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A Man of No Importance (musical)
Encyclopedia
A Man of No Importance is a musical with music by Stephen Flaherty
, lyrics by Lynn Ahrens
and a book by Terrence McNally
, based on the 1994 Albert Finney
film, A Man of No Importance
. It tells the story of an amateur theatre group in Dublin and their leader, who is determined to stage a version of Salome
at his church, despite the objections of church authorities.
, as part of the Lincoln Center Theater 2002-03 season. The production was directed by Joe Mantello
and choreographed by Jonathan Butterell
. It won the 2003 Outer Critics Circle Award
for Best Off-Broadway
Musical. The original cast included Roger Rees
as Alfie Byrne, Jarlath Conroy
as Father Kenny, Jessica Molaskey
as Mrs. Patrick, Sean McCourt
as Sully O'Hara, Luther Creek
as Peter/Breton Beret, Faith Prince
as Lily Byrne, Sally Murphy as Adele, Charles Keating
as Carney/Oscar Wilde, and Steven Pasquale
as Robbie Fay. A cast album was recorded in 2002 and released in April 2003.
The musical was produced by Acting Up Stage Theatre Company at the Berkeley Street Theatre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada and ran from March 7 to 22, 2008. Alfie was played by Douglas E. Hughes, and Lezlie Wade directed the production.
Regan and De Wynter produced the musical at The Union Theatre, Southwark, where is ran from November 11, 2009 to December 5, 2009. It starred Paul Clarkson
as Alfie and Paul Monaghan as Carney/Oscar Wilde. The production received unanimously positive reviews. The show will transfer to the Art's theatre in the West End
for a limited season, opening on February 10, 2010 following a single preview on February 9, 2010, running until 27 February 2010.
In 1964 in Dublin, Ireland, Alfie Byrne is the director of an amateur theatre troup that has been shut down by Father Kenny. The group, The St. Imelda's Players, is based at the church. Alfie, a bus conductor, wants to stage a production of Oscar Wilde
's Salome
at his church, despite the objections of church authorities.
As he reflects on events, the actors in the troup become, in effect, a Greek chorus and take him through a typical day of "A Man of No Importance", in the form of a play in which he is not the director but the star. As the "play" unfolds, the people in Alfie's life appear: his sister Lily, a handsome bus driver Robbie Fay, and newcomer Adele Rice. Alfie "performs" by speaking Wilde's words to Adele, impressing the bus passengers (who are members of the acting group). As Alfie prepares dinner for himself and Lily, he tells her that he has met a woman. Lily has delayed marriage with her boyfriend Mr. Carney to take care of Alfie until he marries, and is happy for him ("Burden of Life"). Alfie explains that he is not interested in marriage to Adele--he wants her to act in "Salome". Frustrated, Lily castigates Alfie for wasting his time in amateur theatre. After an evening in a pub, Alfie returns home, confused about his true identity. As he gazes at himself in the mirror, he sees Oscar Wilde in a dream, and admits that he loves Robbie ("Man in the Mirror"). After a rehearsal of "Salome", Lily invites Adele for Sunday dinner, saying that Alfie is hesitant to speak for himself ("Burden of Life" - Reprise). As Alfie is walking her home, Adele tells him that she has a boyfriend, John, in her home town and starts crying. Alfie, understanding about secrets, advises "Love Who You Love".
Breton Beret propositions Alfie, and Alfie is trapped between his own shame and desire, but Oscar Wilde again advises him that the way to eliminate temptation is by giving in.
Act 2
As Mrs. Patrick sings a hymn ("Our Father"), Alfie is confessing to Father Kenny, as he tells about his minor sins. Alfie hears Robbie in a disembodied voice, but he cannot confess to his feelings ("Confession"). The troup is rehearsing, when Adele suddenly cries and tells Alfie that she is pregnant, then leaves. At an emergency church meeting the play "Salome" is deemed "blasphemous" ("Confusing Times"), Monsignor cancels it and orders that the St. Imelda's Players be ended. Alfie, feeling sad, goes to the pub and propositions Breton Beret. Breton takes Alfie's hand, caresses him, but next punches Alfie. Others beat him and he asks for Robbie. Lily and Carney take Alfie home, but the news spreads that Alfie is gay. Finally, Alfie is alone at St. Imelda's hall and thinks back on his life, coming to know that he can no longer hide. ("Welcome to the World"). And, a ray of sunlight enters the dimly lit room as Robbie walks in. A passage from Oscar Wilde's "The Ballad of Reading Gaol" is read by Robbie as a member of the new acting troup.
Act II
Stephen Flaherty
Stephen Flaherty is an American composer of musical theatre. He works most often in collaboration with the lyricist/bookwriter Lynn Ahrens...
