Mozart’s music will fill the theater in a much-lauded story that explores the dark depths of jealousy and genius.
“Amadeus,” winner of five Tony Awards including Best Play, will open CMC Theatre’s 2013-14 season Oct. 18. Written by Peter Shaffer, “Amadeus” is a fictionalized account of the interweaving lives of composers Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Antonio Salieri. Many are also familiar with the movie adaptation of the same name, which won 13 Academy Awards, including Best Picture.
The play opens with Salieri reflecting back on his life after he confesses to the audience that he is responsible for the death of Mozart. Brad Moore, CMC adjunct instructor and director of the play, said it is based on the decade in the late 1700s when Salieri and Mozart met in Vienna.
“Many people think the play is a battle between Salieri and Mozart,” he said, “but it’s really the battle between Salieri and God.”
Moore said that Salieri, the court composer for Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II, made a promise to God at a young age. As Salieri says in the play: “Signore, let me be a composer! Grant me sufficient fame to enjoy it. In return, I will live with virtue. I will strive to better the lot of my fellows.”
However, his world is turned upside down when Mozart, a young composer portrayed in the play as both a childish personality and an incredible musical genius, is introduced into the Italian court.
“Mozart is in some ways like Peter Pan,” Moore said. “He doesn’t want to grow up but he has this responsibility of talent.”
Mozart is played by Nick Garay, the first graduate of CMC’s theater program and now a professional actor. Recent roles include Romeo in the Hudson Reed Ensemble’s “Romeo and Juliet” (performed in Aspen’s Galena Plaza this summer) and Edmund in the Thunder River Theatre Company’s “Long Day’s Journey into Night.”
“The physicality of the role is very challenging,” Garay said. “Mozart is a creative genius, living with ups and downs.
Despite the challenges of the role, Garay said, “It will be one of those roles I can look back on and say that was one of my favorite roles.”
Salieri, played by Gary Ketzenbarger, is intent on leaving a musical legacy, despite having to compete with Mozart’s genius. The play explores to what length he will go to secure what he wants.
“There are multitudes of depth to this man. You can’t play him in one note,” said Ketzenbarger, the director of the college’s theater program. “He becomes possessed by thoughts of envy and jealousy.”
The audience will get to hear many Mozart compositions during the play, Moore said, providing them with “a sense of his genius.”
And as for Salieri, Moore said, “He gets what he asks for but maybe not in the way he expected.”
The play features CMC students Ashley Williford, Karissa Oder, Elizabeth Bossert, Jason Cirkovic, Paige Ulmer, David Collier, Bella Barnum, Jarrod Majkut, Kevin Cote, Jaime Sklavos and J.D. Miller, who is also the managing director of CMC Theatre. The play rounds out with Chris Walsh, a former student and CMC adjunct instructor.
“Amadeus” will be performed Oct. 18-19 and 24-26 at 7 p.m., with matinees Oct. 20 and 27 at 2 p.m., in the New Space Theatre at Colorado Mountain College at Spring Valley.
Tickets can be reserved now at svticketsales@coloradomtn.edu or 947-8177. Tickets for “Amadeus” are $15 for adults and $10 for students, seniors, staff and faculty.
Season tickets are also available for $60, $40 for staff and faculty. Not only do season ticket holders save money, they get reserved, preferred seating at each performance and acknowledgment in the play programs.