Review of ‘Saving Mozart’: “Lacrimosa-driven narrative puts audiences in a state of confutatis”

London’s The Other Palace hosts the UK premiere of this revisionist piece exploring the life and personal relationships of the revered musical genius. Guillermo Nazara shares his views on the show, to let us know if its fabricated narrative figures a good marriage between fiction and reality.

You won’t hear a whining Salieri begging for mercy for allegedly murdering the former child prodigy whose ungodly talents no other mortal could surpass. The poor man has never had a chance to redeem himself in the eyes of the masses ever since. A vague rumour turned into legend by the fact that his old demented self began to see himself as the culprit of a crime that was never committed, and which Pushkin, Rimsky-Korsakov, and, of course, Peter Schaffer didn’t hesitate to use to their creative benefit.

But as much as this new musical depiction of the classical composer doesn’t deal with secret homicidal ploys and religious-based revenge, it wouldn’t be far-fetched to say that Mozart isn’t having the best life on the London stage at the moment. This week, The Other Palace has celebrated the UK premiere of Saving Mozart, a revisionist piece centred around the young artist’s struggles to make a name as a musician, and the women who helped him in that endeavour.

Song and book writer Charli Eglinton reportedly researched the Mozart family’s correspondence as the basis for the show. If that’s the case, we may have come across one of the most notorious cases of forgery in the last century. It’s so historically inaccurate, it hurts.

Of course, that shouldn’t be a deterrent to writing a good piece of fiction. If there’s something Amadeus doesn’t excel in -and that’s probably the only thing-, that would be its proximity to reality. Yet, both the play and the film do a superb job of justifying every licence they take. Its universal themes of envy, betrayal, and self-consciousness hold such relevance to a viewer of any era that it’s impossible not to fall for its cleverly made-up lies.

On the other hand, it’s a deranged and delusional Salieri (a factual portrayal of the last stage of his life) that takes audiences through his view of the events, cannily twisting the truth by mixing actual accounts with absolute fabrications. With that in mind, the entire recount becomes genuine. It’s such an astute concept of storytelling that the sole thought of it makes you shiver.

But none of that happens in Saving Mozart, where neither character introspection nor a shrewdly devised scheme of veracity and deception seem to be invited. Instead, all it gives us is a bland, caricaturesque picture that fails to delve into the personage’s journey, and which can offer little more than a sketchy and not-too-amusing impression of the composer’s mythos.

Its efforts at pulling on the heartstrings are usually futile, with both script and score failing to elevate the plot’s ingrained pathos. Parting from an extremely weak book, packed with clichés and hardly believable lines, the piece’s core problems lie in its total lack of polish in each of its components, except for a rather enjoyable and overall catchy score (though Mozart’s contributions earn one-third of that credit).

The rest comes across as incredibly messy. Poorly structured and with no discernible path to follow, its uneven and often rushed pacing prevents guests from building any connection. The personages have next to no time to open up and express their feelings compellingly. And when they do, the absence of subtext only helps enhance their archetypal nature, further blemished by the lyrics’ stylistic shoddiness, whose faulty prosody is exceeded by its lazy attempts at rhyming, with such fine examples like “thing” succeeding “amazing” in the next verse.

With a visual approach that evokes Hamilton’s aesthetic brand, the design blends classical and contemporary elements to bring a sense of otherworldly fantasy. To that extent, it works, but there’s not enough dynamism for it to preserve the atmosphere throughout, with several choices feeling slightly ineffective and, above all, questionable.

Part of the cast makes up for some of these issues within the scope of their performances, but the shortcomings in some of the leads’ singing and acting are worryingly noticeable. Nonetheless, we can still give generous praise to Aimie Atkinson’s rendition of Nannerl, flaunting her usual vocal flawlessness while endowing the role with a touch of charming fragility. In addition, Jordan Luke Gage makes another significant appearance as Salieri, combining his musical skillfulness with a commanding stage presence, despite his role being reduced to a pantomime villain version of the actual historical figure.

Reviving the lore surrounding one of the most prominent names in classical music history, but failing to honour it by delivering a clumsy, unimaginative, and undocumented tribute to his memory, Saving Mozart comes across as a “kyrie eleison” experience rather than something worth recordare. Beyond some occasional redeeming features, the entire piece will require a complete overhaul should it wish to secure a decent run following this initial London trial, as too many dramatic elements bear an exceedingly close resemblance to a higher-rated predecessor. And just as it happens in the latter, the image of a young, giggling Mozart improvising a better version of a lesser work comes up naturally when thinking of this show.

All pictures credit to Danny Kaan.

Saving Mozart plays at London’s The Other Palace until 30 August. Tickets are available on the following link.

By Guillermo Nazara