Did Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, one of the world’s most famous composers, die of natural causes when he was 35? Or was it someone who wanted him hurt? In the theater performance “Amadeus” Mozart has a cunning enemy, the composer Antonio Salieri. Well established at the imperial court, he saw Mozart, a childish, foolish and immeasurably brilliant juggernaut change the entire history of music. He felt unsafe. He became jealous. He ruined for Mozart. Acknowledgment “Amadeus” is Salieri’s story. On the day he is to die, he confesses to the theater audience. The tormented, natural and appreciative feelings of Salieri get to play with well-known music from Mozart. In Kristiansand with a symphony orchestra and colorful opera singers on stage, in Bergen in a more muted and dark version. IN KRISTIANSAND: Mozart (Fredrik Høstaker) in childish frustration at the piano while Chamberlain von Strack (Eirik Langås Jørgensen) stands dejected in the background. Photo: Lars Gunnar Liestøl IN BERGEN: Mozart (Torbjørn Berglund Eriksen) and his girlfriend Constanze (Reidun Melvær Berge) in “Amadeus” in Bergen. Photo: Dag Jenssen Most of all, “Amadeus” is about what envy can do to a person when someone shines so brightly that you yourself fall into the shadow. Salieri allowed himself to be captured by the feeling of being mediocre. He is a religious man. As a boy, he made an agreement with God – which he believes God will now break when he sends Mozart into the world. Sticking sticks in Mozart’s wheel is just as much a revenge against God. BLACK SICKNESS: Antonio Salieri (in the chair) is played by Kyrre Haugen Sydness in Kilden in Kristiansand – a city the actor knows well after many years in the role of Captain Sabertooth. Sydness alternates the jealousy nicely with all the Mozart cheerfulness in “Amadeus” in Kilden. Behind: Mozart (Fredrik Høstaker). Photo: Lars Gunnar Liestøl Pink orchestra and underbelly humor The Kilden theater and concert hall hosts the Kristiansand Symphony Orchestra, Kilden Opera and Kilden Teater hus. When they now join forces in “Amadeus”, it will be magnificent, sumptuous and colourful. Director Thomas Glans has placed the orchestra on stage, not in the orchestra pit, and he has included five dancers in addition to opera singers, opera choir and theater ensemble. It’s cleverly solved, and comes particularly to the fore in the scenes where Mozart’s newly written operas are performed with costumes and scenery. This way there will be a hit parade in Kristiansand, with well-known music, there is even room for the aria “Queen of the Night”. It will be like discovering Mozart’s music at the same time that he is being created. The large ensemble is the strength of this vision. MUSICAL STRENGTH: Kristiansand Symphony Orchestra in action, dressed in pink for the occasion. QUEEN OF THE NIGHT: Ingunn Olsen Høgestveit in Kilden. COLORFUL, BUT DESPAIR: Things are not going so well with Mozart. Here from the final scene where Ragnhild Meling Enoksen plays his wife, Constanze, and Fredrik Høstaker is Mozart. It is exaggerated and colourful, cheerful and accessible in Kristiansand. The costumes are rococo-inspired with clear hints of our time – a well-used technique in Norwegian theater in recent years, but effective and amusing in Kilden. Fredrik Høstaker’s Mozart is lively and childlike, true to the humor in the script. The scenography is a kind of plastic strip curtain in strong colors – it is smooth and glossy, but becomes a smart contrast to the simultaneously both luminous and dark death scene. HIGHLIGHT: The death scene stands out positively in the projection in Kristiansand. Photo: Lars Gunnar Liestøl I manage to miss the orchestra during the screening during the long periods when it is not playing. I wish it was used even more. The same applies to the dancers – their numbers could be more and even more integrated into the action. All in all, “Amadeus” is a cheerful and colorful boost in Kristiansand. All that glitters is not gold In Bergen it looks as if Mozart has crashed a party in Logen. Gold confetti is strewn about, it’s messy