Amadeus Mozart. Some say he wrote his first concerto at the age of 4, his first symphony at 5, a full opera at 14 and at 25 he met Salieri, the man who is rumored to have taken his life.
Amadeus, performed by Dramakats on Feb. 26, is a fictional account of how Antonio Salieri (Aiden Hamilton) went about slowly killing Amadeus Mozart (James Pate). He decimated his spirit and his career, picking away at everything that made Mozart a marvel until he died at 35. Salieri was jealous of the gift God had given to a man he considered immature and undeserving and was subsequently driven to murder. He used this play as his final show, a coup de gras for his career, and one last performance to confess his sins.
Ten years before he met his demise, we meet a jolly young Mozart, riding the high of his popularity as another great musician of France. For a story about a doomed man, the actors did an incredible job of littering the play with comedic charm. Pate’s Mozart was foolish and goofy, keeping the audience thoroughly entertained as we learned about Mozart’s introduction into high society. And throughout the show his shift to a more destitute and weary character still carried over some of that same charisma.
From the beginning of the show, Hamilton’s descriptions of Mozart emphasize his detest for the man simply for being a child prodigy. Salieri was a gifted tutor and skilled at helping others develop their own talents, but he lacked that same level of ability. There are moments where Mozart hugs Salieri or refers to him as a friend and the audience may briefly think our villain will have a change of heart, but he remains bitter to the very end.
The cast’s costumes were gorgeous onstage, and in conjunction with their lighting and set pieces, took the audience back to the 17th century, and ultimately made an incredible performance all the more spectacular. This comedic tragedy weaves in the complexity of jealousy between artistic rivals and leaves the audience to ponder this historical mystery: did Salieri do it?
