‘Amadeus’ rocks again
Late playwright Peter Shaffer’s body of work is ready for revival
LONDON’S National Theatre will mount a revival of “Amadeus” — Peter Shaffer’s celebrated play about the rivalry between Mozart and Salieri — in October. The National hasn’t produced “Amadeus” since the original back in 1979, which moved to Broadway in 1980, won the Tony Award for Best Play and ran for 1,181 performances. Directed by Michael Long
hurst, who staged the terrific “Constellations” with Jake Gyl
lenhaal on Broadway two seasons ago, this new production stars
Lucian Msamati (Salladhor Saan in “Game of Thrones”) as Salieri.
Shaffer, who died unexpectedly last month at 90, was looking forward to the revival because it will be performed with a live orchestra — the Southbank Sinfonia — playing such Mozart masterpieces as the 29th Symphony, excerpts from “The Marriage of Figaro” and the profound “Requiem.”
If it works — and I think it will — I’m hearing the production could hit New York at some point, though paying for all those actors and a symphony orchestra may require hefty ticket prices.
Since Shaffer’s death, there’s been talk of reviving some of his other plays. Angela Lansbury and Dana Ivey did a reading of “Lettice and Lovage,” a very funny comedy about an eccentric tour guide, as a benefit for the Acting Company in June. It was a big hit.
That play was last staged on Broadway in 1990 with Maggie Smith.
“Everyone’s stayed away from it because it’s so identified with Maggie,” says Elizabeth I. Mc
Cann, a close friend of Shaffer’s who produced “Amadeus” on Broadway. “But that was a long time ago. It’s a terrific play — the first 20 minutes are brilliantly hilarious. There are a lot of comic actresses who could pull it off.”
During the revival of Shaffer’s “Equus” in 2009, its stars Daniel
Radcliffe and the late, great Richard Griffiths did a top-secret reading of “Yonadab” — a biblical epic about intrigue in the court of King David — for the Shuberts (they have the rights to the play). “Yonadab” ran at the National in 1985, but critics panned director Peter
Hall’s production. (Shaffer reportedly wasn’t happy with it, either.) The play, however, holds up and, with the right director ( Nick Hytner, perhaps) and star (Radcliffe, who seems to like offbeat projects), it could make for an exciting theatrical event.
Most interesting of all, though, is a play Shaffer was writing for 20 years that nobody’s ever read. Its subject is the mysterious death of Tchaikovsky. Officially, the composer of “Swan Lake” died of cholera in 1893 after drinking contami- nated water. But rumors swirled that he poisoned himself rather than face exposure as a homosexual. Conspiracy theorists sug- gested that he was forced to swallow arsenic by a group of powerful men connected to a secret gay society.
Shaffer researched the story — apparently he had access to obscure documents about Tchaikovsky’s death — but never let anyone see how he dramatized it. He was wary of comparisons to “Amadeus.” He carried the manuscript around in a battered briefcase wherever he went. Friends convinced him to make a copy, which his agent kept in a safety deposit box. And a good thing, too, since Shaffer lost the briefcase with the manuscript in it.
“The play exists, but it’s impossible to read because of Peter’s handwriting,” his agent, Dennis Asp
land, tells me. “His handwriting makes a doctor’s look like a nun who teaches third grade. We’ll have to find someone who can decipher it. But at some point I would think we will.”