Mozart!
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Mozart! is an Austrian musical in German, with book and lyrics by Michael Kunze and music and arrangements by Sylvester Levay. The original production was directed by the controversial opera director Harry Kupfer. It premiered on October 2, 1999, in the Theater an der Wien, and the final performance was on 7 May 2001. It ran for 419 performances, showing to approximately 420,000 patrons. The show is a new imagining of the struggles of the famous composer.
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[edit] Description of the musical
The musical is based on the life story of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. As told in this musical, Mozart, the inspired artist, strives to free himself from his controlling, though loving father and from his patron and the European patronage system in order to develop as a musician and a person.
It is a drama about growing pains. But young Mozart's growing pains are especially hard. Because his Father had promoted him as a perfect child prodigy, Mozart also struggles against the spectre of his childhood image, the little genius Amadé, throughout his life. Two facets of Mozart develop: The child prodigy, demonically driven to compose incessantly; and the adult party boy, playing cards, drinking, loving and dreaming. The musical uses Mozart's music when describing the boy genius, and contemporary music for the adult Mozart and seeks to examine this famous life from a fresh viewpoint.
[edit] Audience and subsequent productions
The production appealed especially to younger Viennese audiences. Subsequent productions have been mounted in:
- Germany: Neue Flora (Stage Entertainment), Hamburg (September 21st, 2001 - June 30th, 2002)
- Japan: Tokyo and Osaka (2002)
- Hungary: Budapest (2003)
- Sweden: Karlstad (2005)
- Japan: Osaka (2005)
