From the first whispered echo of “Salieri,” Peter Shaffer’s “Amadeus” had the audience hooked. The play, directed by John McIlwee, opened Friday night at Titmus Theatre in the newly renovated Thompson Hall, making it the first production staged there since the renovations were completed.
The hall was brightly lit, with a grand corridor leading to two different theatres and seating available in the lobby for waiting guests. The theatre itself was cozy, with two seating levels set higher than the stage in a coliseum-type setting. The stage space appeared a bit small, but allowed the audience to feel part of the action from the comforts of comfortable seating.
The play centered around two composers, Antonio Salieri and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Out of jealously at Mozart’s musical genius, Salieri contrived ways to bring Mozart to ruin. And succeeded.
Although the scenery was sparse, it was used effectively. When a scene changed, certain doors were opened or closed, and the curtains were pulled to specific points to indicate a different setting. By the third or fourth scene change, the audience was barely attentive to the fluid motion of the changes.
While scenery was set, the focus generally remained on Salieri, portrayed by Andrew Payne, a graduate student in communications and public administration. He often spoke directly to the audience to keep the action flowing while still informing the audience about background information and his own personal thoughts.
During the action, the music enhanced the experience of being in the theatre and the audience members lived vicariously through the characters.
The pieces were powerful and moving, invoking emotions in the audience and the players on stage. There may have been a tear or two shed in seat G14 during a certain Requiem.
The audience had to suspend its disbelief when the characters “played” the piano because the music was played over the speakers while the characters pretended to play, causing quite a distraction.
Music from a speaker and music from an actual piano are very different experiences, and in this case, hearing the original pieces rather than an actor’s imitation was more enjoyable.
There was one drawback in the music being played from the speakers: cue mistakes.
At one point during Friday’s performance, Salieri had finished playing a piece on the piano and as he stood up from the bench, the music cut back on. The slip-up was covered well by Salieri, who gave the audience a confused shrug.
The costumes and wigs were period appropriate, though the costumes were more convincing than the wigs. Salieri and Mozart were distinguished from the other characters by wearing two different colored outfits, which set them apart from the main cast, who were clothed in greens and yellows.
At the beginning of the play, the various wigs the characters adorned were comical, since they were so obviously fake. However, when the action became more serious, the wigs detracted from the intensity of the spoken words.
While the play ended as a dark tragedy, the first half was filled with comic situations and characters. Mozart, portrayed by George Kaiser, a senior in arts applications, was the most comical character.
His use of sexual innuendos and voice interpretations, including a voice reminiscent of Yoda, let the audience fall in love with his character. Even when he acted like a whiny, petulant child, Mozart was an enjoyable character to watch and listen to.
The use of line repetition brought laughs from the audience each time, specifically from Emperor Joseph II, played by Michael Murray, a senior in arts applications.
“Well, there it is,” became a punch line for the audience by the third time Murray awkwardly said it.
The characters also used different languages, from English, to Italian to French, to create humor. The actors spoke the foreign lines like natives, with each consonant and vowel resonating clearly through a seemingly flawless accent. It did not matter that the audience did not know the languages because they were spoken in such a way that the meanings were conveyed without much effort.
Salieri’s angry speech before the intermission took the story from light comedy to dark humor and heartbreak. It was given with passionate fervor, the anger washing over the audience in fierce waves as Salieri’s voice changed from soft to harsh in seconds, truly consuming all the rage inside his heart.
The speech marked the end of nearly all the light banter as the anger and hate of Salieri choked the audience into stunned silence during the second half of the play.
Ending much like it began, the action was brought full circle to repeat what was said in the beginning, but now the audience knew the full story and was left to sift through their emotions and prejudices of the characters now dead and gone.
By and large, “Amadeus” turned out to be witty and seductive, a dramatic play worth experiencing.