`Amadeus’ production elegant fun> Torres’ strong direction keeps play entertaining

Few classical composers make it into pop-star status these days, but Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart has — largely because of Peter Schaffer’s comic thriller, “Amadeus,” which was a Broadway mega hit in the early 1980s and a big-screen hit in 1984. The story recounts (and, to a large degree, rewrites) the star-crossed relationship between Mozart and Italian composer Antonio Salieri.

The play is more about Salieri than about Mozart, who has been dead 32 years when the show opens. On this night of his own death, Salieri conjures up the audience to hear his last confession. He poisoned Mozart, he decrees, and takes the audience through a series of flashbacks that recount his battle with God and the downfall of God’s instrument, Mozart.

Under the direction of Mark Torres, who performed in the original New York cast, “Amadeus” opened last weekend at Penobscot Theatre, and the word “hit” might just come up again before the show closes April 9.

It’s not just that Torres has borrowed the original costumes from Trinity Repertory Company in Providence, R.I., and that costumer, Ginger Phelps, has followed suit with additional touches.

It’s also not simply that Jay H. Skriletz has intelligently designed a rococo set of faux marbled floors, cascading curtains and the illusion of immensity.

Or that the soundtrack (largely by Mozart) is as close to perfect as anyone dare profess about a human endeavor.

But all this helps, of course, in giving the show an applaudable elegance and opulence.

The strength of this show, however, can be summed up in two words: solid directing. Torres knows what he’s doing with with “Amadeus,” and it’s clear. There is an overall theatricality to the production that draws the eye and entertains the mind. We’re as much in a dream of 18th century Vienna as we are caught in our own thoughts about what we might have done if we were Salieri.

It could also be said, however, that Torres knows what he’s doing with Salieri, the role he has taken on in addition to that of director. As Salieri, Torres is onstage commenting or observing throughout the entire play. At times it seems as if he is still being both director and actor because, occasionally, some of his actions seem dashed rather than focused. But that’s a small price to pay for the private moments of humor or turmoil the audience so completely shares with Salieri. He is funny, mannerly, profound and cunning, and Torres jumps through these qualities like a virtuoso pianist at the keyboard. We come to trust him as a storyteller — and that’s quite amazing considering what a devious man Salieri shows himself to be.

Torres shares lead billing with Derek Stearns, as Mozart, and Tamela Glenn, as Mozart’s wife, Constanze. Stearns is appropriately blaring, offensive and childishly cute. Yet, thankfully, he doesn’t overdo the role. His depiction of Mozart’s downfall in the second half of the show isn’t quite as engaging, but the writing of the second half doesn’t, in general, have the bang of the first half either.

Little critical attention has been given to Constanze in previous productions of “Amadeus,” but Glenn gives her an undeniable place in this drama. Glenn’s acting is forceful and inventive, and she creates a Constanze who moves from strong-willed and playful in the early years of marriage, to resourceful and grief-stricken as her husband fails.

The rest of the 19-member cast is truly good. The actors work smoothly together in the highly stylized dramatics of the piece. Their movements are choreographed and concise, and the neatness of the intermittent painterly tableaux is aesthetically satisfying. The crew of valets, who are largely responsible for scene changes, do a particularly suave job at stage work.

The only glaring glitch in the production occurs when Salieri is caught in a whirlpool of torment and ecstasy after reading Mozart’s musical notations. The soundtrack is turned up to an unfriendly volume and several lights, akin to high-beam car lights, shine into the eyes of the audience members. It’s an unnecessarily infringing event, and the only moment of the play that is memorable for all the wrong reasons.

Still, the story and performances of the cast are sure to be crowd pleasers — with the possible exception of hard-core Mozart fans, who might not like the liberties that the playwright takes with history. But this is, essentially, pop theater. And although there are many moral implications, “Amadeus” is relatively light entertainment and should be enjoyed as such.

“Amadeus” will be performed 7 p.m. Thursday, 8 p.m. Friday and 2 p.m. Sunday through April 9 at Penobscot Theatre. For