I was delighted to be asked back to Collingwood, in the Fall of 2008, to do their production of Amadeus. The 18th Century has always been a favourite of mine, and, in fact, I was at that moment, in pre-production for another show of the same period, The Velvet Edge with Spectral Theatre Society. As it happened, the two shows had a gap of only ten days between the closing of the first, and the opening of the second. Never daunted, I took it on, with a flurry of running back and forth for fittings and rentals and drycleanings, and managed to pull it off!
Salieri was played by a wonderful young actor, whose talent and professionalism I cannot criticize, but whose height (6'5") was just plain excessive. Still, he did a wonderful performance, and, with the actor playing Mozart, really spellbound the audience.
The play begins with Salieri, now an old man, describing his first encounter with Mozart. But, before we meet Mozart, we hear all about him. From the beautiful opera singer, Cavalieri (Left), to the Musicians of the Court (Center), to the Courtiers (Right).
We finally meet Mozart in the famous scene of him chasing his girlfriend, Constanze, around the Archbishop's palace...
And then, Mozart meets the Emperor, and gains some patronage.
The Court, watching one of Mozart's operas. Sande Rees did the wigs up, and, en masse, they were really wonderful, and did so much to create the feel of the period.
Cavalieri had two gowns, and this was her "opera costume". The actress playing her had an incredible amount of gorgeous, red-gold hair, so, rather than cover it with a wig, Sande decided to dress it up, au natural, and I think it was an excellent decision.
Mozart had several outfits, each coat more ridiculous than the last, and our Constanze looked adorably overwhelmed by her large, stylish wig.
In Act II, Constanze goes to visit Salieri, in a day dress, and Cavalieri goes to visit him in a little less..
And, of course, the real fun of costuming the 18th Century is the ladies...
Well, actually, dressing the men is fun, too. I love this period!
Glorious period costumes, terrible modern postures!!
A rather blurry shot of Constanze's pregnant apron...
Salieri and Cavalieri go to see The Magic Flute at the Comic Opera House, along with all the rowdy peasants.
But, tragically, it's not enough, and Mozart dies...
It was a lovely production, and the cast tackled the high drama with talent and dedication. And, they were all so beautiful, it was a pleasure to dress them!
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