and a bit decadent. Here, Svein Harry Schöttker-Hauge makes an inveterate and expressive Salieri. He is a shoe player with a large mimic register. LONELY: In Bergen, Salieri (Svein Harry Schöttker-Hauge) sits enviously on his chair while Mozart (Torbjørn Berglund Eriksen) and his girlfriend Constanze (Reidun Melvær Berge) have slightly happier days. Photo: Dag Jenssen Torbjørn Berglund Eriksen is not the anal humor Mozart one expects if you have seen the film. He is rather rude and headstrong, he is not a Mozart who knocks at the door, and that creates a sense of anticipation in this vision. Eriksen gives a lot of resistance to the character, making him both tactless and inscrutable. In Logen they don’t have room for a symphony orchestra, but the musician Klaus Risager has brought with him an instrument made, among other things, from the innards of a piano: strings and soundboard together with a lot of other instruments. On the tiny music island, he sits and comments on the action musically. The beauty of it is that it reinforces Salieri’s dark sensibilities. The challenging thing is that the musical background sometimes gets in the way of text and lines. Where Kristiansand uses a symphony orchestra, the music is played in Bergen. The comparison is of course unfair, the orchestra trumps playing. But when Eriksen conducts the invisible orchestra in Logen, he does so with such great empathy and intensity that the music becomes an important player. Eriksen also plays a grand piano that is there, a bit of a piano sonata, a bit different. It works well. COMPOSER: Torbjørn Berglund Eriksen as concentrated Mozart. Photo: Dag Jenssen It’s lively, colorful, fun and popular in Kristiansand – darker, more intense and more thought-provoking in Logen in Bergen. In both places, the direction could have done well with less shouting in some of the scenes. It will be intense enough anyway. The core of the whole, the original versus the ingenious, emerges clearly. And the feeling of being the one standing in the shadows, the one who lets the bad get out – it is clear and painful. “Amadeus” is easy to relate to, and both presentations have good qualities. I myself like theater which gives me some resistance. I find most of that in Bergen this time. news reviewer Photo: Lars Gunnar Liestøl Title: “Amadeus” Choir: Kilden, Kristiansand With: Kyrre Haugen Sydness, Fredrik Høstaker, Ragnhild Meling Enoksen, Henrik Rafaelsen, Eirik Langå Jørgensen, Espen Sigurdsen, Ulla Marie Broch, Ann Ingrid Fuglestveit, Yngvar Nielsen Skuland, Ingunn Olsen Høgetveit, Jorunn Torsheim, Viktor Palmer Norbakken, Oskar A. Høgetveit. Translated by: Øyvind Berg Direction and choreography: Tomas Glans Scenography and costume design: Katja Ebbel Lighting design: Oscar Udbye Sound design: Simen Hefte Endresen Mask design: Helga Synnøve Flateland Musical director: Simon Revholt Musical direction: Per Kristian Skalstad and Adam Grüchot, KSO Song- and choir studies: Marit Tøndel Bodsberg Weyde Dramaturg: Endre Sannes Hadland Singers: Jorunn Torsheim, Ingunn Olsen Høgetveit, Ingrid Vetlesen, Magnus Fremstad, Kristian Sødal, Dagfinn Andersen, Brynjar Onsøien, Hannah Agnethe Pold Dancers: Even Eileraas, Hanna Egenes Flemstrøm, Tuva Svendsen, Chenno Tim, Yulia, Honcharova Music: Kristiansand Symphony Orchestra Date: 8 September-14. October 2023 news reviewer Photo: Dag Jenssen Title: “Amadeus” Choir: Det Vestnorske Teatret, Bergen By: Peter Shaffer Edited by: Mari Hesjedal Director: Hans Henriksen Scenography, video and lighting design: Edward Lloyd Pierce Choreography: Jonas Digerud Costume design: Camilla Bjørnvad Composer, sound designer and musician: Klaus Risager Dramaturg: Aslak Moe With: Svein Harry Schöttker-Hauge, Torbjørn Eriksen, Reidun Melvær Berge, Kasper Skovli Botnen, Sigmund Njøs Hovind, Lina Taule Fjørtoft Musician: Klaus Risager Date: 8 September-21 . October 2023 Duration: Approx. 3 hours and 15 minutes including a 20-minute break.
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“Amadeus” at Det Westnorske Teatret, Bergen / “Amadeus” at Kilden, Kristiansand – Reviews and recommendations
