How Amadeus turns Mozart myths into Christmas TV gold

Patrick Smith, The Independent

No music biopic comes close to Miloš Forman’s 1984 masterpiece, Amadeus, starring Cynthia Nixon and Tom Hulce. Adapted by Peter Shaffer from his own 1979 stage play — itself inspired by Alexander Pushkin’s poetic 1830 drama, Mozart and Salieri — the film is gaudy and provocative, a glittering two fingers up to historical accuracy. It’s based on a wild rumour: that Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was driven to an early grave, aged 35, by the obsessively jealous court composer Antonio Salieri. But it’s also concerned with a deeper metaphysical question: why would a just God bestow genius on a giggling, foul-mouthed vulgarian like Mozart while condemning the devout Salieri to recognise his own mediocrity? Not for nothing did the film sweep the Oscars with eight wins, including Best Picture and Best Director.

Now from Sky comes a new five-part adaptation of Shaffer’s play. Reuniting some of the key players from the excellent Anglo-Japanese crime series Giri/Haji– writer Joe Barton, director Julian Farino and Bafta-winning actor Will Sharpe – it’s lavish and lively. Brilliantly acted, too.

Salieri is played by Paul Bettany, while Sharpe was the natural choice for Mozart, according to Barton. “Will has a very unique essence,” says the 43-year-old. “He has this sort of puckish quality and he can do these very high energy comic performances, but he also has a darker side to his work that we mined for his role in Giri/Haji. I was also thinking about the show he did, Flowers, where he played this very sweet, almost childlike man who bounced through the world but then had this great well of sadness within him. That’s what I saw for this character.”

While the series traces the familiar contours of the film, the fact it stretches to five hour-long episodes means there’s room to look “at the domestic lives of these people and explore other perspectives alongside the central idea of burning jealousy”, Sharpe tells me.

Mozart’s wife Constanze is a case in point. A minor character in the original play, she’s now centre stage, with Gabrielle Creevy — who previously worked with Barton on his series Black Doves — playing her as smart and strong-willed, with a vein of melancholy running through her. For Barton, who is a fan of the film but hadn’t seen it for many years, making Constanze more multifaceted was one of the main aims. “I was interested in this woman who had to constantly support this almost mythical figure,” he says. “In real life, she was key in preserving and promoting Mozart’s music after his death — ensuring her own financial survival in the process. She’s been slightly lost in the telling of this story.” In preparing for the role, Creevy looked first to the film. “Elizabeth Berridge’s performance was so fun,” says the 29-year-old. Creevy then delved deeper by reading one of the few books available on Constanze. “Being married to a genius must have been really hard,” she says. “She’s so overlooked. She’s not just his wife; she’s her own person.

She had a dream to sing and never really got to do it. Being married to a genius, you just get pushed aside... It must have been very painful at times,” Creevy adds. “They lost children. There’s only so much you can take before you walk away.”

If Constanze is given more life in this interpretation, Sharpe’s Mozart reins it in. Gone are the pink punk-rock wigs and paroxysms of high-pitched laughter from Tom Hulce’s 1984 performance. This Mozart is less annoying, but more priapic and virile, which only deepens Salieri’s envy. Crucially, he’s oblivious to their rivalry and ruthlessly blunt without meaning to be. “We talked about theories he might have been neurodivergent,” Sharpe, 39, explains. “My take was to play him as someone who doesn’t understand social norms. If he believes something is true, he’ll say it. If someone’s offended, he doesn’t understand why.