She Said, by Cherie Messore
It’s the experience of seeing a production in the Shaw Festival Theatre that I love best of all. The set – even when you first enter the theatre – draws your eye immediately and begins to set the tone and vibe. Amadeus, on stage now to October 4 is no exception. The backlit and scratchily penned bar of music that you first see is earthy and elemental…evocative as it is stark. It’s slightly mysterious. Hence is the story of Mozart and his frenemy Salieri.
The visuals here are decidedly downplayed and effectively so. The set and costumes were designed by Judith Bowden and this combination of heavily-color saturated period costumes against an almost bare but beautifully lit set (designed by Kevin Lamotte) is gorgeous in its simplicity.
The true elegance was in the performance: Tom Rooney as Salieri reveals his story immediately: the older man reflecting on a storied and troubled past, and you know immediately (spoiler alert) that deaths are imminent. His delivery is passionate, deliberate, and delicious in its power and passion. He also has a few hilarious moments in a dry and wry way. Michael Therriault is Mozart, and is performance is wonderfully solid. His Mozart is more who I would hope the real Wolfgang was, and not the rather goofy, giggly bon vivant that Tom Hulce portrayed in the 1984 movie.
Like a stark set, few props and stage devices let sink into your imagination and theatre of the mind. Tim Carroll’s direction kept the stage movement tight and focused. The most glorious scene was the on-stage opera, with the “audience” turning their bodies to and away from the music in perfect synchronicity.
I got a kick out of the Venticelli (from the Italian, “little winds”) who chatter, patter, and gossip throughout the story, a Greek chorus of two, who banter about the whispers and rumors and truths about Salieri and Mozart. Sochi Fried and Julia Course executed this perfectly.
Did playwright Peter Shaffer over-amplify this rivalry? Perhaps. The tension and conflict between colleagues or rivals is well-told and brilliantly executed by the Shaw team.
He Said, by Stephen Dubois
A fresh and sleek staging of the classic tale of jealousy and betrayal between two composers unfolded in a production rich in symbolism and metaphor. The set itself was modeled after musical instruments and staff paper…you see a tilted, diagonal floor with light-filled slats that created both the notation of music as well as echoing the neck of stringed instruments. The shiny brass of trumpets and horns consumed the top. A scrim with hand-scribbled notes filled the back and its translucent, blurred surface allowed both shadows and subdued action to be seen. Additional tables, chairs, instruments, and a wheelchair slid in from the sides to complete and suggest spaces. Much of the stage was monochromatic and golden-hued with some pops of additional color used sparingly. I felt it was consistent in the vision but honestly expected more of a “wow factor” from a production at the esteemed Festival Theatre. This entire play could have been done in-the-round at the Jackie Maxwell Theatre with little change. But some moments really worked well. The references to Don Giovanni for example were brilliantly realized. Shadow play propelled some of the story and glowing lighting made several of the musical performances more uplifting. I would have preferred even more color, however, and felt the scenes with music would have benefitted from the use of rich colors…Mozart’s life could have been represented in the fading, monochromatic colors, while Mozart’s music could have been a full palette of color. I kept hoping the stage would do something more than it did.
Michael Therriault as Mozart was effective overall, especially in the second act, and, honestly, he has consistently been my favorite actor in the Shaw company for many years. Anytime I see his name in the Playbill, I am immediately excited. But here I found myself wishing for a Mozart with a more believable sense of youth. The character is only 25 when the play begins and 35 when he dies, and the volatile combination of genius, immaturity and youthful arrogance is essential to the dynamic with Salieri. A younger actor might have made that contrast sharper and, in turn, made Salieri’s fascination and resentment even more compelling. Salieri is clearly the lead in this play and Tom Rooney delivered a multi-layered performance that truly captured the character, his demons, and his acceptance of the hand he was dealt by fate to dissolve into obscurity while Mozart would ascend to become and then remain one of the greatest composers in the world. The rest of the cast was excellent as one would expect from The Shaw. Graeme Somerville as the Emperor was a standout as were Allan Louis and Savion Roach as Orsini-Rosenberg and van Swieten respectively. Kristi Frank was wonderful and strong willed as Constanze.
As a play it does take some liberties with regards to authenticity. It is well known that Salieri and Mozart were not as combative in real life. But that doesn’t make for good drama, of course. Amadeus works well when we stop thinking of the actual characters and imagine them as embodiments of mediocrity confronting inexplicable genius. It is worth seeing, particularly for Tom Rooney’s compelling Salieri and the strength of the Shaw ensemble. But audiences should know going in that this is a deliberately spare staging. Its visual language is elegant and carefully conceived rather than lavish, and while some of its theatrical imagery is striking, I occasionally found myself wishing the production had embraced more of the color, spectacle and musicality suggested by its subject. For fans of the movie, there are many differences so one should not expect an experience anything like the film.
Amadeus runs two hours with a 15-minute intermission at the Festival Theatre. Find tickets and details at https://www.shawfest.com.
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