Fly by Night is a rock musical by Will Connolly, Michael Mitnick, and Kim Rosenstock that ran off-Broadway in 2014.
Set in New York City during 1965, the story revolves around a love triangle between two sisters and a musician.
Unrelated to the Rush album and song Fly by Night, or the Fly by Night Series by Frances Hardinge.
Fly by Night includes examples of the following:
- …And That Little Girl Was Me: Daphne's song "I Need More" is her past, sung in the third person.
- Arc Words: "What does it look like when time stops?" is the first line of the prophecy about Miriam's soulmate. Multiple answers are given to the question over time.
- Been There, Shaped History: The Northeast blackout of 1965 was caused by an overload when Crabble plugged in a light bulb.
- Can't Take Criticism: Inverted. The song What you do to me is about how thrilled Joey is to finally hear actual criticism in regards to his work.
- Chekhov's Skill: Harold's co-worker Crabble mentions that he used to be an air traffic controller. He puts this skill to good use near the show's Denouement, when he directs cars during a huge black out.
- Crosscast Role: The Gypsy is a woman but is traditionally voiced by a man.
- Damned by Faint Praise: Harold sounds less than thrilled when Daphne says his "breath does not offend."
- Electrified Bathtub: Harold's father stands in the bathtub and drops the record player in just as the power goes out, saving him from being killed.
- Exactly What It Says on the Tin:Joey: I've written a new show, for you. It's about the human condition, It's called "The Human Condition".
- Five-Second Foreshadowing: At the end of the show, Miriam realizes that the prophecy has finally come true - she sees a clock stopped at 5:27pm (referencing both "What does it look like when time stops?" and the numbers "5, 2, 7"), shortly before getting struck by a car, referencing her great fall.
- In Medias Res: The narrator winds time back at multiple points as he realizes that he's skipped over a large part of the story.
- Job Song:
- Breakfast All Day is about how much Miriam loves her job at Greasy Spoon Café.
- Eternity is partly about Harold sinking into depression while spending every day making sandwiches.
- Sanity Slippage Song: Eternity makes it clear that Harold is going a little bit mad in his job, and that Crabble has been in this state for a while.
- Subverted Punchline:Joey Storms: For decades, the Storms family has taken Broadway by ... well, we've been very successful.
- That Came Out Wrong: During one conversation with Miriam, Harold mentions "thinking about her [while] in the shower", before realizing what he just said.
- Yank the Dog's Chain: Miriam is filled with excitement when she realizes that Harold is clearly her soulmate... shortly before she finds out that he is already engaged to her sister.
