A Man of No Importance

By Terrence McNally

Music and Lyrics by Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Aherns

Directed by Paul Daigneault

Speakeasy Stage Company

February 21-March 22, 2025

Thirty-three years after founding Speakeasy Stage, and growing the company from navigating around the columns of the black box theaters in the basement of the Boston Center for the Arts to moving upstairs as the resident company of the Roberts Studio Theatre, Paul Daigneault is stepping down as Artistic Director. Directing A Man of No Importance as his final Speakeasy show is both an act of nostalgia and a demonstration of a director at the top of his game. The show is terrific!!!

During his tenure, Paul has produced many LGBT-themed plays, numerous musicals, and several plays by Terrence McNally. A Man of No Importance embraces all of these attributes, with an ensemble cast that collectively include over one hundred years of Speakeasy Stage experience. Will McGarrahan has been in twenty-two productions, Kerry Dowling’s been a favorite since the days of Batboy, and Kathy St. Georges has been hysterically Ruthless! season after season.

A Man of No Importance, originally a 1994 film starring Albert Finney, takes place in Dublin circa 1963. Alfie is a single man living with his sister. A bus collector by day, a thespian by evening, Alfie is blessed with a wicked love of art and Oscar Wilde; a closeted gay man before that was a meaningful term. The musical premiered in New York in 2002, and most recently revived in 2022. Speakeasy Stage produced the show in 2003, though this production is quite different in how it fuses the actors and orchestra.

Speakeasy’s set is a pub, with a traditionally Irish back wall of books and booze. Or maybe it’s a church, with its prominent stained glass of Christ. Or perhaps it’s an homage to Oscar Wilde, who’s own stained glass sits just lower left of the Lord. The band sits in front of the bar. A few full-time players, with the actors filling in on all sorts of instruments. The stage proper is busy place, what with a cast of fifteen playing various Dubliners and infiltrating the band. The movement flows smooth and continuous as a good pint among mates.

A Man of No Importance is not a great musical, but the play’s warmth and humor highlight the Irish reality that singing is to be shared, not showy. There are no great song and dance numbers, but the novelties (“Books” and “The Cuddles Mary Gave”) are hysterical; and they make the heartache of “Love Who You Love” all the more wrenching.

Every member of the ensemble cast shines. The Dubliners’ humanity triumphs over the Catholic Church’s repression. Every moment of this fine production proclaims everyone is welcome.

Please, come. Join the community. Celebrate. Hurrah for Speakeasy’s triumph!