A Man of No Importance - 2002 - Off-Broadway
Based on the film "A Man Of No Importance".
Winner of the 2003 Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Musical and the second work by the Tony Award winners of RAGTIME.
The tender and beautifully woven tale of love, friendship and coming to terms with one’s identity takes place in Dublin in 1964. Alfie Byrne, a middle-aged bachelor living a quiet life with his spinster sister, spends his days as a bus conductor and his nights as a community theater impresario dedicated to the plays of his hero, Oscar Wilde. A modest and quiet man, Alfie has always found his greatest satisfaction as the artistic director of the St. Imelda's Players, an amateur theatrical group housed in the local church. When Alfie declares that, instead of their usual production of The Importance of Being Earnest, the troupe will next present Wilde's provocative Salome, the church authorities balk at the play's "immodest dancing" and his safe little world begins to crumble. At the Victor Jory Theatre at Actors Theatre.
A Man of No Importance Off-Broadway Cast
by Brady Schwind
- Sep 25, 2019
Even before she takes the stage, Ann Kittredge is a knock-out. Emerging from the back of the theatre in a red satin robe, hands playfull sparring in black boxing gloves, Ms. Kittredge seems poised for victory. And by the end of her superbly crafted musical revue, Fancy Meeting You Here, An Evening of Ahrens & Flaherty, you'd be hard pressed to find a challenger to disagree. For in this, Ms. Kittredge's follow up to her 2018 Mac Award winning cabaret debut, she emerges as story-songstress supreme: a title that may be undefeated for some time to come.
by BWW News Desk
- Sep 24, 2019
Eleanor's Very Merry Christmas Wish - The Musical, a new family-friendly holiday production, will debut at the Greenhouse Theater Center, 2257 N. Lincoln Ave., Chicago, November 19 - December 29, 2019.
by BWW News Desk
- Sep 20, 2019
Actors Co-op Theatre Company (Ovation Winner 2018 Best Direction of a Musical - Intimate Theatre) announces its 28th Season of shows!
by Julie Musbach
- Sep 19, 2019
Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award winner Tracy Letts takes a brutally comedic look at Wheeler, a 50-year-old divorcee in the throes of a mid-life spiral. Get to know the cast below as they begin Broadway performances!
by BWW News Desk
- Oct 31, 2019
Pride Films and Plays' annual fall benefit, SIMPLY SENSATIONAL, celebrates theater artists who have had a tremendous impact on all they work with. This year's event will honor a beloved figure in the Chicago theater scene a?"Robert Ollis, musical director of many shows with Pride Films and Plays, Underscore Theatre Company, Bailiwick Repertory, Bailiwick Chicago, the Casting Auction Players and many other companies and events. Ollis will be the honoree as well as music director of the Company's annual fundraising concert, SIMPLY SENSATIONAL, on Monday, November 4 in The Broadway, Pride Arts Center, 4139 N. Broadway.
by BWW News Desk
- Oct 29, 2019
Pride Films and Plays' Jeff-recommended production of A MAN OF NO IMPORTANCE, the Chicago area's first revival in over a decade of the heartwarming musical created by Lynn Ahrens, Stephen Flaherty, and Terrence McNally, has been extended for one additional week due to popular and critical demand. The musical will now close with the 2:30 pm matinee on Sunday, November 17.
by BWW News Desk
- Oct 28, 2019
Coronado Playhouse ends its 73rd season with the award-winning, high-energy production of Mamma Mia!, opening Friday, November 8 and playing through Sunday, December 15, 2019. Fall in love with the characters, the story, and the music that make Mamma Mia! the ultimate feel-good show. This sunny, funny, sensational story, with a book by Catherine Johnson, is told through the magic of ABBA's timeless music and explosive dance numbers. Music and lyrics are by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus, the musical writing team and the a?oeguy-halfa?? of ABBA, that brought us the hits you know and love, like a?oeDancing Queen,a?? a?oeThank You for the Music,a?? a?oeMoney, Money Money,a?? a?oeTake A Chance on Me,a?? and the title song a?oeMamma Mia!a??.
by BWW News Desk
- Oct 28, 2019
Landmark Musicals is presenting is a musical adaptation of the classic Charles Dickens story, A Christmas Carol, at the Rodey Theater on the University of New Mexico campus, November 23 through December 8.
