Mozart and Salieri in Petaluma

Rival composers Antonio Salieri and Mozart take the stage at Cinnabar Theater as it opens its production of Amadeus tomorrow night, Peter Shaffer’s fictionalized  drama that recounts the end of both their days. Director Jennifer King says this production keeps with the play’s roots on the stage, and highlights the intimate scale of the theater.

There’s more information about the show at the Cinnabar Theater website.

“We have condensed the cast to nine people,” King says. “It’s usually very large in scope. But I think it’s very appropriate for the space that we’re working in.  The space at Cinnabar is rather remarkable. And we started to look in the space, saying, ‘Gosh, where are the opportunities?’ We’re doing it in a very intimate environment.” One opportunity is to use that environment to further themes of the plot, as Salieri’s servants — who he calls his ‘venticelli,’ or ‘little winds’ — keep him informed of the news of court intrigue and Vienna’s society. “It is all about secrets. We hear the venticelli speaking secrets, and I think this audience is going to feel like they’re part of the gossip of the time, making them want to learn more and more.” And there’s a touch of the psychological in the set design. “We’ve put the guts of a piano up on the ceiling. So people look up, we’ve got this wonderful piano sculpture. Pieces of Salieri’s mind are everywhere in this piece, so we wanted to think about what would be in his world, what would be the fragments he would have in his consciousness at this time. And that’s what you’re going to see in this production.”