Skylight’s ‘Amadeus’ Is a Curiosity

Zach Thomas Woods (Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart) in Skylight Music Theatre’s production of “Amadeus.” Photo courtesy Skylight Music Theatre.

This is a strange review, both admiring of the Skylight Music Theatre’s approach to Amadeus — technically only the second straight (non-musical) play the theater has done under artistic director Michael Unger — while recognizing that the original play is overwritten in its lessons about envy confronting genius.

The envy is from 18th century court composer Antonio Solieri, successful in his own time, but mesmerized by how a braying, coarse child ape named Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart can run circles around him in effortless ability.

There is power in the play by Peter Shaffer, who died in 2016. It has insight into some important and often engrossing things as Salieri blames God for giving such genius to a giggling, childlike Mozart while dooming the respected Salieri to being well regarded by society but in his mind a mediocre composer. Mediocre perhaps, but at length he analyzes the godlike gifts of Wolfgang Amadeus.

The famous 1984 movie, adapted from this 1979 play, boasted a script written by Shaffer, also known for Equus and Leticia and Lovelace. But it is propelled by some great performances and the visionary insights of film director Milos Forman. He was able to emphasize the psychology – and have the leads trade musical insights — over the constant wordy explanation to the audience. The play in contrast is much more like a detective novel as the dying Salieri outlines his hatred for Mozart and ultimately for God.

Shaffer had hold of a good story (there was actually a similar 19^th century play on the topic that also fictionalized the conflict) – and a desire to wrap it up in words that are very Shakespearean, without the poignancy that underlies many Shakespearean characters.

The Skylight has assembled fantastically good actors, notably Matt Daniels as Salieri and Zach Thomas Woods as Mozart. Personally, I would run to anything Daniels does, so polished a vocal and physical actor he is, with a manner that draws attention.

He is often delicious in parts that require asides, which I wish Amadeus gave him more chances to demonstrate. By sticking faithfully to the script, he draws himself up again and again to his full power of delivery to address the audience.

Woods is delightfully impulsive and impish as the almost brutish Mozart, whipping between high-pitched laughter and vulgar comments as he casually displays mastery of music. Woods seems to have a sense of how Mozart’s fame from childhood gave him the freedom to behave as a child after he grew up, irrepressible in expressing his opinions. His drinking, his excessive sex, his hallucinations as well as his talent paved the way for his early death, even as Salieri thinks himself the cause. He certainly does everything stealth allows to keep Mozart impoverished.

The problem, especially for Daniels, is that Shaffer’s writing not only tells the audience what he is up to in speeches, but then elaborates on the ideas.

Director Karen Estrada, a capable actress in other experiences, may have felt a bit cowed by the decades of stage experience represented by Daniels and Woods. While handling the other elements of the production smoothly, I feel she backed away from cutting the duo back. It is hard for any director to take a necessary cleaver or creative reassessment to an established work. I would have preferred more subtlety and some sideways delivery.

The Skylight concept, so attuned to the musical undertones of the times, is offering other things than the overwritten play itself, notably in the production elements, such as the deft staging concepts from designer Jonathan Berg-Einhorn.

That includes a cutout window on high, with its own curtain, to show us a soprano in a show, an emperor watching a performance or a gold arrayed priest from Mozart’s opera, The Magic Flute.

Meanwhile, toward the back of the mainstage, perfectly balanced by Noele Stollmack’s lighting, is a four-piece chamber ensemble and expert music director/pianist Jenna Vinson. This is an element not in the original play, but hauntingly lit as she plays the piano while downstage Salieri and Mozart pretend it is their playing.

The production is also sprinkled with the music of Mozart and Salieri, not only by the chamber ensemble, but recorded music as well. Occasionally, the actors are forced to deliver important speeches against the volume of the music. Rather than lessen the verbiage the noise conflict emphasizes it.

The musical ensemble as well as everyone in the cast wears character-committed costumes by designer Kristina Sneshkoff. It is a strong cast that knows how to caper as 18^th century courtiers, led by the two mischievous gossips – Doug Clemons and Samantha Sostarich, both veteran Skylight talents. They are listed in the program as Venticello 1 and Venticello 2.

Good work catching the quixotic and sometime practical moods of Mozart’s wife Constanze was done by Rachel Zientek, though the character is too often used as a plot convenience. A genuinely good soprano, Brennan Martinez, stepped out of ensemble to eat bon-bons and sing as Katherina Cavalieri, a protege of Salieri.

The messages of Amadeus as well as the re-creation of the times are clearly absorbing, but I cannot pretend the play isn’t too long at two hours and 30 minutes plus an intermission. The actors do try to not make the repetitions seem like repetition, but an intelligent audience is way ahead of them. The play continues through Feb. 8 at Skylight’s Cabot Theatre, with information at SkylightMusicTheatre.org.

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Dominique Paul Noth served for decades as film and drama critic, later senior editor for features at the Milwaukee Journal. You’ll find his blog here and here. For his Dom’s Snippets, an unusual family history and memoir, go to domnoth.substack.com.