Musical Theatre Performance “Free Butterflies”

The legendary musical theatre performance “Free Butterflies” returns! It returns in a new form—more mature, more musical, and even closer to today’s audiences. This is a story about freedom, love, and the courage to be yourself, which has made thousands of audience members laugh, reflect, and believe that true freedom begins with the decision to live your own life.

In a small New York apartment, a young man named Don Baker moves out on his own for the first time. These are his first steps toward independence—tentative and full of anxiety, but also marked by the courage to prove to himself and the world that he can live his own life. His everyday routine is unexpectedly disrupted by his neighbour Jill, a spontaneous, free-spirited young woman who lives without plans or rules. Their meeting becomes a turning point in both their lives.

But their relationship faces a serious challenge: Don’s mother, who has protected her son all her life, does not want to let him go. She believes that freedom can be dangerous and love can hurt. And she has an important reason for feeling this way…

This is a moving and uplifting story about the courage to choose—whether to stay safe or finally dare to be free. Mantas Jankavičius’s live performances of the songs create a particularly powerful emotional experience. Many people know the song “Drugeliai laisvi” (“Butterflies Are Free”), but not everyone knows it was written specifically for the performance “Free Butterflies.” Of course, you will hear it in this production too—it has become an integral part of the performance. Audiences will also hear new work by Mantas, which will enrich the story and let them immerse themselves in the characters’ inner worlds.

“I look for multiple layers in performances. A concert-only or theatre-only format in the traditional sense is no longer as interesting to me. That’s why this performance, like Mantas’s most recent theatrical work in the play ‘Two on the Roof,’ which enjoyed enormous popularity, will include live music. It will be a performance and a concert in one,” says Mantas.

The performance’s director, Dainius Kazlauskas, who also directed the first production, says: “Although the story remains the same, it takes on a new colour and breathes anew. The set design, music, and moments in the play have changed; the actors have changed too—they are more mature, and that gives the performance new energy. Its spirit remains the same, but it has gained new inner maturity, colour, and sound—as have Mantas’s songs, which have also changed and grown for this performance.”

For six consecutive years, this work filled the halls of the Panevėžys Juozas Miltinis Drama Theatre and became one of the audience’s best-loved performances. Now the performance is going on tour across Lithuania, giving audiences in cities throughout the country the chance to see this romantic, playful, and dramatic story.

“These butterflies really do fly. And that has nothing to do with a person’s age or other circumstances in life. Anyone can experience it—love, carefree abandon, that energy that makes you do silly things and feel happy. The performance lets us show and remind people of that,” adds Mantas, inviting audiences to rediscover the story or see it for the first time.

Premieres across Lithuania from October 21. Cast: Mantas