Customer Reviews

A Man of No Importance

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Being a fan of Ahrens and Flaherty (I have all of their CDs besides the Once On This Island London CD), it came as no surprise that this play was also very strong. The music is very easy to listen to casually. I particularly enjoy "Princess" and "The Streets of Dublin," but all of the songs are very strong. I reccomend this score to anyone who likes musical theatre or who is familiar with Ahrens and Flaherty. You won't be disappointed. The Irish flair also adds a bit of a magic touch to the already charming music. Take my word for it. You won't regret purchasing this CD.

From me,that is high praise indeed. A soaring score. So simple and yet so elegant. A show that I missed at Lincoln Center. But I'll not make that mistake again.

The cast is very talented and sings beautifully. Roger Rees is so good in the lead that I've now forgiven him for "The Red Shoes", my all-time worst musical.

I do not give 5 star reviews often. I truly recommend this cd.

I have been a major fan of this collaborative team for years and when the cd came out I was scouring the stores trying to find it as they opened. I eventually ordered it off amazon and have been listening to if for the past few days. It is amazing. Its hard to explain the it has some of their most simple music and lyrics yet the most beautiful. When the first notes play I feel myself relax and get drawn into the world they made. The lyrics are perfect down to earth and descriptive without being too poetic. Yet at the same time they are. Every time I hear it I discover something new not only about the show and story but about their talent. Its totally different from anything they done which I respect them for. And it has their style, certain chords that are in other shows that make them known for who they are. Like this show, their music is full of contradictions constantly showing that they know much more than they give, and always leave you wanting more. And they deliver far past expectations over and over again. These people are my idols and I could only hope to be up to their caliber some day. But until then its great to have something this wonderful to learn from. It is a VERY classy show. Very low key and wonderful to listen to. Its an amazing and wonderful show and had me drawn in from the very beginning..and keep you captivated until the end...and into the really touching bonus track.

Speaking of Oscar Wilde (the title character's inspiration in this play)... Have Ahrens and Flaherty got a picture hidden in an attic somewhere that suffers the affects of all the bad songs they write? That must explain why you've never heard a klunker from them, and probably never will.

Be borne away on gorgeous melodies, and be moved by lyrics appropriately hilarious, heartfelt, or forcefully dramatic. "Streets of Dublin" is the best "love my town" song I've heard yet. "Art" is a hoot.

This is a very special little show. Based on a film that starred the great Albert Finney, Terrence McNally, Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens (the team who brought us the musical "Ragtime") have created a haunting and melancholy musical of repression and unrequited love. Roger Rees plays Alfie Byrne - a closeted gay bus conductor who worships Oscar Wilde and lusts after Robbie - his beautiful young bus driver(Steven Pasquale).

Alfie lives with his spinster sister Lily (played by Faith Prince), who refuses to get on with her own life and marry the butcher William Carney (played by Charles Keating).

Alfie reads poetry to the passengers on his bus, and attempts to stage "Salome" with a group of local players. As his yearning for Robbie and his desire to come out of the closet overtakes him, Alfie is rebuffed by the church and encouraged by the ghost of Wilde. Coming out results in initial disaster - a brutal gay-bashing which is nothing compared with complete exposure to family, friends and co-workers.

Terrence McNally has been telling "our" stories for years - "Kiss of the Spider Woman," "Love Valor Compassion" - even "The Full Monty." His work here is inspired. The score is what we have on this CD - and it's terrific. Flaherty and Ahrens won a Tony for "Ragtime," and also wrote "Once On This Island," "Seussical" and "Dessa Rose." This score is one of their best (this is a team we should be hearing from for decades). The titular number is a knockout. The ensemble couldn't be improved upon. "Princess" (sung beautfully by Sally Murphy), "Man in the Mirror" and "Love Who You Love" are evocative, character infused ballads. "The Streets of Dublin" is a showstopper. The orchestrations by William David Brohn and Christopher Jahnke are outstanding, as is everything about this recording.

As far as musical theatre goes, there have been very few teams in the last decade or so that have been able to create as amazing and beautiful pieces of theatrical brilliance as Flaherty and Ahrens. And thank God the two have been able to impart so many great works. From "Once On This Island" to "Ragtime", it seemed like they would never be able to top themselves.

And then this comes to my attention.

At first listen, I was disappointed. I was expecting something along the lines of a new "Ragtime"- with an Irish twist. And no, "A Man of No Importance" is perhaps not as instantly accessible as the infectious "Ragtime" is, but give it a few tries. It has quickly become my favorite Flaherty/Ahrens score.

In most musicals, there are one or two songs that require a quick push of the "skip" button on my CD player, but "A Man of No Importance" is an exception. There isn't a single clunker in this collection. From the lovely title song to the beautiful "Welcome to the World", this score soars with a jubilant and sometimes heartrendering outlook that can develop its characters in as much as a three minute song.

