Amadeus Shines In Hubbard Hall Production

reviewed by Alex Brooks
Hubbard Hall has opened a new production of Amadeus, and it is a fine piece of work.
The play was written in 1979 by Peter Schaffer, inspired by a short play written by Pushkin in 1830, which Rimsky-Korsakov turned into an opera in 1897. Schaffer’s play opened on Broadway in 1980 in a production starring Ian McKellen, which won five Tony awards. it was made into the movie with which we are all familiar, directed by Milos Forman, in 1984, with a screenplay also written by Peter Schaffer.
This production starts a bit slowly, with a long monologue by Salieri, the court composer whose envy of Mozart’s genius is the primary driver of the play’s action.
But when Mozart and his lover, soon to be wife, Constanze come flying in, the stage lights up with their energy. Miles Mandwelle does a fine job as Mozart. He is convincing both as the young antic Mozart spilling over with self confidence, and also as the sick and despairing Mozart, struggling to maintain the unshakable faith in his own ability which came so effortlessly to him in his youth, in the face of the world’s indifference and the damning evidence of his poverty. Mandwelle’s portrayal is greatly helped by his musical ability. A Steinway grand is the central piece of furniture on the set, and every time Mandwelle touches it, we easily believe we are watching a man of great musical accomplishment.
Betsey Holt, making her debut on the Hubbard Hall stage, turns in a fine performance as Constanze, funny and frivolous in courtship. touchingly shocked at Mozart’s marriage proposal, gritty and dignified in the face of Salieri’s attempts to manipulate and humiliate her, and sadly loyal in the face of Mozart’s failure to provide for her and the children.
Salieri is a part, as many great actors have proven, that is rich with possibility, his rage at God for touching with genius a young man as frivolous and profane as Mozart, and his self destructive rage at himself for being unable to get beyond a musical competence which feels to him like mediocrity, and his painful ability to recognize the genius of Mozart as no one else in Vienna could. John Hadden does a lot with the role, and the three characters develop an ensemble relationship that is rich in thematic material. It touches on the world’s indifference and even hostility to genius, represented by Doug Ryan’s comical Emperor Joseph II, who finds the music pleasing but criticizes it for using “too many notes.” It touches on the corrosiveness of envy, spite, and dishonesty, the pettiness of our ego-driven competitiveness, and a wealth of related themes. The result is a theatre experience both moving and thought-provoking, one well worthy of your time and attention.
Remaining performances are Friday and Saturday nights at 8 pm, and Sundays at 2 pm through May. Hubbard Hall’s phone number is 677-2495 and their web site is at www.hubbardhall.org.