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Synopsis This play, starring the best music of Mozart, gives an alternate view of the un-timely death of Mozart. Seen through the eyes of the Court Composer Salieri we get a story of jealousy and hatred as the young upstart's talents eclipse the established musical hierachy. But, was Salieri directly involved in Mozart's death or not?
Peter Shaffer’s 1979 play Amadeus is revived for a limited season to 14 October 2006 at east London’s atmospheric Wilton’s Music Hall, where it opened on Monday (18 September 2006, previews from 14 September - See News, 21 Jul 2006).
Sweeney Todd director-designer John Doyle applies his multi award-winning actor-musician musical approach to the production, which features Stars in Their Eyes presenter turned Olivier Award winner Matthew Kelly as Salieri to Jonathan Broadbent’s Mozart.
Set in 18th-century Vienna, Amadeus explores the relationship between the obsessive Austrian Court composer Antonio Salieri and his meteoric young rival Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
Most first night critics agreed that having musicians play live on stage added a great deal to the production – though perhaps not enough – but were divided about Matthew Kelly’s central role as Salieri, as well as the quality of Shaffer’s original play. Highest praise was reserved for the venue itself which, said the critics, provides an ideal setting for the piece.
Terri Paddock on Whatsonstage.com – “Creating music live in a play about composers seems an obvious choice but, for all the star-studded previous versions on stage, it’s a first – and an inspired choice at that. When we hear the 17-strong ensemble strike up with extracts from The Marriage of Figaro and The Magic Flute, we fully appreciate Salieri’s fervent belief that it’s ‘only through hearing music that I know that God exists’…. Two years ago, Matthew Kelly won the Best Actor Olivier for his portrayal of gentle giant Lenny in John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men. Here, he’s another giant of a man, this time broken by envy and bitterness at his own mediocrity. As he listens to Mozart’s music or recounts the gifts bestowed on his rival, Kelly’s face twists with his pain and his grasping hands seem to take on a life of their own, casting long shadows as they flutter, as if straining to touch imaginary piano keys – or wring Mozart’s immodest neck. It’s a memorable performance in an evening made magical by the live musicians.”
Benedict Nightingale in The Times - “Peter Shaffer’s Mozart play displays what I don’t like as well as what I do like about his work: it’s theatrical, it’s gripping, but its pretension-quotient and tosh-level are worryingly high…. Perhaps it doesn’t matter that this thesis means that the tactless, mercurial Mozart has become a boorish megalomaniac with coprophiliac tendencies. Dramatists may take liberties with history and, in John Doyle’s production, Jonathan Broadbent is a relatively restrained and even touching Amadeus. It’s more that a classical-era story has become a romantic melodrama: mediocre man versus the sublime genius…. Matthew Kelly crumples his face to signal grimness, splutters and snarls to signal envy, roars to signal vindictive rage, and altogether does too much signalling and not enough embodying.”
Charles Spencer in the Daily Telegraph - “In Wilton's, that wonderfully atmospheric, semi-derelict old music hall in the East End, the play has found its perfect setting…. Indeed, it's hard to tell where the building ends and Doyle's design of gilt chairs and tarnished mirrors begins. To move this show to another theatre would inevitably be to diminish it. And this is a play that needs all the help it can get, as Shaffer trots out bogus profundities about the nature of genius and personal ruminations on what it feels like to know you are deeply second-rate – a subject on which the playwright certainly speaks with authority. The dramatist's obsessive recurring theme of god-like genius colliding with destructive mediocrity runs through his major dramas like letters through a stick of rock, and, frankly, I'm sick to death of it…. The play repeatedly insists that in the music of Mozart we hear the voice of God, so it is unfortunate that the intonation is dodgy and the singing ragged. God, in fact, seems to be having a bit of an off day. Sondheim and G&S can take a bit of a bashing; Mozart demands perfection. The best thing about the show is Matthew Kelly as the jealous Salieri, who does all he can to block his younger rival's progress.”
Nicholas de Jongh in the Evening Standard - “While Mozart's music achieves scant approval, Salieri is embraced by success. A terrible jealousy inspires the older man to kill the man whose operas, serenades and symphonies leave him both enraptured and enraged. Yet Kelly, whose impassive, waxwork face remains shrouded in sulky boredom, never conveys Salieri's ironic anguish or fear of God's punishment…. Kelly, eyebrows archly raised, merely scales the heights of noisy petulance…. The play lacks the vital spur of conflict.” However, “Doyle, who often casts actors who play instruments too, scores a theatrical coup by making the courtiers into a little musical ensemble who elegantly play sequences from a Mozart serenade…. Jonathan Broadbent’s Mozart…. is the production's redeeming glory…. Broadbent, a dyed-blond, overwhelming Amadeus, combines the vulnerability and exuberance of an emotionally insecure teenager with the pathos of a divine musician who succumbs to poverty, hunger and illness in valiant if bemused stoicism.”
