By Shari Barrett
A Noise Within presents A Man of No Importance, an evocative, intimate musical gem from the Tony Award-winning team behind Ragtime: composer Stephen Flaherty, lyricist Lynn Ahrens, and book by Terrence McNally, directed by ANW co-artistic director Julia Rodriguez–Elliott alongside music director Rod Bagheri. Kasey Mahaffy stars in a tour-de-force performance as bus conductor Alfie Byrne who has two joys in life: the poetry of Oscar Wilde and staging amateur productions with his local theater troupe, the St. Imelda Players. But when he opts to stage a production of Wilde’s Salome, Alfie learns valuable lessons about the forces of religious suffocation, family, friendship, and self-acceptance in the face of bigotry and shame over a love “that dare not speak its name.”
Inspired by a 1994 film starring Albert Finney, A Man of No Importance beautifully combines the depth of drama with the lyricism and comedy of musical theater. Brilliantly cast with an ensemble of incredibly talented performers, each of whom have their own moment to shine in the spotlight as their personal stories weave together, we learn why Alfie values each of them, all the while hiding his lustful longing for swoon-worthy handsome CJ Eldred as Robbie, bus driver to Alfie’s conductor.
“It’s a story about our collective humanity, and recognizing that in each other,” shares Rodriguez-Elliott. “About the need for love and acceptance, about ‘otherness,’ and, at the same time, a celebration of theater and community as a group of ordinary, working-class people comes together to create theater, and that is when they’re most alive.”
Along with Mahaffy and Eldred, the cast features Juliana Sloan as Lily, Alfie’s doting sister who has put her life on hold until she finds the right girl for her brother to marry; Analisa Idalia as Adele, a pretty young woman with a big secret who rides the bus who is persuaded to join Alfie’s theater troupe to portray Salome; David Nevell as Carney, the butcher who fancies himself a much better actor than he really is and longs to marry Lily, and then commands the stage as Oscar Wilde who convinces Alfie to follow his heart to live his truthful life; Neill Fleming as kind-hearted Father Kenny and Carson, Alfie’s bigoted supervisor at the bus company; and Ed F. Martin as Baldy, the loyal and long-standing stage manager of Alfie’s theater troupe who teaches Alfie a valuable lesson about the power of love while remembering “The Cuddles Mary Gave” at his wife’s grave.
Members of Alfie’s theatre troupe include Jack Zubieta as Peter, who morphs into heartbreaking street hustler Breton Beret; Amber Liekhus as belting church hymnist and tap-dancing choreographer Mrs. Curtin; Emily Kosloski as Mrs. Grace the group’s enthusiastic publicist; LeShay T. Boyce as Mrs. Patrick who sings a hymnal during Alfie’s confession at church, designs costumes for the theater troupe, and breaks a sacred commandant with Robbie at the bus depot; Howard Leder as Rasher Leder; and Bryce Brock as Sully. Together they demonstrate how people from different backgrounds can unite within a community theater troupe and work together toward a common goal, each doing their part to make the show a success. And along the way, friendships made and respect earned for each other become more important than anything else.
Music director Rog Bagheri on keyboards leads a lively, five-piece onstage orchestra featuring Dylan Gorenberg on guitar, David Catalan on woodwinds, Julian Cantrell on bass, and Natalie Brejcha on violin who add a bit of Irish flavor to the score, sung with appropriate accents by the cast. The score is perfectly tailored to the characters, with specific musical pieces designed to highlight their personalities and emotional journeys, such as Lily’s lament “The Burden of Life,” “The Streets of Dublin” celebrated by Robbie and the company; “Man in the Mirror” which displays Alfie’s confusion about who he really is to Oscar Wilde; Alfie’s longing to “Love Who You Love;” Lily and Carney’s comical duet “Books” in which they discuss Alfie’s odd habits of reading and cooking foreign foods; and Alfie’s final step into living his full life in “Welcome to the World.”
The creative team who adds their magnificent talents to this extraordinary production includes scenic designer François-Pierre Couture; lighting designer Ken Booth; sound designer Jeff Gardner; costume designer Angela Balogh Calin; wig and make up designer Tony Valdés; properties designer Stephen Taylor; fight choreographer Kenneth R. Merckx, Jr.; dialect coach Andrea Odinov; intimacy director Sasha Smith; dramaturg Miranda Johnson-Haddad; and production stage manager Angela Sonner, assisted by Hope Matthews.
Performances of A Man of No Importance take place through June 1 on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. with matinees on Saturdays and Sundays at 2 p.m. at A Noise Within, located at 3352 E Foothill Blvd. in Pasadena 91107. Post–performance conversations with the artists take place every Friday. The 2 p.m. matinees on Saturday, May 31 and Sunday, June 1 will offer closed captioning for patrons who are Deaf or have hearing loss via the GalaPro theater accessibility app (available on iOS and Android devices). Tickets start at $51.50 (including fees), with student tickets starting at $20 with discounts available for groups of 10 or more. For more information and to purchase tickets, call (626) 356–3100 or go to www.anoisewithin.org.
