Review: Amadeus
MAGNIFICENT AMADEUS AT LILLAN
This spring’s major investment in Lilla Teatern, Peter Shaffer’s Amadeus directed by Erik Söderblom, is a magnificent experience. The text offers both deep existential thoughts and light-hearted humour, and the intelligent direction makes the eminent cast give it their all.
Visually, the spectacle is a delight to the eye with beautiful costumes, fine masks, stylish set design and atmospheric lighting. All spiced up with Mozart’s immortal music, of course. Amadeus is a feast for all the senses.
The play takes place during the last hour of Salieri’s life as he examines himself and settles accounts with his God. Earlier in life, he has received everything he asked for in terms of success as a composer and he has cunningly managed to plunge his worst rival Mozart into ruin, only to finally be forced to realize that Mozart’s music, misunderstood by his contemporaries, will still far outlive his own.
Old is oldest
Pekka Strang gives an impressive interpretation of the bitter and intriguing Salieri, while his constant partner Sampo Sarkola makes his Mozart a charming but lazy village fool with a penchant for fart and poop humour (which, in fact, is said to have been frequent already in Mozart’s childhood home). The gentlemen compete not only for musical success and favor with emperors and Freemasons, but also for women – Mozart takes on Salieri’s singing student and mistress Katerina Cavalieri (a funny and beautiful singing Kaisa Ranta from the Sibelius Academy) and in revenge, Salieri tries to attack Mozart’s fiancée and later wife Constanze Weber (interpreted with humour and warmth by Nina Kaipainen).
Calle Öhman shows that the old is the oldest in his role as the patron Emperor Joseph II. His way of walking and speaking, his facial expressions are perfect – the slightest eye movement is well considered. Rabbe Smedlund, Lilga Kovanko, Joachim Wigelius and Patrick Henriksen all play both courtiers and Venticello, all extremely comical and taken by the grain. Emil Holmström from the Sibelius Academy offers skilful piano playing as a pianist and also performs Mr. Sommer – the music students alternate in their roles with other students.
Visually pleasing
The City Theatre’s costume designer Sari Salmela impresses with one creation more amazing than the other, both cheerful costumes and lovely costumes in wonderful fabrics – even the men get to sparkle once.
The elegance of the clothes is well complemented by Jutta Kainulainen’s skilful masks and Tanja Hynninen’s improbable wigs. Kaisa Rasila’s stylish stage design consists of a few well-chosen furniture, beautifully painted background screens, cabinets that contain, among other things, a variety theatre, and mannequins with different stage costumes can be glimpsed in the background against a cloudy sky.
The picture is complemented by Paavo Kykkänen’s atmospheric lighting, and sound engineer Eradj Nazimov makes Mozart’s beautiful music sound enjoyable – you can hear music from The Loner from The Seraglio, The Marriage of Figaro, The Magic Flute and Don Juan, among others.
After just over three hours in the auditorium, people usually like to get up and go out. This time, you just wish you could rewind the show and start watching it again from the beginning. Rarely have I felt so excited and inspired after a performance. One can only rejoice that Erik Söderblom has finally started directing in Swedish as well and hope that he continues to do so.