The plot can be easily discerned from the songs and with a little help from the more-than-complete synopsis included with the CD's liner notes. Based on the 1994 film, "A Man of No Importance" tells the tale of Alfie Byrne, a Dublin bus driver determined to put on a church production of Oscar Wilde's "Salome". Along the way, he confronts his own sexuality and changes the lives of those around him.

One of the main assets behind the success of the score is the plot. Unlike the somewhat more distant "Ragtime", "A Man of No Importance" deals with characters not unlike people you may have known. Perhaps it is even possible to see yourself in Alfie Byrne. This is, for the most part, more than can be said with the class-driven society in "Ragtime". Indeed, even the conclusion of "A Man of No Importance" reflects the uncertainties and difficulties of social acceptance present in modern society; a far cry from the pat and dry ending of the very sentimental "Ragtime".

It's hard to pick out a few musical highlights, but if pressed, I would choose "The Cuddles That Mary Gave", a funny and yet mournful recollection of an older man's dead wife, "Confession", where Alfie almost confesses his love for another man to the local priest, "Art", an infectious and funny melody in which Alfie faces the difficulties of putting on a play, "The Streets of Dublin", a poetic ode to the city of Dublin set to a driving rock beat, and "Love Who You Love", a beautiful melody that is passionate and yet so very realistic in its idiomatic language. Consider the lyrics:

"Your common sense tells you
Best not to begin
But your fool heart
Cannot help plungin' in
And nothin' and no-one
Can stand in your way
You just have to love who you love"

I absolutely love this musical team! It seems that everything Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty touch turns to gold. This musical is no exception. There is definitely a flavor of their previous musicals incorporated into this one. Predominantly, it had a feel similar to Ragtime and Lucky Stiff, with an all new Irish twist. It's light and catchy, yet a little slower in pace than most of their musicals in the past. A great album, with great talent in its cast and writers.

I always kick myself for not seeing things and then listening to the cast recording and finding the show interesting. It's missing those great songs that were in Ragtime or Once On This Island (especially in Act II), but the melodies are pleasing (supported by great orchestrations) and the cast is fantastic.

I first heard about this musical when a friend told me she was auditioning for a production. Her brief synopsis was enough to get me interested, and I got the CD. The musical is based on the 1995 film of the same title, not on a novel. After listening, I was intrigued enough to purchase the movie.

It's the story of a bus conductor in Dublin, Ireland. A quiet man who's job is to collect the fares of bus riders. But he plays a role in the lives of his riders, reciting poetry and verse during the ride, engaging his passengers and making their trip something more than just a ride.

The opening number is a wonderful and poetic description of the seemingly mundane act of riding the bus to work in the morning being transformed from drudgery to a lively part of the daily round.

Many of his riders participate in his amateur theatre productions at a local church hall. His spinster sister has put her life on hold until her brother meets and marries a wife.

The conductor, Alfie, is a homosexual, who retreats from his own life into one of fantasy built around the poetry and prose of his inspiration, Oscar Wilde. His emotional outlets are narrowed to books and cooking, and his creativity is directed to his plays.

As his life rumbles forward on the bus, the pain of living this way becomes clear. The pressures of self denial press in on him. He longs to live a real life, and to feel the pleasures of love with another human being.

He longs, secretly, of the driver of his bus, but is caught in a net of Catholic guilt and social pressures, so shuns involvement in the outside world, preferring the safety and security of the secret world inside his own head.

Until, that is, the need for human interaction - both physical and emotional - drive him to a desperate point.

Beaten and humiliated by his only attempt to be himself, he finds that he is a man of importance to those around him. That being Oscar Wilde isn't who he needs to be, but instead, the man he is, Alfie Byrne.

The musical seems to flesh out some of the characters better than the movie, and improve on some of the vagaries of the film. The motivations of his sister, Lil, are more understandable because her relationship with Carney, the butcher is more clear, for example.

On first hearing, I found the story moving, but a little confusing - mostly keeping the characters in order. After reading the liner notes I had a much better feel for the action and interrelationships, and enjoyed it even more. The music captures the character and emotions of the story quite well.

The score uses Irish influences extremely well, and eschews the current style of rock rhythms and American Idol style vocal acrobatics, resulting in a good, solid and serious musical.

It's a sensitive story, well told by well written and evocative music.

I saw this amazing show in december - so glad the cd is finally out! the score is haunting, it progresses the story line. it is emotional and real. if you like new shows like VIOLET and PARADE, it is a must have. if you dont, you need to ask yourself why you dont. If we dont accept and embrace new musicals, we will no longer have this type of theatre to love....