AMADEUS
AMADEUS is a complex play on a number of levels. First, there's the time and setting. In a piece such as this, recreating the moment is critical. Then, there's the plot. Not only do you have two men competing with each other, but one of them decides to take on God as well. And, let's not overlook the competition between the 1984 film adaptation and 1980 Broadway production. With both works barely out of the cultural bloodstream, it's only natural to compare and contrast. Add to that the original director, Sir Peter Hall, and measuring becomes unavoidable. And, finally, playwright Peter Shaffer's has done what many writers would love the chance to do: he's taken the liberty of exacting a re-write of his original text, something he did with the film adaptation as well.
In this latest rendition of AMADEUS, playwright Shaffer has toned down what he perceived to be the melodramatic plot configurations presented in his initial draft of the Tony-winning play and subsequent Oscar-winning screenplay. Though the iconoclastic depiction of Mozart remains, Salieri is far less the agent provocateur of the genius's death this time around. "I have rewritten the character to make him more human," Shaffer explains. No longer is he the "pitch-black villain" skulking about the streets of Vienna in a long cape and ominous mask.
Set in the late eighteenth century at the Viennese court of Emperor Joseph II, AMADEUS explores the conflict between Antonio Salieri and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. As court composer to the Enlightenments most musical of monarchs, Salieri's position allowed him the opportunity to advance his own work while dimming the prospects of others who might have presented a challenge to his standing. The debate has long been entertained as to whether this occurred between Mozart and Salieri and if the latter played a role in the former's most untimely demise.
Shaffer, one of the greatest living playwrights of the English language, presents Salieri's quandary as something more than a simple rivalry between the two composers. After meeting young Mozart (Michael Sheen), Salieri (David Suchet) is taken aback by his overwhelming crudeness. He cannot fathom why the Lord has placed in this impish character His most divine expression. But, Salieri's soon realizes his greater conflict is with God. How could He deny Salieri, one who has starved himself of life's corporal pleasures in devotion to music, the ability to rise above mediocrity? "Goodness is nothing in the furnace of art," Salieri realizes and sets out to destroy God's instrument in hopes of avoiding certain obscurity.
In this latest Shaffer incarnation, Salieri savors Mozart's actual demise from a distance instead of sitting at the side of his deathbed. His lack of participation is an action in itself, one with which Salieri must grapple as he looks back on his life some thirty years later. Facing death, he asks for forgiveness and takes solace in his self-appointed role as Patron Saint of Mediocrities. This is the group to which we all must claim membership and we are reminded so every time we look upon genius such as Mozart's.
For David Suchet, best known to Americans as the idiosyncratic sleuth Hercule Poirot in those Agatha Christie mysteries, tackling a role made famous by the likes of Paul Scofield, Ian McKellan and F. Murray Abraham is no easy task. Making his Broadway debut, Suchet approaches Salieri as a person one might pity for his overwhelming jealousy. With a genuine flair for the period, Suchet subtly brings to the surface a man eroded by the realization that dedication is simply not enough. There are no formulae to follow, for the Lord works in mysterious ways.
Michael Sheen's Mozart, on the other hand, brims with the flamboyance incumbent in the role. AMADEUS marks the young Welsh actor's Broadway debut and he possesses a certain Freddie Bartholomew quality ideal for the role. Sheen's irksome genius is as textured and layered as a Mozart concerto. He smoothly peels back the veneer, revealing the annoying, scatological boob as well as the pitifully misguided fool who falls prey to his own vices and the sinister smallness of his adversary.
For those who missed the earlier production of AMADEUS in London or New York and for those who love the film, this latest production at the Music Box Theatre provides a wonderful opportunity to see the work on stage. Under the skilled hand of Sir Peter Hall, noted for his direction of such giants as Dame Peggy Ashcroft, Dame Edith Evans and Lord Laurence Olivier, Sheen and Suchet complement one another like a warm tea and tasty crumpets. Supporting cast members offer ornate flourishes as a rich buttress to the nave of the play. David McCallum as Emperor Joseph II is especially regal in his repeated delivery of a particular royal catch-phrase. In this season short on original drama, a revival of this prime Shaffer play deserves a warm and well-deserved embrace.
© Russell Bouthiller 2000
