"Amadeus": On the Burdens of Genius

New Rep’s rather magnificent production of “Amadeus”— a show about the burdens of genius on both the individual and those around him -- begins with Antonio Salieri muttering to himself as the audience takes their seats.   As Salieri, Benjamin Evett carries the show, which is no easy feat given its heft, depth, and length!  Evett’s characterization of the jealous, duplicitous composer is mesmerizing, and his transformations from old to young, and back, sublime.  

The show invites us into the mind and world of Salieri, who knows his own gifts to be dwarfed by those of the foolish young boy whose work, Salieri says, channels God.  Upon first reading a Mozart piece, Salieri laments that he will never be as good as Mozart, no matter how long or hard he works -- a sentiment made particularly painful by the contrast in their characters.  As we are meant to, the audience constantly compares the substantive, serious Salieri with the fatuous but enormously gifted Mozart, played by Tim Spears (who, it must be said, comes off more like a caricature than a character until he finally becomes a real person at the end of his life).

On the whole, there is something good to be said for each individual actor, but the production as a whole does not entirely gel the cast into an ensemble.  One of the largest disconnects is between the stylized portrayal of the men of the court and the serious construction of the role of Mozart’s wife (played with great feeling by McCaela Donovan).  The show could also have benefited from some judicious cutting, perhaps in the first act (which moved too slowly), allowing the intermission to come later, so that the second act did not go so long without a break.

Our favorite part of the production was probably the “venticelli” (little winds), two gossiping, whispering spies (played by the expert Paula Langton and Michael Kaye), who bring Salieri the news of the town, gallivanting around the stage and using their masks and wigs to great effect.  They, more than the other characters, use the full stage, including the enormous wooden slide/set piece with a fabulous geometric design, which becomes a church window, a podium, and other set pieces in turn (kudos to Cristina Todesco and Mary Ellen Stebbins, respectively the scenic designer and the lighting designer, for their terrific collaboration).  A big “nice job” to director Jim Petosa also on the brilliant stage pictures created by the intersection of the various production elements and the actors’ bodies in the geometric space of the stage and set.

~ Shauna Shames & Johanna Ettin, New Rep Reviewers