- Performances: 1,181.
- Open / Close: December 17, 1980 – October 16, 1983
- Theater: The Broadhurst Theatre.
- Tony Awards: The two leads were pitted against each other for Best Leading Actor which often leads to neither one of them winning. In this case, Ian McKellen won for his depiction of Salieri, beating out Tim Curry who played Mozart. The play also landed Peter Hall his second Tony, his first being for “The Homecoming” in 1965. “Amadeus” earned Best Scenic Design and Lighting Design awards but it lost Best Costumes to “Sophisticated Ladies.”
- Fun Facts: As discussed in the podcast, Mark Hamill was a late-stage replacement in the Mozart role on Broadway and was also in consideration to take on the role in the movie. Tom Hulce would land the role, and ultimately get an Oscar nomination, in perhaps the pinnacle of his acting career. Hulce has, however, gone on to be a formidable producer, bringing “Spring Awakening” and “American Idiot” to Broadway.
Podcast
Art about other art is fascinating to me, and only one of the many reasons I love “Amadeus,” a play about music. Of course, it’s also about envy of another man’s genius: the play cemented the image of Salieri in popular culture. But really, at its heart, it’s a play about faith and Salieri’s contentious battle with his own faith, and also, playwright Peter Schaffer’s ongoing artistic conversation about faith.
In the podcast, me and classical music expert and VCU professor Daniel Myssyk mostly talk about the classical music of it all. But we also start out with an interesting related tangent about birds, consider the verisimilitude of the movie version’s depiction of the Viennese court, and tease out some of the historical realities about Mozart.