Amadeus BS with Danahey on the Loose

 

 

Amadeus is mostly BS.

That may be the point.

Sure, the production playing at the Steppenwolf through Sunday, Jan. 25 is well-staged. The acting’s topnotch in that meat-and-potatoes way that’s earned the troupe its solid reputation.

My Irish buddy Shay and I took in a recent Sunday matinee of Amadeus. Understudy and fight director Nick Sandys played the main role of Salieri that afternoon and gave a fine performance.

But beyond the staging and acting, it’s all baloney. Blarney, Malarkey. Hokum. Preposterous pulp.

Yeah, novelists, playwrights, poets and politicians all love to take artistic license with history.  Fine.

But Peter Shaffer’s tall tale about an alleged rivalry between court composer Antonio Salieri and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart plays so fast and loose with the facts it could be mistaken for one of those idiots going 95 on their motorcycle while weaving in and out of lanes on the Kennedy.

Shaffer’s 1979 play and his screenplay for the Oscar-winning movie Amadeus from 1984 posit that Salieri was pissed at God because Salieri was mediocre at his craft, while the vulgar, infantile Mozart was a cackling boy genius who could crank out masterpieces.

The play would have you believe Mozart could write down whole scores without having to make corrections, for God’s sake. He behaved and dressed like a rock star. Which was saying something, considering fashion back then. He had a scatological sense of humor.

Salieri devoted his life and craft to the Lord. He didn’t seem to have any friends. He was sadly single. On stage at least, neither man seemed to collaborate with anyone on their work. They just tell the audience who might be writing the libretto, in the opera cast or playing in the orchestra.

Salieri also claims to be pretty much the only person around who recognizes that Mozart is the one true genius of his day. How could God do all this to Salieri?

So Salieri sets out to sneakily sabotage Mozart any way he can, making sure Mozart’s career flails. That leaves dear old Amadeus penniless, terribly ill and writing Requiem, which may or may not be for his own funeral.

While visiting a distraught Mozart, who’s close to being on his deathbed, Salieri confesses he’s been poisoning Mozart.  Salieri may mean it metaphorically, per all the crap he’s pulled to sabotage Mozart’s career.

Mozart dies. His work takes on a life of its own.

The details of the operatic-like fable are told in flashback by Salieri during the final few hours of his own life. He’s a windy, smug sort and narrates the proceedings from his point of view.

Here’s a link for the plot.

But it’s mostly bunk, from an historical perspective.

Basically, the men were rivals for a bit, but apparently not bitter ones. They even worked together a few times. Mozart was only six years younger than Salieri.

Salieri was married and had a busy, interesting life of his own. His work was hardly considered mediocre and had influence on future composers.

Mozart did spend beyond his means. The play barely mentions that a recession cut into him getting any commissions to write music, contributing to his sorry financial state.

I could go on, but then I would be whining, like Salieri does for most of the play.

Anyway, that’s what I learned from doing a cursory read. What good is going to the theater if it doesn’t make you want to learn more about a subject?

As but a few examples, here are some links for background:

The Rivalry Between Salieri and Mozart: Myth and Reality

Mozart VS Salieri

Mozart’s Requiem Mass and Movie Myths

The Real Story of Mozart, Salieri and Amadeus

Mozart and Salieri: From Pushkin to Shaffer

How Accurate About Mozart and Salieri’s Rivalry Is The Film Amadeus?

While Shaffer supposedly said Amadeus was a “fantasia” on the Salieri/Mozart rivalry, the bullshit is the play’s reason for being.

Why should the audience trust that Salieri is telling the truth? He’s the real star of the play. It’s all about him, not Amadeus. Salieri even has help from his own gossipy, Greek-like chorus, a duo akin to today’s internet influencers, to get his points across.

The last lines of the play are the tell:

“For the rest of time whenever men say Mozart with love, they will say Salieri with loathing. I am going to be immortal after all! And He (God) is powerless to prevent it,” Salieri boasts. “Mediocrities everywhere—now and to come—I absolve you all. Amen.”

(Hey, mediocrity has its place – like summer fests in the suburbs where bands cover 40-year-old Journey songs!)

So this narcissistic version of Salieri just wanted to be immortal, the ultimate form of fame.  Whatever it takes.

(Like the title song from the mediocre 1980 movie, Fame. Or life in 2025.)

Shaffer plays God and grants Salieri his wish. Or is it their wish? But, hey, who cares what really happens when there’s a myth to make?

For all we know, a sexy Danish detective will finally figure out how Mozart died. In the process she’ll first discover oil somewhere after visiting a town where the prison is the main industry.

Wait. That’s if Best Fest Buddy Tom’s TV algorithm married AI and wrote an Amadeus sequel.

Or maybe they could mashup Amadeus with A Beautiful Noise, the musical playing downtown right now about another music legend. They could call it I’m A Diamond.

Full disclosure: I stole that line. Tom’s no Mozart, but he does come up with the occasional good dad joke.