Arts

Rising to Importance

by Jules Becker
Thursday Aug 25, 2016

A Man of No Importance
Bad Habit Productions
Calderwood Pavilion, Boston Center for the Arts, through August 28
Bostontheatrescene.com or 617-933-8600.


Oscar Wilde observed in his philosophical letter "De Profundis" that "Most people are other people"-living other people's thoughts and passions rather than their own. Alfie Berne, the hero of the 1994 musical "A Man of No Importance," has been living such a life, but the great gay Irish playwright's once banned "Salome" will change all that. A Wilde aficionado, the closeted Dublin ticket taker and amateur theater director has decided to follow up his previous season community theater staging of "The Importance of Being Earnest" with the controversial 1891 melodrama. Berne eventually removes his own cover of secrecy though his preparation to stage Salome's famed Dance of the Seven Veils meets opposition from Father Kenny and the church. Bad Habit Productions-no stranger to all things Oscar Wilde ("The Ideal Husband" and especially "Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde")-is bringing stirring warmth to the disarming 2003 Outer Critics Award winner in one of the now 10 year old company's favorite locations-the intimate space at the back of the Calderwood Pavilion's Wimberly Theatre.

Based on the 1994 film of the same name-with Albert Finney as Berne, "A Man of No Importance" focuses on the ticket taker as an emotional and sexual prisoner of a 1964 Ireland where gay love continues to be as much of a love that dares not speak its name as it was during Wilde's lifetime. In playwright Terrence McNally's thoughtful book, the bus passengers/ cast members serve as well as a kind of Greek chorus commenting on Alfie as much as on their amateur troupe and its theater. For example, widower Baldy O'Shea empathizes while Carny-who loves Alfie's world-weary sister Lily- proves both judgmental and cowardly. At the same time, Stephen Flaherty (music) and Lynn Ahrens (lyrics)'s vivid score chronicles Alfie's love for handsome bus driver Robbie and his inner struggle to come out as a gay man. The ghost of Wilde appears as a kind of constant muse encouraging Alfie to fully embrace his identity despite societal homophobia.

Will Alfie lose straight Robbie's friendship if he reveals himself? The vulnerable ticket taker will later find that his driver chum has his own secret, as does Adele, the newcomer picked to play Salome. Even the title of the musical (and the film) calls to mind the 1893 Wilde play "A Woman of No Importance," in which an aloof society and a major secret prove as just as significant factors as the challenges confronting Alfie.

Under Daniel Morris' sensitive direction and with the guidance of Meghan MacFadden's careful musical direction, most of the Bad Habit cast members easily rise to the musical's own considerable challenges. Nick Magierowski-Howe captures Alfie's passionate feeling for Robbie on "Man in the Mirror" and his intensity about theater. Dan Prior's dynamism on "The Streets of Dublin" and later heartfelt reading from Wilde's "The Ballad of Reading Gaol" as Robbie make Alfie's attraction fully understandable. Dani Berkowitz has the right diffidence as Adele but needs to project more in song as well as dialogue. Arthur Waldstein brings majesty to Baldy as he dispenses wisdom and remembers his late wife. Gifted Kevin Fennessy demonstrates Carny's limitations-notably on "Confusing Times"-and Wilde's style and sophistication. Best of all is Mary O'Donnell in the tricky role of Lily. Her Lily alternates beautifully between caring and concern for her brother and frustration putting her own future on hold as she attends to his. Her phrasing and forcefulness on "Tell Me Why" make this plaintive solo a standout number.

Alfie bravely faces the future on "Welcome to the World." Bad Habit Productions' vital staging of "A Man of No Importance" promises more fresh takes from this envelopment-pushing company.