care of his property. Detective Brown’s investigation leads him to Rhail’s closest friends, Alex, Cat and Liz. Detective Brown brings them all into the police station for questioning, and he arrests Rhail on suspicion of murder.

While Rhail is in jail, a psychiatrist, THE SHRINK, is brought in to evaluate his state of mind. In the song, “Silver Soul,” Rhail tells the Shrink about how he and Genie used to astral travel through time and space. The Shrink concludes that Genie used meditation to alter Rhail’s reality.

Back at the Arboretum Alex and the rest of the gang are worried about Rhail being in jail. Liz admits that she almost fell for Rhail, but now she just pities him. Alex is completely confused, and he isn’t sure what to believe. The friends sing a song, “Spectral (Can you Believe It),” to vocalize their concern. Is the genie real, or has their friend, Rhail, gone completely insane?

Then, Detective Brown enters the Arboretum with some Big News! The police had to set Rhail free due to lack of evidence. None of the DNA on the evidence they dug up matched the DNA of the body they found, so they had to release Rhail. Detective Brown promises to keep an eye on him.

Alex, Cat, Liz and friends sing a song of joy, “Prismatic (For Life),” about how we should all live each day to the fullest. In the end, Rhail shows up at the Arboretum and joins in with the cast and the audience in singing a final chorus of For Life!

THE END