Review: Mozart's Music Lifts Moonbox Productions' AMADEUS

Amadeus

Written by Peter Shaffer; Producer, Sharman Altshuler; Director/Combat Choreographer, Allison Olivia Choat; Music Director, Dan Rodriguez; Period Music Consultant, Thomas Carroll; Stage Manager, Emily Cuerdon; Production Manager, Julie Marie Langevin; Set Design/ Properties Master, Cameron McEachern; Lighting Design, Jeffrey E. Salzberg; Sound Design, David Wilson; Costume Design, David Lucey; Wig Design, Peter Mill

CAST (in order of appearance): Matthew Zahnzinger, Sarah Leary, Nick Osborne, Matt Arnold, Cailin Doran, Adam Manacher, J. Deschene, Katie O'Reilly, Arthur Gomez, Ray O'Hare, Ed Peed, Andrew Winson, Cody Sloan, Caroline Keeler; Musical Performances: Grand Harmonie; Yoni Kahn, Orchestra Manager

Performances through December 17 by Moonbox Productions at Plaza Theatre, Boston Center for the Arts, 539 Tremont Street, Boston, MA; Box Office 617-933-8600 or www.moonboxproductions.org

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is one of the giants of classical music composition, his name undoubtedly known by everyone who has had an elementary school course of Music Appreciation. Antonio Salieri was lesser known, if known at all, by the uninitiated, until he achieved notoriety in Peter Shaffer's 1981 Tony Award-winning play Amadeus about the rivalry between the two men. Very little of the relationship portrayed in the play is based on actual historical events, but there are just enough facts to stir the imagination as to whether or not Salieri had a hand in the cause of Mozart's early death.

Moonbox Productions, Director Allison Olivia Choat, and Music Director Dan Rodriguez present a full-throated version of Amadeus with precise attention to the musical framework, with most pieces (previously recorded) performed by the Baroque ensemble Grand Harmonie Orchestra and including period instruments. A fortepiano (a late-18th to early-19th century instrument for which Mozart wrote his piano music) is the focal point on the minimalist set, lending an air of authenticity to the proceedings. Amadeus is not a musical, but music is the lifeblood that flows through the story, often propelling the drama when words or actions lack the capacity to do so.

That is the rub in this three-hour theatrical work. Shaffer is a brilliant wordsmith, but he employs the conceit of having Salieri narrate the tale, even as scenes are enacted before us. After listening to Mozart's first commissioned opera, Emperor Joseph II gives faint praise before his final assessment that "it has too many notes." If I might borrow from his sentiments, Amadeus has too many words. The fact that they are delivered by gifted actors in noteworthy performances is the saving grace, but too many minutes tick by too slowly. When it seems like the play is about to end, it doesn't; Shaffer wrote and rewrote the climactic scene between Mozart and Salieri at least six times, but editing for length was not part of the outcome.

Matthew Zahnzinger owns the spotlight as Salieri. His transformation from a fragile, old man in a wheelchair at the start of the show to the celebrated and respected court composer in the flashbacks is seamless. He changes his posture and his vocal tone while removing a cloak and donning a younger man's clothes, and - voila! - the storyteller emerges as a more engaging figure. Zahnzinger is at his best when Salieri is listening to his rival's compositions and is so incredibly moved and in awe of the wunderkind's talent. The depth of feeling he shows enhances his character's humanity and strengthens his connection with the audience.

Making his Moonbox debut, Boston University senior Cody Sloan embodies Mozart's boyishness and plays his obnoxiousness to the hilt. Although he leans a bit too far in the direction of fop for my taste, he has a good range of emotions and reins it in as the composer ages and faces adversity. Sloan and Caroline Keeler (Mozart's wife Constanze) have chemistry as young lovers and when the bloom fades off the romance. She is also making her Moonbox debut and it is an impressive one. The ever-present Venticellia (Sarah Leary) and Venticello (Nick Osborne), Salieri's informants, convey the right attitudes for their roles.

Ray O'Hare's Emperor Joseph is genial and silly, while the members of his court (Arthur Gomez, Ed Peed, and Andrew Winson) show the expected visible propriety and manners, but hunger for power and jockey for position. Katie O'Reilly strikes a jealous pose as Salieri's vocal student Katherina Cavalieri, and J. Deschene is his seen-but-not-heard wife Teresa. Matt Arnold, Cailin Doran, and Adam Manacher complete the ensemble.

Cameron McEachern's set design is simple, augmented by furnishings carried on and off by cast members. Locations are further distinguished by Jeffrey E. Salzberg's lighting design. Sound Designer David Wilson's work is key in that there is so much recorded music throughout the play. The period costumes by David Lucey are distinctive, with each character given their own look. I have a quibble that some of the men's footwear is anachronistic, made more maddening by the fact that other shoes sport bows that could have easily been attached to the rest of them. Kudos to Peter Mill for his eclectic wig designs.

Amadeus is a complex play that travels back and forth in time and location, and Shaffer's epic should have the capacity to transport us to 18th century Europe. When the musical pieces are interjected and Zahnzinger describes the powerful feelings they evoke, he virtually grabs us by the hand to pull us into the rushing cascade of the serenade. Once the music concludes, the flow slows to a more pedestrian pace that makes it a challenge to remain engaged until the fat lady sings.

Photo credit: Earl Christie (Caroline Keeler, Cody Sloan)

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