Flyby Review – Interstellar Music is an Epic Journey into Weirdness | stage

TThe scope and ambition of this dark musical from Theo Jamison and Adam Linson is limitless. A rough-and-tumble drama that travels across time and space about the emotional wreckage of a mutually destructive relationship, beginning with reports of a young astronaut missing in a shuttle.

Why did Daniel (Stuart Thompson, wonderful) disappear with such limited fuel and what was the purpose of his suicidal journey? A non-sequitur backstory emerges showcasing his relationship with Emily (Bobby Gilbert, equally good) to build a cutaway picture of their relationship, much like the last five years. It shows glimpses of formative trauma and cruelty. Daniel, who was bullied as a child, seems unconsciously drawn to someone who inflicts similar emotional damage on him. Emily lives in a state of guilt and betrayal bequeathed to her by her parents (particularly her cheating film director father, who co-opts his teenage daughter into his web of infidelity and deceit).

The scenes between Emily and Daniel, directed by Linson, are arresting in their visceral rawness. Thompson and Gilbert show great power in their performances, with songs that take your breath away. The production has a wonderfully epic strangeness in its mix of parts: the interstellar projections, the emotional intelligence of Jamison’s book, and the accomplishment of his music, which is Sondheim-like at times, sublimely symphonic at times.

But there are drawbacks. Narrative purpose and motivation seem disjointed even outside of the non-serial structure. You want to see the full tragic shape of this relationship, which seems incomplete, with so many gaps in between. The “stranded in space” metaphor is overdone (Daniel’s surname, Defoe, is an unnecessary reference to the writer Robinson Crusoe). The storytelling as a whole feels unbalanced, as it started out as Daniel’s drama and then became Emily’s drama. Alongside them are three narrators (Simbi Akande, Jenna Beck and Robert Young) who provide commentary containing a very large number of discursive scenes. Smaller details linger: we hear how Emily’s father put her in an

However, there are glimmers of brilliance here, from the music to the mental health drama. Flyby promises to be a musical like Next to Normal or Dear Evan Hansen — one that could do with some very subtle rearrangements.