by BWW News Desk
- Oct 22, 2019
Pride Films and Plays will stage the first Chicago production in more than a decade of A MAN OF NO IMPORTANCE, the heartwarming musical created by Lynn Ahrens, Stephen Flaherty, and Terrence McNally, the team that wrote RAGTIME and ANASTASIA. A MAN OF NO IMPORTANCE is based on a 1994 film starring Albert Finney and features a gorgeous Irish-influenced score.
by BWW News Desk
- Oct 2, 2019
Pride Films and Plays' annual fall benefit, SIMPLY SENSATIONAL, celebrates theater artists who have had a tremendous impact on all they work with.
by BWW News Desk
- Oct 15, 2019
Ragtime a?" with book by Terrence McNally, music by Stephen Flaherty and lyrics by Lynn Ahrens a?" is a sweeping epic musical about the birth of America that weaves together real celebrities and historical events with a timeless tale of three families in pursuit of the American Dream.
by BWW News Desk
- Nov 6, 2019
Cape May Stage puts the laughter in Manslaughter this holiday season with MURDER FOR TWO: THE HOLIDAY EDITION
by BWW News Desk
- Nov 5, 2019
Last night the Dramatists Guild Foundation (DGF) hosted its annual DGF Gala to celebrate artists and honor patrons of the American theater community in gratitude of their continued support of emerging writers and creators at the Ziegfeld Ballroom in NYC. Jason Alexander may have said it best: “a world without writers is just mimes and improv.”
by Stephi Wild
- Nov 18, 2019
Today's top stories: go inside opening night of The Inheritance, including photos, video, reviews, and more!
by BWW News Desk
- Nov 18, 2019
Transport Group announced today that Denise Dickens, formerly of Abingdon Theatre Company, will join the company as its new executive director, replacing Lori Fineman, outgoing executive director. Dickens will join founding Artistic Director Jack Cummings III at the helm of the off-Broadway, award-winning, non-profit theatre company.
by Shari Barrett
- May 9, 2020
This Spotlight focuses on Nan McNamara, an award-winning actress who I have seen in many productions at the Actors Co-op in Hollywood, perhaps most notably in the 2017 Ovation Award-winning '33 Variations' in which she played a journalist who was able to go back in time to interview Ludwig Von Beethoven (an outstanding performance by Bruce Ladd) about his work. But what happened to the world premiere production of Lee Blessing's 'A Body of Water' which Nan directed when Covid-19 shut down L.A. theaters?
by BWW News Desk
- May 4, 2020
TheatreWorks Silicon Valley's Founding Artistic Director Robert Kelley, Artistic Director Designate Tim Bond, and Executive Director Phil Santora announced changes to TheatreWorks's 2020-21 Season, which is now scheduled to begin in October 2020.
by BWW News Desk
- May 27, 2020
Continuing Pride Films and Plays' 'Pride in Place' series of live online readings, A LATE SNOW by Jane Chambers will be performed on Thursday, May 28 at 7 p.m.
by BWW News Desk
- May 23, 2020
Front Porch Theatricals has rescheduled its two previously announced summer shows to 2021, due to the health crisis.
by Shari Barrett
- May 2, 2020
This Spotlight focuses on Selah Victor, an actor and former Production Manager of Actors Co-op Theater Company in Hollywood whose next very personal production is due later this year. And while the a?oewait is on,a?? Selah is sharing her musical comedy talents by creating clever and very relevant a?oesafe at homea?? videos on YouTube. So, with a toddler at home as well as a new addition to her family on the way, how is she fueling her creativity at home and sharing it with others?
by BWW News Desk
- May 19, 2020
A preliminary list of performers for Pride Films and Plays' annual NOMINEE NIGHT concert has been announced by Robert Ollis, a PFP Artistic Associate serving as music director for the event. NOMINEE NIGHT is typically performed in mid-May at Sidetrack's Musical Monday to showcase musical theater performers and productions nominated in the Non-Equity Jeff Awards.
by BWW News Desk
- Mar 5, 2020
Full cast and crew have been announced for Artemisia's world premiere production of EVERY WAITING HEART. The drama will be performed at The Den in June 2020 and directed by Artemisia Founding Artistic Director Julie Proudfoot.
by Gil Kaan
- Mar 26, 2020
In these crazy, safe-distancing times; I reached out earlier this week to various heads of Los Angeles theatres to see how they and their theatre families are holding up. The replies were amazing in their quickness, numbers and uniform positivity.
