Fly by Night
Hillbarn's Charming Rendition of a Musical About Hope, Love, and Loss
By: Victor Cordell - Mar 11, 2025
The pull of stardom, of the bright lights of Broadway extends to every dusty trail and dank bayou in this country. In Fly by Night, Daphne, who lives in small-town South Dakota, announces to her mother that she is headed for the Great White Way and would like to take the family’s seafoam green Chrysler along with her. Her mother agrees on one condition – that older sister Miriam accompany her. The year is 1964.
Fly by Night earned generally favorable reviews in its Off Broadway run at the distinguished Playwrights Horizons in 2015. The musical offers catchy pop music throughout along with relatable characters in a nostalgic context. Hillbarn Theatre offers a touching rendering of this story of hope, love, and loss, led by a bubbly and excitable Kaylee Miltersen as Daphne and a more grounded but also sparkling Markaila Dyson as Miriam.
Stars, both literal and figurative, as celestial objects, as people, and as quests, loom large in the story with even the title suggesting them. Miriam, who loves astronomy, counts them in South Dakota and then in New York City (any guess about the difference?), and shares her love for them in her touching signature song “I Trust in Stars.” With the bright light extinguished and polluted air repressed by the blackout important to the play’s narrative, even New Yorkers got to star gaze for once as they gathered outside their homes.
While people clearly have agency to make decisions that affect their lives such as leaving home for greener pastures, Fly by Night emphasizes that what may appear to be small decisions can have outsized consequences and that random events often shape the arc of life. One element of randomness is who we meet and establish relationships with.
In her song “Daphne Dreams,” she tells about how she is destined to be a star, yet for months in New York, she sells coats and shoes. She ultimately meets an aspiring playwright Joey (Matt Herrero), who strives for perfection in his script, and a naval gazing sandwich maker slash aspiring songwriter Harold (Chava Suarez) who will become her love interest.
Harold almost never gets past writing an opening bass riff in his maiden song, but what results is the highly listenable “Circles in the Sand.” Oddly, it’s about sea turtles hatching on a beach in Florida who move toward the lights on a new highway rather than toward the ocean, and he questions whether he’s also going to the wrong horizon. Meanwhile, Miriam will also become involved with Daphne’s new acquaintances and will find a job like the one she loved back home, waitressing in a diner. The action largely centers on the interplay of these characters.
Another thread in the plot depicts the broken relationship of Harold with his father, Mr. McClam (Lawrence Michael C. Arias), precipitated by the death of Mrs. McClam at the beginning of the show’s timeline. Mr. McClam is despondent throughout except when he reminisces with the quirky and clever song “Cecily Smith,” an important observation about relationships.
The song tells about how Mr. McClam randomly meets the eponymous young woman who will become his wife. When she tells him how lucky he is that she has two tickets to La Traviata, he says that he hates opera, to which she replies with several insightful variations of, “It’s not what you do, but who you do it with.” La Traviata will become Mr. McClam’s touchstone.
Two related devices elucidate and propel the story. A very active, all-knowing narrator frames the story as it progresses while playing minor characters as well. In addition, a shrewd plot device that recurs is effective use of non-linear time. The reason that time warps don’t cause confusion is that the narrator-introduced flashbacks return to previously revealed events and give their backstories or otherwise amplify them. In the person of Cathleen Riddley, whose acting and singing are admirable, the narrator is a dramatic contributor. However, Riddley did fumble enough lines to be somewhat of a distraction.
The promotion of Fly by Night highlights the motive force of the Northeast Blackout of 1965 (a real event in which my wife and editor was trapped for a time in a New York City subway). Though the blackout does influence the characters and the surprise ending, it occurs at the end of the play’s timeline, after most consequences have already occurred.
Cara Phipps directs with a sure hand, using the space of the whole theater to energize the action. Sarah Phykitt’s spare staging says just enough and allows the focus to remain on the actors, while Pamila Gray’s generally low lighting creates a dramatic atmosphere that complements the set. Together with the script and the acting, the result is a worthy theatrical experience.
A criticism that many will have is the length of the musical, with a clock time of nearly three hours including intermission. Scenes throughout could be trimmed or removed or any of three minor characters could be eliminated and written around. This in no way is a criticism of the performances of the roles as all were well portrayed. I particularly liked the Brooklyn authenticity of Sarah Jebian as Crabble, Harold’s boss in the sandwich shop, despite the part being written for a man.
Fly by Night, conceived by Kim Rosenstock and written by Will Connolly, Michael Mitnick, and Kim Rosenstock, is produced by Hillbarn Theatre and plays on its stage at 1285 East Hillsdale Blvd., Foster City, CA through March 23, 2025.