, lyrics by Lynn Ahrens
Lynn Ahrens
Lynn Ahrens is an American writer and lyricist for the musical theatre, television and film. She has collaborated with Stephen Flaherty for many years...
and a book by Terrence McNally
Terrence McNally
Terrence McNally is an American playwright who has received four Tony Awards, an Emmy, two Guggenheim Fellowships, a Rockefeller Grant, the Lucille Lortel Award, the Hull-Warriner Award, and a citation from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He has been a member of the Council of the...
, based on the 1994 Albert Finney
Albert Finney
Albert Finney is an English actor. He achieved prominence in films in the early 1960s, and has maintained a successful career in theatre, film and television....
film, A Man of No Importance
A Man of No Importance (film)
A Man of No Importance is a 1994 comedy drama film directed by Suri Krishnamma and starring Albert Finney.-Synopsis:Alfred Byrne is a closeted homosexual bus conductor in 1963 Dublin. His sister tries to find him a suitable woman, but his real passion is putting on amateur theater productions of...
. It tells the story of an amateur theatre group in Dublin and their leader, who is determined to stage a version of Salome
Salome (play)
Salome is a tragedy by Oscar Wilde.The original 1891 version of the play was in French. Three years later an English translation was published...
at his church, despite the objections of church authorities.
Production history
The musical ran from September 12, 2002 to December 29, 2002 in the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater at Lincoln Center in New York CityNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, as part of the Lincoln Center Theater 2002-03 season. The production was directed by Joe Mantello
Joe Mantello
Joseph Mantello is an American actor and director best known for his work on Broadway productions of Wicked, Take Me Out and Assassins, as well as earlier in his career being one of the original Broadway cast of Angels in America...
and choreographed by Jonathan Butterell
Jonathan Butterell
Jonathan Butterell is a choreographer and director, primarily for the stage. He has worked in the West End, on Broadway, and Off-Broadway.-Biography:...
. It won the 2003 Outer Critics Circle Award
Outer Critics Circle Award
The Outer Critics Circle Awards are presented annually for theatrical achievements both on and Off-Broadway and were begun during the 1949-1950 theater season. The awards are decided upon by theater critics who review for out-of-town newspapers, national publications, and other media outlets...
for Best Off-Broadway
Off-Broadway
Off-Broadway theater is a term for a professional venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, and for a specific production of a play, musical or revue that appears in such a venue, and which adheres to related trade union and other contracts...
Musical. The original cast included Roger Rees
Roger Rees
Roger Rees is a Welsh actor. He is best known to American audiences for playing the characters Robin Colcord on the American television sitcom show Cheers and Lord John Marbury on the American television drama The West Wing...
as Alfie Byrne, Jarlath Conroy
Jarlath Conroy
Jarlath Conroy is an Irish-born theater, film and television actor. Since 1971, he has become a successful actor appearing in film and television, including NYPD Blue, Law & Order, and Law & Order: Criminal Intent. He also appeared in the movie Day of the Dead. His most recent appearance is as the...
as Father Kenny, Jessica Molaskey
Jessica Molaskey
Jessica Molaskey is a professional singer of torch songs and show tunes. She has appeared in a dozen Broadway shows such as the revival of Sunday in the Park With George and Cats and has premiered theater pieces off-Broadway, including the Jason Robert Brown 1995 musical Songs for a New World, and...
as Mrs. Patrick, Sean McCourt
Sean McCourt
Sean McCourt is an American stage performer, born in Detroit. His Broadway credits include Wicked, Titanic and Mary Poppins.McCourt starred in the original Broadway cast of Wicked, as the Witch's Father, the Ozian Official, and many other characters in Oz. He also served as an understudy for both...
as Sully O'Hara, Luther Creek
Luther Creek
Luther Creek is an American actor best known for his roles in Broadway and West End musicals.-Biography:Born in Stamford, Connecticut, Creek is the son of J. Fred Creek, a realtor from New Mexico, and his wife Patricia, originally of Indianapolis. Luther grew up in towns throughout the Midwest...
as Peter/Breton Beret, Faith Prince
Faith Prince
Faith Prince is an American actress and singer known primarily for her work on Broadway. Prince has won the Tony Award as Best Actress in a Musical and received three Tony nominations.-Life and career:...
as Lily Byrne, Sally Murphy as Adele, Charles Keating
Charles Keating (actor)
Charles Keating is a British actor of stage, screen, and television, and narrator of audiobooks.Of Irish Catholic extraction, Keating was born on October 22, 1941 in London, England, the son of Charles James Keating and Margaret Shevlin...
as Carney/Oscar Wilde, and Steven Pasquale
Steven Pasquale
Steven Pasquale is an American actor. He is best known for his role as Sean Garrity in the critically acclaimed series Rescue Me. He made his debut on the HBO series Six Feet Under, playing a love interest for David. He also starred in the film Aliens vs...
as Robbie Fay. A cast album was recorded in 2002 and released in April 2003.
The musical was produced by Acting Up Stage Theatre Company at the Berkeley Street Theatre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada and ran from March 7 to 22, 2008. Alfie was played by Douglas E. Hughes, and Lezlie Wade directed the production.
