BWW Reviews: AMADEUS at Center Stage Hits the Right Notes

What a way for Center Stage Artistic Director Kwame Kwei-Armah to open Center Stage's 52nd Season. He directs Peter Shaffer's brilliant play AMADEUS with an impeccable cast.

It was a wise move choosing this play. I just love it. It opened in London with Paul Scofield playing the lead role of Antonio Salieri. He declined to continue on to Broadway. I had the privilege to see the pre-Broadway production at DC's National Theatre which starred Tim Curry, Jayne Seymour and Sir Ian McKellen. The eiry poster by Robert Van Nutt hangs in my home. The play went on to win eight Tony Awards. Then came the wonderful 1984 film which starred F. Murray Abraham (who once starred at Center Stage in Cyrano de Bergerac) and Tom Hulce.

Center Stage went all out to begin the season. It begins in the lobby where one gets a glimpse of Set Designer Timothy R. Mackabee's wonderful work and members of the ensemble decked out in their finery by costume designer David Burdick who has created incredibly colorful wigs and costumes. It's always great to see Mackabee's work which I am familiar with from his high school days at Towson's Carver Center for the Arts and NYU. Look for his work in the upcoming Broadway production of THE ELEPHANT MAN.

Kwei-Armah has assembled a truly magnificent cast and does a superb job as Director. While the play is called AMADEUS, it could also be called SALIERI since the play surrounds the former Court Composer in Vienna in the 1780s. Salieri pledged his life to God if he was granted the talent necessary to be a musical success.

And then HE appeared, the young, impish, juvenile, genius of a composer, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (the amazing Stanton Nash)and his equally outlandish fiancé, Constanza (the talented Kayla Ferguson) who Salieri first encounters hiding in a chair as the two young lovers are sprouting vulgarities left and right and frolicking on the ground.

The play examines the jealously Salieri has of the more talented Mozart. After Salieri writes a small march for Mozart's entrance, he must endure the young genius take the small march and turn it into something quite magical.

Playing this key role of Mozart is the multi-talented Bruce R. Nelson who returns to Center Stage after playing the hilarious part as Groucho Marx in ANIMAL CRACKERS. While Nelson is a member of the Everyman Theatre Company, it is a blessing that we get a chance to see him in other venues. He gives a performance that I will never forget.

Playing Emperor Joseph II is the talented Kevin Orton and he gets to recite the famous lines "Too many notes" and "There it is" (I counted six times!).

Two actors playing the comedic duo known as Venticeilli almost steal the show, Jay Russell and Lucia Spina. They act as spies to Salieri informing him about how Mozart is surviving in Vienna. They could easily play the famous duo from LES MISERABLES , the Thernadiers. They are hysterical.

The Center Stage program once again does a superb job in giving background information about the era thanks to Production Dramaturg Gavin Witt. But I do wish the program gave more information on the local actors in the ensemble who are given short shrift with only their names mentioned. Hillary Mazer is one that stood out dropping a plate at one crucial moment. The others are William Cooke, Christopher Dews, Cori Dioquino,Sarah Olmsted Thomas, Joel Ottenheimer, Kedren Spencer, Ann Turiano, and Frank Vince. Don't hesitate to talk to them prior to the beginning of the play in the lobby and also plan to get there early for some appropriate music to the era.

The evening is also aided by the clever lighting by Michelle Habeck, the great sound by Victoria Deiorio, the enjoyable work of Choreographer Paloma McGregor.

Don't miss this wonderful way to open the Center Stage season. AMADEUS runs until Oct. 12, 2014. For tickets, call 410-332-0033 or visit www.centerstage.org.

cgshubow@broadwayworld.com

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