Mozart!
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Mozart! is an Austrian musical. Originally written in German, it is currently performed in Hungarian. The original book and lyrics were written by Michael Kunze and the music and arrangements were composed by Sylvester Levay. The show is a new imagining of the struggles of the famous composer.
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 Hungarian production is currently showing at the Budapest Operetta Theatre. Since then, the musical has enjoyed several additional productions in Europe and Japan.
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[edit] Description of the musical
The musical is based on the life story of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Mozart 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 an independent person. His artistic nature makes him an easy victim of lies, plots and temptations. The musical explores Mozart's relationships with his patron, his sister Nannerl, the Weber family and his beloved Constanze.
The musical is a drama about growing pains. Because Leopold Mozart had promoted his son as a perfect child prodigy, Mozart struggles against the spectre of his own childhood image, the little genius Amadé, throughout his life. Two facets of Mozart are illustrated, with separate actors portraying them: The child prodigy, Amadé, the "Porcelain child" (the nickname refers to the overdecorated Rococo porcelain figures) demonically driven to compose incessantly; and the adult Wolfgang, playing cards, drinking, loving, dreaming and trying to break the bonds of convention. The musical uses Mozart's music to underscore the depiction of the the boy genius, and contemporary music for the adult Wolfgang.
[edit] Roles and Hungarian cast
- Wolfgang Mozart – Dolhai Attila, Mészáros Árpád Zsolt and Magócs Ottó
- Amadé, the Porcelain child – Gellért István, Földes Marci, Visnyei József, Rónai András and Rónai Attila
- Hieronymus Colloredo, Prince Archbishop of Salzburg – Szabó P.Szilveszter and Németh Attila
- Constanze Weber – Siménfalvy Ágota and Vágó Zsuzsi
- Leopold Mozart – Földes Tamás and Pálfalvy Attila
- Nannerl Mozart – Kékkovács Mara and Vágó Bernadett
- Baroness von Waldstätten – Náray Erika and Füredi Nikolett
- Emanuel Schikaneder – Bereczki Zoltán and Bálint Ádám
- Count Karl Joseph Arco, Colloredo's first chamberlain – Dézsy Szabó Gábor and Langer Soma
- Doctor Messmer – Marik Péter
- Cäcilia Weber – Molnár Piroska and Felföldi Anikó
- Aloysia Weber – Dénes Judit
- Josepha Weber – Ullmann Zsuzsa and Gál Judit
- Sophie Weber – Tihanyi Lívia
- Sonnenfeld – G .Szabó Sándor
- Assistant of Count Arco – György Rózsa Sándor
- Salieri Kocsis Tamás
- Little Nannerl Czikora Kinga and Rónai Lili
- Maria-Anna Mozart Papadimitriu Athina
[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)
- Germany: Zwickau, Plauen (2008)
Both the Vienna and Budapest productions released cast albums.[1]
