As its title suggests, “A Man of No Importance” — beginning a three-week run this weekend at the Long Beach Landmark Theatre — is not a flashy musical, but it portrays profound depths.
Alfie Byrne is a bus conductor in 1964 Dublin who has a secret. Moreover, he has a poetic spirit and gets local townspeople to stage amateur plays in their church hall.
But when Alfie decides to stage his dream play, “Salome” — written by his favorite writer, Oscar Wilde, nearly 70 years before — the town’s Catholic conservatives decide its seductive scenes are morally degenerate and want to ban its production.
In trying to persuade them otherwise, Alfie has imaginary conversations with the flamboyant Wilde and becomes emboldened to reveal more of himself, risking consequences both physical and emotional.
Winner of the 2003 Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Off-Broadway Musical, “A Man of No Importance” is written by Terrence McNally, with music by Stephen Flaherty and lyrics by Lynn Ahrens, based on a 1994 film of the same name. This is the same trio behind the Tony Award-winning 1998 Broadway musical “Ragtime.”
Curtis Heard, music director of the theater, is conducting a live orchestra for the show’s Irish-inflected score. And a cast of nearly 20 will bring the play to life — directed and choreographed by artistic director Megan O’Toole, who will also play the role of Mrs. Patrick.
The show will perform at the First Congregational Church of Long Beach like the theater’s previous productions, including last year’s musically spectacular “Jagged Little Pill,” enhanced by the building’s acoustics.
With a church conflict at the center of “A Man of No Importance,” the setting is not only fitting, but makes it more metatheatrical — a play staged in a church about staging a play in a church.
Long Beach Landmark Theatre’s “A Man of No Importance” runs Oct. 16 to Nov. 1 at the First Congregational Church of Long Beach, 241 Cedar Ave., with shows Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. and Sundays at 7 p.m., except Sunday, Oct. 18 at 5 p.m. Tickets range from $30 to $60. For tickets and information, visit LBLandmark.org.