Michael Billington in the Guardian - “Although I miss the lush grandeur of previous stagings, John Doyle's use of actor-musicians both suits the piece and is far more aesthetically satisfying than in his extravagantly admired Sweeney Todd…. The great gain comes from the fact that the music is made before our eyes by the 17-strong ensemble. You could have a more perfect version of the adagio of the serenade for 13 wind instruments; but it is moving to hear the music created in front of us. And the moment when Mozart improvises on a formal Salieri march to compose what will become “Non piu andrai” from Figaro is enhanced by the fact that Jonathan Broadbent is playing it in the moment…. Matthew Kelly endows Salieri with a pious worthiness. Large of stature and with a mass of silvery hair, he looks the embodiment of an official court composer; but he also suggests a man poisoned by the knowledge that Mozart is a genius…. Broadbent also brings out Mozart's scatological blabbering and naive conceit: you can see why he would drive his court contemporaries to distraction.”
Director John Doyle has had enormous success with his “actor-musicianship” on various musicals, most notably of course with Sweeney Todd, which, after its Whatsonstage.com Award-winning success in the West End, transferred across the pond and nabbed two of this year’s Tony Awards. This November, he’ll bring his actor-musician version of another Sondheim classic, Company, to Broadway, too.
Ahead of that, Doyle has returned to the UK to try applying his lauded technique to a play for a change: Peter Shaffer’s 1979 epic concerning Mozart and his jealous contemporary Antonio Salieri, Amadeus. Creating music live in a play about composers seems an obvious choice but, for all the star-studded previous versions on stage, it’s a first – and an inspired choice. When we hear the 17-strong ensemble strike up with extracts from The Marriage of Figaro and The Magic Flute, we fully appreciate Salieri’s fervent belief that it’s “only through hearing music that I know that God exists”.
There are many other inspired choices in Doyle’s production, which he’s also designed. The venue for one. Wilton’s Music Hall, the Victorian gem that’s still awaiting funding for restoration, is wonderfully atmospheric – Ace McCarron’s lighting bouncing off the tarnished mirrors of Doyle’s set to reveal it in all its ornately faded glory, as if an extension of Salieri’s narrative of moral decay. It’s echoey interior is also the ideal habitat for a haunted man and the “ghosts of the future” on which he calls to confess his Machiavellian crimes.
During proceedings, the musicians, doubling as members of the Viennese court, provide a macabre backdrop, with their brocaded finery and painted faces. At times, as they lug their cellos, drums and other larger instruments around, they conspire to make the stage feel slightly cramped, but when they halt – standing stock still as if posing for a royal portrait or as if frozen in time – they create truly striking tableaux. (Sweeney fans will also be glad to see some familiar faces, including Sam Kenyon, who has some scene-stealing fun when he steps forward as the Emperor.)
Given that in real life there were only six years between them, the common age disparity in actors cast as Mozart and Salieri – Simon Callow and Paul Scofield in the original NT production, Tom Hulce and F Murray Abraham in the 1984 film, Michael Sheen and David Suchet in Peter Hall’s last West End outing in 1998 – has always puzzled me. In Doyle’s pairing of Jonathan Broadbent and Matthew Kelly, there’s a substantial gap not just in years but in feet, Kelly towering above Broadbent’s exuberant, peroxided prodigy.
Two years ago, Kelly won the Best Actor Olivier for his portrayal of gentle giant Lenny in John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men. Here, he’s another giant of a man, this time broken by envy and bitterness at his own mediocrity. As he listens to Mozart’s music or recounts the gifts bestowed on his rival, Kelly’s face twists with his pain and his grasping hands seem to take on a life of their own, casting long shadows as they flutter, as if straining to touch imaginary piano keys – or wring Mozart’s immodest neck.
It’s a memorable performance in an evening made magical by the live musicians. If I have a complaint, it’s that I’d like more of the latter. Near the end of the play, as Mozart lies expiring in his wife’s arms, the musicians disappear and his requiem is heard as some distant recording. I imagine this is meant to be a comment on the death of music, but it’s just at that moment that I’d most like the emotion – and the live notes – raised to the rafters. It seems a missed opportunity.
