Mozart!

Some things are worth waiting for. Tonight's performance of Mozart! would be one of them. I had been wanting to see Dolhai Attila perform since discovering Romeo es Julia four years ago. While, I haven't seen that yet, I finally got to see him as the title role in tonight's musical.

Assorted thoughts:

-- Sets were amazing... so many different scenes, so elaborate. Moving platforms, raising, falling, hanging, circling staircases and floor patterns.
-- Costumes (with an exception -- I'll mention later) were great. More "traditional period" than in Romeo es Julia but not completely traditional.
-- The performers were all good -- particularly liked Baroness, Nannerl, and Leopold (besides Mozart - of course!).
-- The Porcelain Child ... wow. Silent acting plus acrobatics -- really made the story. (The story is told with Mozart as an adult but this child is often with him as a symbol of his child prodigy self)
-- Attila... well, there really isn't much I can say. Some voices can't be done justice on video or audio recordings. With all due respect to the many great tenors I know, I finally saw my favorite perform tonight. All I know is if he was really Mozart, I would fight Josie M., to the death, to win him :) Well.. if he wasn't already married with three little girls, that is.
-- Music - I've heard it before but live is so much better. It's a mixture of classical (Mozart and Mozartean sounding), musical, and rock opera.
-- Staging - all around good. Seamless scene shifts, nice chorus numbers - without seeming contrived, moments between Mozart and the Porcelain Child were particularly good. Mozart's reaction to his father's final rejection was, in my opinion, the most powerful scene. Although the lyrics are asking why his father never loved him for who he was rather than just as a performing monkey, I was reminded of St. Francis by the idea of even giving back his clothes to his father.

Some things I might change...
-- Recast Constanze... clearly, I should be playing opposite Attila (haha... a girl can dream, right?)
-- One distracting costume piece - I realize that as this is a musical, the mikes are necessary. However... if you know the lead is going to mostly strip on stage, wouldn't it make sense to at least make the mike pack flesh colored? That way it would be less absurd than a big white band stretching around his chest. I'd be happy to fix this for them. It might require a couple of fittings to make sure it's perfect though ;-)
-- Super-titles were helpful but weren't synchronized very well.

All in all it was wonderful and I'm sure I'll be seeing many more shows at the Operetta Szinhaz. It was so nice to have something take my mind of the bitterness and defeat that are threatening to take over. Only God could have know what type of week I would have before this and prompt me to make sure I bought a ticket when I did. Between the misery that has been school, the new disaster that the kindy has become, and getting sick, I really, really needed this escape.