From: Winding Road Theater Ensemble <windingroadte@gmail.com>
Sent: Sunday, January 28, 2024 8:59 AM
Subject: How a rumor becomes a play
How a Rumor Becomes a Play
Amadeus
Peter Shaffer's Tony Award winning play of ambition and genius
Peter Shaffer's play Amadeus is a work of fiction inspired by but not necessarily true to history. However, the rumor that Antonio Salieri might be responsible for poisoning one Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is not of Shaffer's invention. In fact that rumor had been going around since Mozart's death in 1790. The rumor was spread especially widely across the music community, showing up in Beethoven's conversation books and it was said that Rossini even joked about it to Salieri himself. While there is no evidence that the rumor is true it didn't stop people from speculating that the breakdown that led to Salieri spending his last year and a half of life in a hospital might have been caused by his guilt. Nor did a lack of evidence stop artists from dramatizing the events. The first theatrical work based on the rumor that Salieri killed Mozart was written only 6 years after Salieri's death by Russian playwright Alexander Pushkin. A 1898 opera (oh how fitting a medium for these characters) composed by Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov was the next work. With each work, the characters became more exaggerated, the story filtered through more peoples' eyes changed and evolved, much in the same ways rumors naturally change as they are spread. Shaffer's fictional account first premiered in London in 1979 and transferred to Broadway in 1980. It is remarkably well researched, chalk full of historical dates, figures, details, and, of course, music that offer credibility to his thrilling take on a story about the lengths a man might go to achieve fame.
Tickets for Amadeus are available now:
Evening performances are at 7:30 PM
February 16, 17, 22, 23, 24, 29,
March 1, 2
Matinee performances are at 2:00 PM
February 18, 24, 25,
March 2, 3
All performances will take place at the Cabaret Theater at the Temple for Music and Art located at 330 S Scott Ave.
Winding Road Theater Ensemble is supported through the strength of our community in both the metaphorical and literal sense. While we are an ensemble-run theater, we lean into the expertise of our Tucson theater neighbors when we hire our directors, actors, technicians, and other creatives. We believe in the power of that community and the strength of our unified storytelling.
You can help us by coming to see our shows or by clicking the button below to make a one-time donation.
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