John Doyle has done it again with this beautiful production of an almost forgotten play. The addition of actor-musicians breathes new life into Peter Shaffer's often over-wordy piece, although perhaps there could have been even more music, particularly in the second half. The necessary versatility also creates a couple of acting problems: Jess Murphy is a delight as Constanze but is not remotely common; Joanthan Broadbent portrays an irritating Mozart and avoids the over-the-top buffoonery of Tom Hulce's movie version, but does little to convey the genius of the composer. Of course the success of Amadeus depends on the quality of the lead and ("tonight Matthew I'm going to be Antonio Salieri") Matthew Kelly is a triumph. His towering frame drips jealousy and malevolence before descending into self-loathing and self pity. This is a million miles from Kelly's camp, avuncular TV persona and demonstrates that he is an actor of considerable substance. This production seems headed for a West End transfer but, as has been noted elsewhere, it is difficult to think of a more perfect venue. Wilton's is a semi-derelict shell of a building, dripping with atmosphere. With a lighting design creating a candlelit effect and wonderful acoustics you feel drawn in to the period of the play. It will be a long time before I forget the sight of Constanza cradling Mozart in her arms as his Requiem fills the hall. - 62.6.139.13)
04 Oct 06
Probably the most impressive and classy piece of theatre I have seen in a very long time. Why has it not been better advertised?! Perhaps because it is hoping to transfer into the West End?... which is a shame as Wiltons Music Hall is the most charmingly perfect venue for it, even if you do have to walk 10mins from Tower Hill tube. My only slight criticism would be that I was unsure as to why the stage is set so high up - from the front row I got a little neck ache. Matthew Kelly is breathtakingly inspiring and Jonathan Broadbent is disturbingly childlike as the title role. Both actors use of light and shade are spot on. Sam Kenyon is delightful as the Emperor and Jess Murphy strikes the balance of silliness and provocative charm just right as Mozart's wife Constanze. Eamonn O'Dwyer and Sebastian Bates are deliciously weird and wonderful as "the gossips" of the piece. The ensemble of actor/musicians are extremely disciplined and some have little to do other than play their instruments but their concentration never waivers. Although Salieri and Amadeus are the 'stars' of this play it is the strength of the ensemble and the live music which produces the magic and atmosphere of this production. Other productions of this play have seen me drift off in boredom - despite it's brilliant text - I always yearned for their to be more live music....and now my wish has come true. I was on the edge of my seat throughout John Doyle's production - the suspense was expertly thought out and even knowing the story I was left constantly wondering what was going to happen next. I thought this style matched John Doyle's production better than his Sweeney and hope to see it transferred into one of the smaller West End venues. It finishes on 14 October at Wilton's Music Hall and I urge you to see it there for the overall experience. I saw WICKED last night and frankly do not see what all the hype is about - go and see Amadeus instead. You will not be disturbed by a shrieking, hysterical audience and will quietly be able to witness a masterclass in truly challenging live theatre. - 213.86.30.2)
03 Oct 06
I trekked out to London E1 last Saturday to see the matinee performance of this wonderful production, and it was well worth the effort! I thought Matthew Kelly was exceptionally good as Salieri and Jonathan Broadbent as the hyperactive young Mozart was brilliant. The rest of the cast is also supremely talented in that they play and sing classical pieces and arias, are all extremely good-looking and are polished actors too! I was absolutely thrilled to be present and was fascinated and enthralled by the semi-decrepit state and decayed beauty of the marvellous old Wilton's Music Hall, which added greatly to the ambience of the play. I wouldn't have missed this for the world and congratulate all concerned with this production... bravo!! - 86.139.114.17)
02 Oct 06
The two reasons to head east to see this are that the venue and the play could not be a better match (and the design helps) and John Doyle's actor-musician trademark style is absolutely perfect (even better than Sweeney!). There are a couple of disaapointments, though - somehow the pace of the 1980 and 1998 productions is lost and it appears slow, particularly in the first half; and Matthew Kelly's performance is patchy and inconsistent - at times perfect, but at times seeming to lack real passion and bite. Thay said, this revival should be seen and it should be seen at Wiltons. - 86.130.210.245)
Grace's Alley off Ensign Street and Cable Street Inner London London E1 8JB
Telephone
020 7702 2789
Station
Tower Hill (LT)
Description
Built by pub owner John Wilton in 1859, the world's oldest music hall. Closed in the 1880's it became a Methodist Mission and later a rag warehouse. Once condemned, it was saved by the intervention of Sir Laurence Olivier, Peter Sellers and Sir John Betjeman.
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