[NEohioPAL]Berko review: AMADEUS (GLTF)

[Roy Berko]

‘AMADEUS’ IS OVERLY LONG, BUT INTRIGUES AT GLTF

Roy Berko

(Member, American Theatre Critics Association)

--THE TIMES NEWSPAPERS--

Lorain County Times--Westlaker Times--Lakewood News
Times--Olmsted-Fairview Times	

Whispers fill the theater. We can distinguish nothing
at first from the snakelike hissing except the word
“Salieri” repeated here, there and then the barely
distinguishable word "Assassin!"  Thus starts Peter
Shaffer’s ‘AMADEUS,’ now on stage in repertoire with
‘AS YOU LIKE IT,’ at Great Lakes Theatre Festival.

‘AMADEUS’ is loosely based on the lives of the
composers Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Antonio Salieri.
 The script was inspired by ‘MOZART AND SALIERI,’ a
short play by Aleksandr Pushkin.   It is a play of
greed, lust, betrayal, intrigue and jealousy.

The title refers to an identification that Mozart
often used as his pen name.   The name, in German,
means "God-lover" or "Loved by God."   This
identification is quite significant, as the title not
only refers to Mozart, but Salieri's relationship with
God, an important aspect of the plot.

Originating at the National Theatre of Great Britain,
‘AMADEUS’ won the Evening Standard Drama Award and,
later, in the United States, the play won the coveted
Tony Award.  It went on to become a critically
acclaimed major motion picture which won eight Oscars,
including Best Picture.

The time is the 1800s, the place is Vienna, a city of
musicians, where the aged Salieri narrates his plot to
destroy Mozart, who he considers to be “God's
preferred creature.”

The real Antonio Salieri is presently known as the man
who lived in the shadow of Mozart; but in his time, he
was the court Kappellmeister, and had among his
students Schubert and Beethoven.  And, from the
standpoint of reality, he was probably far from the
character in the play.   There is no historical record
of his plotting the death of Mozart, which is the
strong underlying theme of the script.

As for Mozart, there is probably no man who has had
his music played for such a long time.  He was a boy
genius who unfortunately was also a child-like, often
childish man, who never really understood his role as
an adult.

The Great Lakes Theatre Festival’s production is very
good, though excessively long and doesn’t have the
overall effect that it might.  Neither of these is
totally the Festivals’ fault.  Shaffer has rewritten
the play at least six times.  In the latest version,
which is the one GLTF chose to produce, the ending has
been changed.  We do not see Mozart’s supposed killer,
a real or imagined phantom in a flowing black cloak,
much like the traditional version of the death figure.
 We don’t see Mozart’s final moments before death
envelops him.   This weakens the final product.

In addition, on opening night the production lagged a
little.  One can only conjecture that this was not
director Gordon Reinhart’s decision, but simply the
fact that, due to financial restraints, the cast had
not had preview performances to learn how to gauge the
audience’s reactions and fall into a comfortable
pattern.   This problem should be alleviated as the
show runs through its production dates.

GLTF audiences have gotten used to viewing Andrew May
as the comic supreme.  It is nice to see May given the
opportunity to flap his dramatic wings.  May comes
through in grand style.  He makes for a very
believable and properly tortured Salieri. 

Ben Nordstom (Mozart)  is wonderful in the child-like
sequences.  His weakness is in making the transition
into desperation as death nears.  Part of this, again,
may be the script.  Because of the plot alterations
Nordstrom doesn’t get the opportunity to show Mozart’s
complete mental and physical collapse.

Scott Plate and Nicholas Koesters are wonderful as
Salieri’s “Little Winds”--gossip mongers.  They flit
around the stage and into the audience whispering,
making up tales, commenting on reality and illusion
with great relish.

Dougfred Miller makes for an excellent Joseph II,
Emperor of Austria and Kathryn Chesaro is equally as
good as Constanze, Mozart’s wife.

CAPSULE JUDGEMENT:  GLTF’s ‘AMADEUS’ is well worth
seeing.  Do not, however, expect the same power as the
film version, as Shaffer’s new ending robs audiences
of some of the depth of the emotional impact of
Mozart’s final demise.

‘AMADEUS’ and ‘AS YOU LIKE IT’ and are running in
tandem through October 22.  For tickets to any GLTF
production call 216-241-6000 or 800-766-6048.




Roy Berko's web page can be found at www.royberko.info.  His theatre and dance reviews appear on NeOHIOpal, an on-line source.   To subscribe to this free service via the World Wide Web, visit http://lists.fredsternfeld.com/mailman/listinfo/neohiopal.


		
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