Review: Guest Reviewer Kym Vaitiekus Shares His Thoughts On AMADEUS

Friday December 30th 8pm, 2022, Concert Hall, Sydney Opera House

AMADEUS

A tour de force.

Michael Sheen is sublime.

As part of the Sydney Opera Houses' 50th anniversary program, AMADEUS by Peter Schaffer is Co-presented and produced by leading Sydney-based independent theatre presenter Red Line Productions.

Michael Sheen stars as Salieri whose musical talent is overshadowed by his tormented mind as he deals with Mozart's immense talent.

Salieri in his final years was deranged and claims he was the cause of Amadeus' death. Schaffer's work explores the machinations as if this were true.

AMADEUS reimagines the lives of Antonio Salieri and Wolfgang Amadeus as their dramatic lives intertwine. Infidelity, politics, passion, melodrama, opera and symphonies take us on a journey exploring the notion that Salieri was relentless in the pursuit of Mozart's demise.

Amadeus whose self-aware genius encourages him to be playful and flippant while playing with the lives and emotions of others.

Salieri and Mozart create music for the wealthy, conceited and haughty elite. Mozart's foley results in financial difficulty and is compounded by Salieri's plans to crush his career.

Salieri's trauma stems from an awareness and belief that his passion for music and his desire to compose surpasses his perceived talent. He believes he has made a pact with God to be a great composer until he discovers that Mozart started to create masterpieces from the age of seven. Did God do the deal with Amadeus instead.

Sheen embodies the essence of Salieri, the layers and complexities in his performance are astounding. From the demented dying man to the revenge ravaged achiever, to the soul searching creative. He commands the stage and electrifies Schaffer's work.

Rahel Romahn is the perfect Mozart. His portrayal of a laissez-faire genius, with a penchant to toy with the lives of others is divine.

Director Craig Ilott has assembled an incredible cast of performers. Lily Balatincz is delightful as the cautious and endearing Constance Mozart. Sean O'Shea's facetious Baron Gottfried Van Swieten is engaging and amusing. Belinda Giblin and Josh Quong Tart are delectable, as the Venticelli, the winds that are Salieri's tipsters and gossip mongers. Other stand performances include Toby Schmitz, Joseph Althouse and Michael Denkha. The night's gifts are bountiful.

Michael Scott-Mitchell's contemporary slick set dominates the huge Concert Hall stage. It beautifully presents Schaffer's work giving it that royal court presence and cleverly incorporating the various elements of opera, orchestra with the character's dramatics.

Nick Schlieper's lighting works wonderfully with the set design to create the intimate dialogue scenes, the operatic podiums, and the juxtaposition of narration with the played-out scenarios and flashbacks.

Romance Was Born leads the costume direction, as Anna Cordingley's costumes are alluring and delicious as they capsulate the traditional designs while turning up the vibrancy.

Ilott has masterfully combines Schaffer's words with the powerhouse performers, the opera cast, the Metropolitan Orchestra and the impressive set to create a monumental work.

I can see why the Sydney Opera House has chosen this piece to celebrate its 50-year anniversary but I wonder if the Concert Hall is particularly designed for the large scale spectacles rather than a work that centres on a dialogue laden lead performance.

If you are too far from the stage, it will be hard to partake in the depth and breadth of Sheen's magnificent performance.

See this show for Ilott's remarkable theatrical event, for the voices of Laura Scandizzo, Michaela Leisk, for the joy of the incorporated Metropolitan Orchestra, for the astonishing ensemble performances and essentially for Sheen's stupefying Salieri.

Photography @ Daniel Boud

https://www.sydneyoperahouse.com/events/whats-on/theatre/2023/amadeus.html#content-859875265

Tuesday 27 December 2022 - Saturday 21 January, 2023

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