Friday, February 6, 2015

Jason watches Amadeus - live on stage at the Hillbarn Theatre

Hurry! Only 3 more shows (including tonight.)

And it was pretty darn fantastic. Jerry Lloyd (who needs to get introduced to The Thrillpeddlers at the Hypnodrome in SF) owned the role of Salieri, appearing in practically every second of the 3 hour play and frequently breaking the fourth wall to address the audience. Ross Neuenfeldt was great as Mozart, for most of the film taking the happy, self-admitted jackass role with verve. But he really impressed me in the final act when the jackass turns into a pitiful figure and draws out some real pathos. And, of course, the reason I was there, my friend Ray D'Ambrosio was fine in the smaller role of Emperor Joseph II, providing welcome comic relief (his specialty) in what is a pretty bleak, depressing story.

The story is familiar to anyone who has seen the movie, but this is a fresh take that seems to resonate even more in the YouTube "Epic Fails" age when infamy can be just as valuable as fame. Come to think of it, I was at Indiefest opening night last night (post coming soon) and David Cross' HITS makes some similar points about modern fame. It's pretty interesting juggling those two in my mind right now.

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