National Theatre Revival of Amadeus: Music, Jealousy, Power

Thursday, February 2, 7:30 p.m., Orcas Center

— from Susannah Weaver —

National Theatre Live’s stupendous revival of Amadeus comes to Orcas Center Thursday, February 2 at 7:30 pm. The National Theatre’s epic piece of musical theatre will be broadcast live from London. Treat yourself to Amadeus – it will be an unforgettable night of music, power and jealousy.

Lucian Msamati (Luther, Game of Thrones, NT Live: The Comedy of Errors) plays Salieri in Peter Shaffer’s iconic play, broadcast live from the National Theatre, and with live orchestral accompaniment by Southbank Sinfonia. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, a rowdy young prodigy, arrives in Vienna, the music capital of the world – and he’s determined to make a splash. Awestruck by his genius, court composer Antonio Salieri has the power to promote his talent or destroy his name. Seized by obsessive jealousy he begins a war with Mozart, with music, and ultimately, with God.

London’s Independent declares Amadeus is “a thrillingly fresh and imaginative revival.” London’s Time Out juxtaposes the genius of restraint in Lucian Msamati’s performance with the white-hot chaos of Adam Gillen’s virtuosic Mozart. The most striking aspect of the evening, notes The Telegraph, “is that the production harnesses the talents of the Southbank Sinfonia to play the music. The Southbank Sinfonia are integrated into the world of the play to stunning effect [with] wheezing anachronistic discords or in clambering mime. The play dramatises the consequences of the momentous impact that hearing Mozart’s sublime music made on Salieri, the patron saint of mediocrity.”

“Even the playwright didn’t conceive of a full live orchestra getting in on the action, singing, playing, even taking on a few minor acting roles. I guess that makes this total theatre, and it is wonderful,” declared Time Out. After winning multiple Olivier and Tony Awards when it had its premiere at the National Theatre in 1979, Amadeus was adapted into an Academy Award-winning film. Now it has returned to its home, the National, in a note-perfect production by rising director Michael Longhurst that gives it a fresh, vital and musically inventive new reading, one which fully confirms its classic status.

Tickets for NT Live Amadeus are $20, $15 for students, $2 off for Orcas Center members, and may be purchased at www.orcascenter.org or by calling 376-2281 ext. 1 or visiting the Orcas Center Box Office open Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays from 12-2 pm. $5 subsidized tickets available at the Box Office. For more information about Orcas Center’s 2017 season visit www.orcascenter.org.