I’ve never been a fan of the opera or symphony music, so I wasn’t excited to see Amadeus. But there was something about his snarky look on the photo that made me curious why he appears so snide.
It didn’t take long to find out.
Fortunate for me, the play had very little music, which was surprising, since the story was about Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. But the play had plenty of lessons on the music industry of that time and how, like now, there is a lot of envy and jealously among the top artist.
The story was rather simple. Like the record labels of today that own the artists, in Mozart’s time, they were considered servants and owned by the aristocrats of royalty and the very rich.
The play’s tension was between the established music man around town, Salieri, who wasn’t too happy to hear that the child prodigy, Mozart, was the most popular new thing on the European music scene. Mozart moved in on Salieri’s turf and most of the play focused on the complex coexistence of them two. It was sort of a Biggie - Tupac story.
Even Salieri couldn’t deny that Mozart was a genius, but the antagonistic rivalry was too much for Salieri to maintain his early promise to God, as he started doing some sinister stuff to keep Mozart out of mainstream music acceptance, and away from the woman he loved.
Most of the play was spoken by Salieri who had a tremendous amount of lines as he switched from an old man telling the story to a young man taking part in the story. Lil Mozart was a funny, obnoxious, snarky little rut who oozed talent and immaturity.
The costumes were spectacular and the sets were simple but effective.
If Amadeus could get a guy like me to love the play, I think word of mouth may make this a tough ticket around town.
If you’re looking for a great play at half the price of a Broadway production, go check out Amadeus at the Walnut Street Theater in Philly. It closes March 6.
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