W.A.M.; aka "AMADEUS" visits NOTL & Shaw Festival

 After a six year hiatus, this ancient scribe reunited with the SHAW Festival and Shaw Admin people, 'you got some splainin to do'. A parking cost of $25.00 is over 350% above the seven bucks I paid back in 2019! That, friends, is the only negative about an almost perfect Saturday afternoon.

         A sideline of every Shaw visit was instigated by my Terry. We would look at license plates to see where the Festival was drawing its audience. Did the same today, and I can vouch that politics aside, our American theater fan counterparts are thriving. Noticed the usual N.Y.; New Jersey; Penn Staters; Tennesseers & some Carolinians; but it was a plate from Mexico that really impressed me.

"AMADEUS" must still be in preview mode as the ushers were dispensing single sheet programmes, rather than the informational booklets endemic with the regular season. So, your devoted scribe will endeavor, in addition to my opinion, to enlighten and inform. The play's 1979 debut is credited to author Peter Shaffer, but most opera fans will recognize the original concept of Pushkin's. This wasn't his first concept of an opera composer's life. His 'Eugen Onegin' is a parallel. Spoiler alert, every fan of opera will pick up on the opaque musical clues as to how the dialogue will ensue. Every reference to 'Zauberflote, 'Don Juan', 'Idomeneo','Nozze' and of course, Cosi Fan Tutte are preambled with orchestral themes telegraphing the plot. Director TIM CARROLL could be chastised for un-burying the lede but mayhaps he relies on the fact that opera mavens are way in the minority.

Carroll utilizes two 18th century beauties as 'Mr. Interlocketers', or emcees to introduce the basic premise and then segue into the actual dialogue and lead performances. Both Julia Course and Sochi Fried are certainly 'eye candy'; but they demonstrate thespian talents throughout their other role chores. An interesting tilted stage with a minimum of on-stage props may seem plebean, but his light yet firm methods appear almost avant-garde. He has manages to balance the seesaw imageries that are represented by this paper's logo, which must be a real challenge to the play's two main adversaries. Foremost of these is the amazing Tom Rooney who portrays both of his conflicted feelings for his nemesis. During the early part of Act I, he has a soliloquy presented as a one-on-one with the audience with the house lights opened. This seven or eight-minute effort is a tour de force that will rank with the most challenging of anything Shakespeare's works offer. His apogee moments occur again near the play' s climactic finale.

             Note to me: Given my verbosity, I should take the play's didactic speech about 'Padlocking my mouth' to heart.

There is strong histrionic support from Graeme Somerville as the somewhat 'wishy-washy' Emperor whose support both adversaries need, and Kristi Frank who embellishes the girlfriend/wife of the eponymous character. As for the aforementioned title role, herein a personal confession. I have been critiquing Michael Therriault's career since 1995 when he was learning his craft at U of T's Sheridan Arts Faculty. He is a consummate thespian. His role requirement of silly yet prodigious genius even outdoes the cinematic antics of Tom Hulce.

An aside:- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, 1756-91 is credited with 626 compositions according to the Kőchel list. I've always pronounced the name as "Kickle' and have been corrected too many times. Now I just say the 'Ludwig Ritter catalogue'