Genius Envy

Peter Shaffer's Amadeus makes Mozart a worthy compliment to Shakespeare

by Mark Cofta

Peter Shaffer's 1979 hit Amadeus and its 1983 film adaptation won a slew of awards, so Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival's revival (or the Wilma's in September) is a smart move. The historical drama's delicious, fictional premise � that court composer Antonio Salieri's assassinated musical prodigy Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in late 1700s Austria � explores themes of religion, justice and creative genius with timeless insight that makes Mozart a worthy compliment to Shakespeare.

Shaffer begins near the end of Salieri's long life, with his theatrical confession that he killed Mozart, then flashes back to the young star's arrival at Emperor Joseph II's court in 1781.

Steve Burns (of Blue's Clues fame, as everyone save me seems to know) plays the precocious brat, capturing not only his entertaining manic immaturity (fuck and fart jokes, punctuated by giggles and shrieks) but his self-destructive mix of hubris and insecurity. Burns makes every moment transparent and deeply real: Watch his face while he improvises improvements to a Salieri tune, and see every creative impulse run through his mind to his fingers, his naked genius rendered almost supernatural. Even though Burns only mimes playing, the moment earned a spontaneous ovation on opening night.

Salieri sees Mozart's genius as a cruel gift from a God who rewards vulgarity and punishes piety. Salieri's struggle with his ungrateful deity really fascinates, though stentorian leading man William Elsman doesn't plumb its depths convincingly (especially in his clumsy attempts to play elderly). Salieri's broken bargain with God becomes a battle, through which he gradually realizes genius's cold irony: The court's bland tastes will defeat Mozart more than Salieri's plotting, but posterity will recognize Mozart's groundbreaking accomplishments and forget Salieri's safe, mediocre successes.

Director Dennis Razze keeps the three-hour drama moving briskly with a strong supporting cast led by Janine Barris as Mozart's wife Constanze, Carl Wallnau as the daft emperor, and Spencer Plachy and Thomas Hodgskin as Salieri's foppish henchmen. Will Neuert provides the handsomely spare set, lit beautifully by Eric Haugen through billowing fog, and Lisa Zinni's period costumes illustrate the time's excesses. Amadeus resonates powerfully today, as we too often measure excellence by money earned and anoint so-called geniuses with stultifying regularity; it's an engrossing reminder that Man and/or God work in mysterious ways.

(m_cofta@citypaper.net)

Amadeus

Through July 8

Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival

DeSales University, 2755 Station Ave., Center Valley

610-282-9455, www.pashakespeare.org