by Roger Catlin
- Mar 26, 2020
Theater suffered a huge loss this week when the playwright Terrence McNally died at 81, of complications of our current plague, the coronavirus. It was a sad irony since many of McNally's plays dealt with the effects of a previous plague, AIDS, in the 1980s.
by BWW News Desk
- Mar 17, 2020
March 17th is here! While most of the world will not be raising a pint in celebration of St. Patrick's Day this year, it also seems a crime to let the day go by without a tip of the hat to the Irish- Broadway style.
by BWW News Desk
- Jun 3, 2020
The premiere of Pride Films and Plays' annual NOMINEE NIGHT concert featuring performers nominated for Non-Equity Jeff awards in musical theatre categories, originally planned for Monday, June 1, has been rescheduled to Wednesday, June 3.
by Jeanmarie Simpson
- Jun 26, 2019
Early in my acting career, I was represented by an agency that got me an audition for a recurring role in the series Breaking Bad. It clearly would have been the biggest break of my acting career. I had a short side of two pages to learn for the audition. Usually, I have a pretty photographic memory for lines, and I work hard to be sure I know them cold. But for this audition due to nervousness I could never get the lines solid, and sadly what the producers saw was not a potential character in their show, but an actor clearly struggling to remember the next word he was supposed to say. My biggest opportunity and worst audition all rolled into one disappointing 10-minute take.
by BWW News Desk
- Jul 9, 2019
Husband-and-wife duo John Pizzarelli and Jessica Molaskey make their annual fall pilgrimage to Cafe Carlyle with an all-new show, November 5-16.
by BWW News Desk
- Jul 5, 2020
The Board of Directors of Pride Films and Plays has voted to bring new leadership to the company, effective immediately. Artistic Associate Donterrio Johnson will be elevated to the position of Artistic Director, with JD Caudill and Robert Ollis continuing on as Artistic Associates.
by Paula Kiger
- Jul 31, 2019
Have you ever 'trash talked' a fellow theater-goer as you passed each other in the aisle? Probably not, right?
by BWW News Desk
- Jul 28, 2020
The Public Theater of San Antonio has announced events upcoming for this week and for their camps next week.
by BWW News Desk
- Jul 25, 2019
Back by popular demand! 2Scoops returns to Joe's Pub with The Farewell Tour.
by Elliot Lanes
- Jul 2, 2019
Today's subjects Deb Gottesman and Claire Schoonover are currently living their theatre lives onstage at Keegan Theatre playing two very resourceful and cutthroat senior citizens in the DC area premiere of David Lindsay-Abaire's Ripcord. The production runs through July 6th.
by BWW News Desk
- Jul 17, 2019
The Barrow Group announces its 2019-2020 season, which consists of three timely productions that invite audiences to take a look deep within-inspiring positive change in action and awareness.
by Jeanmarie Simpson
- Jul 1, 2019
We can placate a certain segment of society by providing 'enrichment' courses in the arts, but it should no longer be a mystery that you can't achieve holistic education without a strong emphasis in the arts. The US Bureau of Economic Analysis recently released an astounding statistic that reports over $763 Billion of contribution by the arts sector to the US economy. That's around 5 million workers in the industry, which accounts for hundreds of billions of dollars in compensation. Yet here we are, still waiting for an increase in financial support for arts programs in the schools. You can talk about Broadway, Hollywood, and TV culture all day, but young people are tomorrow's audiences and we owe it to the industry to develop an enlightened culture of young participants and consumers of the arts.
by BWW News Desk
- Jan 30, 2020
Showtunes Theatre Company produced its first musical in concert on January 22, 2000 at Town Hall in Seattle. That first show was Anyone Can Whistle, a Stephen Sondheim/Arthur Laurents cult favorite that showcased 30+ local performers and musicians and enjoyed a sold-out-one-night-only performance. Now, 20 years and one month to the day, Showtunes has produced 40 musicals in concert, multiple cabarets and special events produced in and around Seattle since January of 2000 on the very stage it all began - Town Hall Seattle.
by BWW News Desk
- Jan 23, 2020
Cast and crew were announced today for Theo Ubique's production of the hilarious and heartbreaking musical GREY GARDENS, to be performed at the Howard Street Theatre at 721 Howard St., Evanston, from March 6 to April 26, 2020.
by Chloe Rabinowitz
- Jan 22, 2020
A Soldier's Play officially opened on Broadway on January 21 for a limited engagement at the American Airlines Theatre on Broadway (227 West 42nd Street).
