National Theatre at Home concludes its what-a-gift season of TV recordings of stage plays from its archives with this 2016 revival of the Peter Shaffer play
Amadeus. And what a great way to bring down the curtain on a series of wonderful stage performances, because
Amadeus, the story of the musical rivalry between Antonio Salieri and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, began life as a National Theatre production in 1979. Paul Scofield starred as Salieri then, with Simon Callow as Mozart. A year later, in 1980, a production of
Amadeus was mounted on Broadway. That’s the first time I saw Ian McKellen, on stage or anywhere else, playing Salieri to Tim Curry’s Mozart. (Yes,
that Tim Curry, from
The Rocky Horror Picture Show.) In 1984, Hollywood made a movie version, with Tom Hulce as Mozart, and with F. Murray Abraham winning the Best Actor Oscar as Salieri. And now, for one week only starting this afternoon,
the National Theatre at Home website and YouTube channel presents its most recent
Amadeus production, with Lucian Msamati as Salieri and Adam Gillen as Mozart – and with Southbank Sinfonia providing live musical accompaniment. I’m really, really looking forward to this one.