Fly by Night

Fly by Night

Will Connolly, Michael Mitnick & Kim Rosenstock, Writers;

Conceived by Kim Rosenstock

Hillbarn Theatre & Conservatory

A love triangle between two sisters and a sandwich maker.  A gypsy whose crystal ball reveals one sister’s future-certain “mountain life” of rise and fall.  A grieving husband who finds solace hugging a record player and singing bits of La Traviata.  A troubled playwright who discovers his muse in a clothing shop and writes a play for her New York debut.  And finally, a night when the lights go out and stars never seen suddenly appear, stopping time and ushering in fate’s fulfillment.

The makings of a musical?  Not likely except through the creative powers of Will Connolly, Michael Mitnick, and Kim Rosenstock who premiered in 2011 their intriguing, quirky, heart-tugging Fly by Night, first staged at TheatreWorks Silicon Valley before landing Off-Broadway in 2013.  Now this rather dark, haunting, yet often funny rock-style musical returns to the Silicon Valley in a highly entertaining, well-sung-and-acted production by Hillbarn Theatre & Conservatory, leaving its audience with smiles and a ‘la-da-da,’ recurrent, musical motif that lingers long after the final bows of the excellent cast.

Please continue to Talkin’Broadway for the rest of my review.

Rating: 4 E

Fly by Night continues through March 23, 2025, in a two-hour, thirty-minute (plus intermission) production by Hillbarn Theatre & Conservatory, , 1285 East Hillsdale Blvd., Foster City, CA.  Tickets are available online at www.hillbarntheatre.org or by contacting directly the box office by emailing boxoffice@hillbarn.org or by calling 650-349-6411.

Photo Credit: Mark Kitaoka