Regan and De Wynter produced the musical at The Union Theatre, Southwark, where is ran from November 11, 2009 to December 5, 2009. It starred Paul Clarkson
Paul Clarkson
Paul Clarkson is an English actor, theatre director and teacher. He was born and educated in Worcester.He won the 1984 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Musical for his performance in Howard Goodall's The Hired Man and starred in the European premiere of A Man of No Importance at The Union...
as Alfie and Paul Monaghan as Carney/Oscar Wilde. The production received unanimously positive reviews. The show will transfer to the Art's theatre in the West End
West End theatre
West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London's 'Theatreland', the West End. Along with New York's Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English speaking...
for a limited season, opening on February 10, 2010 following a single preview on February 9, 2010, running until 27 February 2010.
Synopsis
Act 1In 1964 in Dublin, Ireland, Alfie Byrne is the director of an amateur theatre troup that has been shut down by Father Kenny. The group, The St. Imelda's Players, is based at the church. Alfie, a bus conductor, wants to stage a production of Oscar Wilde
Oscar Wilde
Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde was an Irish writer and poet. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of London's most popular playwrights in the early 1890s...
's Salome
Salome (play)
Salome is a tragedy by Oscar Wilde.The original 1891 version of the play was in French. Three years later an English translation was published...
at his church, despite the objections of church authorities.
As he reflects on events, the actors in the troup become, in effect, a Greek chorus and take him through a typical day of "A Man of No Importance", in the form of a play in which he is not the director but the star. As the "play" unfolds, the people in Alfie's life appear: his sister Lily, a handsome bus driver Robbie Fay, and newcomer Adele Rice. Alfie "performs" by speaking Wilde's words to Adele, impressing the bus passengers (who are members of the acting group). As Alfie prepares dinner for himself and Lily, he tells her that he has met a woman. Lily has delayed marriage with her boyfriend Mr. Carney to take care of Alfie until he marries, and is happy for him ("Burden of Life"). Alfie explains that he is not interested in marriage to Adele--he wants her to act in "Salome". Frustrated, Lily castigates Alfie for wasting his time in amateur theatre. After an evening in a pub, Alfie returns home, confused about his true identity. As he gazes at himself in the mirror, he sees Oscar Wilde in a dream, and admits that he loves Robbie ("Man in the Mirror"). After a rehearsal of "Salome", Lily invites Adele for Sunday dinner, saying that Alfie is hesitant to speak for himself ("Burden of Life" - Reprise). As Alfie is walking her home, Adele tells him that she has a boyfriend, John, in her home town and starts crying. Alfie, understanding about secrets, advises "Love Who You Love".
Breton Beret propositions Alfie, and Alfie is trapped between his own shame and desire, but Oscar Wilde again advises him that the way to eliminate temptation is by giving in.
Act 2
As Mrs. Patrick sings a hymn ("Our Father"), Alfie is confessing to Father Kenny, as he tells about his minor sins. Alfie hears Robbie in a disembodied voice, but he cannot confess to his feelings ("Confession"). The troup is rehearsing, when Adele suddenly cries and tells Alfie that she is pregnant, then leaves. At an emergency church meeting the play "Salome" is deemed "blasphemous" ("Confusing Times"), Monsignor cancels it and orders that the St. Imelda's Players be ended. Alfie, feeling sad, goes to the pub and propositions Breton Beret. Breton takes Alfie's hand, caresses him, but next punches Alfie. Others beat him and he asks for Robbie. Lily and Carney take Alfie home, but the news spreads that Alfie is gay. Finally, Alfie is alone at St. Imelda's hall and thinks back on his life, coming to know that he can no longer hide. ("Welcome to the World"). And, a ray of sunlight enters the dimly lit room as Robbie walks in. A passage from Oscar Wilde's "The Ballad of Reading Gaol" is read by Robbie as a member of the new acting troup.
Songs
Act I- A Man of No Importance - Alfie, Company
- The Burden of Life - Lily
- Going Up - Carney, The St. Imelda's Players
- Princess - Adele
- First Rehearsal - Alfie, The St. Imelda's Players
- The Streets of Dublin - Robbie, Company
- Books - Carney, Lily
- Man in the Mirror - Alfie, Oscar Wilde
- Love Who You Love - Alfie
Act II
- Our Father - Mrs. Patrick, Company
- Confession - Alfie, Robbie, Father Kenny
- The Cuddles Mary Gave - Baldy
- Art - Alfie, St. Imelda's Players
- A Man of No Importance (Reprise) - Mrs. Patrick, Breton Beret, Sully
- Confusing Times - Carney
- Love Who You Love (Reprise) - Robbie
- Man in the Mirror (Reprise) - Oscar Wilde, Company
- Tell Me Why - Lily
- A Man of No Importance" (Reprise) - Company
- Love Who You Love (Reprise) - Adele
- Welcome to the World - Alfie
- Poem - Alfie
- Love's Never Lost