As the Trump regime attacks the arts and LGBTQ+ community, A Noise Within’s A Man of No Importance is a bold, of-the-moment, highly entertaining production that defends both against censorship and persecution. This musical is also au courant in that, what with the death and election of popes (call it “papal fiction”?), the Catholic religion has been much in the news lately. It is also, for some reason only leprechauns could explain, the second play in a row I’ve seen with Irish themes. The first being Corktown ’39.
In the two-act comedy drama A Man of No Importance, Kasey Mahaffy portrays the title character, Alfie Byrne, a bus conductor by day who is also the artistic director of an amateur theater troupe by night in Dublin, circa 1964. Mahaffy deftly conveys Alfie’s sense of whimsy and anguish, as he is a closeted gay man—most of all, the aptly named “Byrne” doesn’t even seem to be out of the closet to himself in Act I.
This season, Alfie announces to his nonprofessional acting company that they will mount Oscar Wilde’s Salome at St. Imelda’s, the church where the group’s theatrics are usually staged (sets designed by Francois-Pierre Couture). Although A Man of No Importance starts out quite amiably and affably, with the cast accompanied by a five-person orchestra performing enjoyable music, beneath its lighthearted façade, Importance has some extremely important things to say. This show about timely topics is both thought-provoking and toe-tapping (Rod Bagheri is the music director).
A musical adaptation of a 1994 movie starring Albert Finney (as Alfie) and Michael Gambon (as Carney), this live stage version which premiered on Broadway in 2002 was rendered by the team that brought E.L. Doctorow’s 1975 novel Ragtime to the boards: Composer Stephen Flaherty, lyricist Lynn Ahrens and bookwriter extraordinaire Terrence McNally. The latter, a five-time Tony Award recipient, was also the playwright of works with gay themes, including Love! Valor! Compassion! and Kiss of the Spider Woman. The current iteration of A Man of No Importance, now on the boards, is spiritedly helmed by ANW’s Producing Artistic Director, Julia Rodriguez-Elliott.
Alfie’s selection of Salome sets him on a collision course with the church hierarchy, which despite its biblical pedigree, considers the outre Oscar Wilde’s 1893 play (which premiered in Paris in 1896 but didn’t open in England—in a private production—until 1905, after his death) to be salacious. With its risqué “Dance of the Seven Veils” by the eponymous adolescent belly dancer, Salome is regarded as too overtly sexual by Catholic officials, although Alfie argues, in vain, that Wilde’s “masterpiece” (as he calls it) is “art.” (Hey, it could be both!)
In all likelihood, the bus conductor-cum-artistic-director has chosen the erotically tinged Salome (to be portrayed by a new bus rider played by Analisa Idalia) as a way to spur Alfie’s own inner struggle to come to terms with his own hidden, stunted sexuality. As an inspired, imaginative part of this process, Oscar Wilde appears as a sort of apparition in spritely period apparel by costume designer Angela Balogh Calin, who guides Alfie on his path towards self-discovery.
Now a few words about Oscar, the outrageous Irish poet and playwright whose works for the page and the stage included The Picture of Dorian Gray (which ANW mounted in 2018, co-starring Tania Verafield), An Ideal Husband and The Importance of Being Earnest, which probably suggested the title of A Man of No Importance. A socialist, Wilde also penned the 1891 essay The Soul of Man under Socialism, and its theme resonates in A Man of No Importance, wherein ordinary blue-collar workers attain deeper meaning in and satisfaction out of life when they have the opportunity to be creative. (A Man of No Importance also good-naturedly pokes fun at the theater world, including the costume designer Mrs. Patrick, played by LeShay T. Boyce, who drolly suggests zippers or snaps to assist the New Testament character Salome in removing her garments during her Dance of the Seven Veils.)
Oscar Wilde was also gay (or bisexual), and he went on to serve hard time behind bars in the supposedly “Gay Nineties” for his rather open (for the era) homosexuality, dying when he was only in his forties. A Man of No Importance makes references to this tragedy by citing (without explaining) “Queensberry” and “Bosie,” real-life characters in his personal tragedy. The casting of David Nevell as Wilde is clever, as he plays a double role in A Man of No Importance, also depicting the butcher Carney, a “moralist” who opposes Alfie and his choice of Salome (and possibly annoyed because the role he’s offered as King Herod has too little stage time).
In any case, the plot device of having the long-dead Oscar appear onstage as a sort of imaginary friend who advises Alfie—in particular, about his sexuality—is a contrivance that has been done before. In 1972’s Play It Again, Sam, Woody Allen plays a movie critic fixated on the 1942 classic Casablanca, who is coached by Humphrey Bogart (Jerry Lacy) in how to be successful in love. In 1992’s Tito and Me, Marshal Tito advises a little Yugoslavian boy on how to be a good Communist and more. Although we’ve seen this plot device before, it’s good fun and has an unexpected surprise twist in A Man of No Importance.
While Bogie steers Woody in the right direction in winning Diane Keaton’s love, Oscar Wilde actually gives Alfie a bit of disastrous advice that has awful consequences. I’m not exactly sure what the play is getting at here, but it’s certainly eyebrow-raising. Is it a warning because Oscar unjustly suffered so much? I also don’t know why A Man of No Importance names its thespian troupe the St. Imelda’s Players and the church they generally perform at St. Imelda. The historical Saint Imelda was a 14th-century child—no, she is not the patron saint of shoes; as she was Italian, not Filipina, the historical 11-year-old claimed to witness miracles. Maybe Alfie’s evolution is meant to be considered miraculous?
In any case, as Trump takes over the Kennedy Center, threatens the nonprofit status of many arts organizations, bans Trans people from playing sports and serving in the military and so on, ANW is to be commended for admirably using its hallowed platform to not only entertain us (which A Man of No Importance succeeds in doing in spades—the appreciative near sold out audience laughed throughout and delivered a near-unanimous standing ovation after the proverbial final curtain), but to also denounce censorship, religious persecution and homophobia, and always in an entertaining way.
As if that’s not enough, ANW deserves kudos for allowing Wild Oscar to ride again, in all his artistic and gay glory. Don’t let its title fool you; this A Man of No Importance is an important work of—as Alfie would put it—“art.” Bravo!
A Noise Within presents A Man of No Importance on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m., with 2:00 p.m. matinees on Saturdays and Sundays through June 1. Post–performance conversations with the artists will take place every Friday and on Sunday, May 18. ANW is at 3352 E. Foothill Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91107. For info and tickets, go here.
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