by BWW News Desk
- Jan 17, 2020
From classic to contemporary, a remount to a World Premiere, Cygnet Theatre's 18th season is filled with emotional, physical and theatrical dexterity.
by BWW News Desk
- Feb 25, 2020
The Minutes is officially in previews on Broadway! The cast of The Minutes includes Ian Barford, Blair Brown, Cliff Chamberlain, K. Todd Freeman, Armie Hammer, Tracy Letts, Danny McCarthy, Jessie Mueller, Sally Murphy, Austin Pendleton, Jeff Still.
by BWW News Desk
- Feb 11, 2020
Prospect Theater Company has announced the performing artists involved in the company's 2020 Musical Theater Lab, MOVE MEANT. The lab's culminating presentations are Monday and Tuesday Feb. 17th and 18th at 7:00pm at The Ailey Citigroup Theater, The Joan Weill Center for Dance (405 West 55th St. at 9th Ave.)
by Stephi Wild
- Dec 27, 2019
Today's top stories: A Soldier's Play begins previews tonight on Broadway, and more!
English National Opera And London Musical Theatre Orchestra Announce A CHRISTMAS CAROL Collaboration
by BWW News Desk
- Dec 16, 2019
English National Opera (ENO) today announces A Christmas Carol, a festive spectacular in collaboration with London Musical Theatre Orchestra (LMTO).
by Elliot Lanes
- Dec 10, 2019
Today's subject Ted Sperling is very well represented this holiday season here in DC. He is the Musical Director/New Orchestrator for Fiddler on the Roof which plays through December 15th at the National Theatre. Beginning December 17th his work as Musical Supervisor can be heard on My Fair Lady at Kennedy Center. That show runs through Jan 19th.
by Rob Levy
- Aug 9, 2019
Adapte from the 1994 film, A MAN OF NO IMPORTANCE centers around Alfie Byrne, a down on his luck bus conductor and theater director whose latest theatrical production leads to a powerful journey of self-discovery.
by BWW News Desk
- Aug 28, 2019
Pride Films and Plays Executive Director David Zak today announced the remaining productions in the company's 2019-20 season a?" an eclectic mix of LGBTQIA+ themed plays and musicals that will include world, US, and Chicago premieres as well as revivals.
by BWW News Desk
- Aug 25, 2019
Meet the Oz-some current cast of Wicked on Broadway!
by Stephen Sorokoff
- Aug 15, 2019
Mario Lanza brought Opera to Hollywood and Sean Patrick Murtagh brought Mario Lanza to the Cabaret World at The Green Room 42 last night. Sean's lyric baritone effectively handled the repertoire usually sung by a tenor's voice and brought a distinctive vivacity to the songs usually associated with Mario Lanza and other celebrated tenors. Actually this show was about Mario and Richard (not Tucker). It was a heartfelt tribute to Sean's vocal teacher Richard who first exposed him to the Mario Lanza songbook. With his superior musical theater acting skills and charming personality Sean Patrick Murtagh is an exciting addition to the Cabaret World. Similar to the Metropolitan Opera, The Green Room 42 was full of Bravo's last night and I was thinking 3 Tenors plus 1 great Lyric Baritone would also make a great performance.
by BWW News Desk
- Aug 1, 2019
Pride Films and Plays will stage the first Chicago production in more than a decade of A MAN OF NO IMPORTANCE, the heartwarming musical created by Lynn Ahrens, Stephen Flaherty, and Terrence McNally, the team that wrote RAGTIME and ANASTASIA. A MAN OF NO IMPORTANCE is based on a 1994 film starring Albert Finney as a Dublin bus conductor and features a gorgeous Irish-influenced score. Donterrio Johnson, the Jeff award-winning actor who directed PFP's BUYER AND CELLAR earlier this year and is currently appearing in THE SPITFIRE GRILL with American Blues Theater, will direct. Music direction is by Robert Ollis, who most recently music directed SOUTHERN COMFORT for Pride Films and Plays and was a 2019 Jeff nominee for his music direction of HAYMARKET: A NEW FOLK MUSICAL. Ollis was Music Director for the 2008 production of A MAN OF NO IMPORTANCE, which earned five Jeff Award nominations for Bailiwick Repertory.
by BWW News Desk
- Apr 28, 2020
With the conclusion of the 2019-2020 Chicago non-Equity theater season, the Jeff Awards announced the nominees for the 47th annual awards for theater excellence that include 120 theater artists across 21 categories.
