Geva Theatre Opens Season with AMADEUS, 9/7

Geva Theatre Center's 2010/11 Season begins with AMADEUS by Peter Shaffer, which has its first performance on September 7 and runs in the Mainstage through October 3.

Stunned by the brilliance of Mozart's music, and consumed by jealousy for a gift he knows he can never possess, the court composer Antonio Salieri plots to destroy the brash and fiery young genius. Full of passion and intrigue, Amadeus is a modern classic of greed, lust and glorious music.

Written by Peter Shaffer in 1979 and premiered at the Royal National Theatre in London, AMADEUS had its Broadway premiere in 1980 where it ran for 1,181 performances. It won five Tony Awards including Best Play as well as the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding New Play. In 1984 the play was adapted for film and won eight Academy Awards including Best Picture. The play was revived in the West End in 1999 and transferred to Broadway in 2000 receiving the Tony Nomination for Best Revival.

Peter Shaffer's first play, THE SALT LAND (1954) was presented on the BBC. He established his reputation as a playwright in 1958 with FIVE FINGER EXERCISE which won the Evening Standard Drama Award for its West End production and the Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Foreign Play for the 1959 Broadway transfer. Other work includes BLACK COMEDY (1965); EQUUS (1973), which won the 1975 Tony Award for Best Play as well as the Drama Critics Circle Award; and LETTICE AND LOVAGE (1987) which was nominated for four Tony Awards. In 2007 EQUUS was revived in the West End and transferred to Broadway in 2008 starring Daniel Radcliffe and Richard Griffiths. In addition to AMADEUS, several of Shaffer's plays have been adapted to film and he has received Academy Award nominations for his screen adaptations of EQUUS and AMADEUS. For the latter, he received the Best Screenplay Golden Globe and the 1984 Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. He is the recipient of the 1992 William Inge Award for Distinguished Achievement in the American Theatre and was the 1994 Cameron Mackintosh Visiting Professor of Contemporary Theatre at Oxford University. He was awarded a CBE in 1987 and in 2001 he was named Knight Bachelor by Queen Elizabeth II in the 2001 New Years Honours.

Geva Theatre Center's production of AMADEUS features Brent Harris (THE LION KING) as Antonio Salieri, Jim Poulos (Broadway's RENT, Geva's CONVENIENCE and URINETOWN) as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Laura Griffin (Broadway revival of SOUTH PACIFIC, THE LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA, SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS, OKLAHOMA!) as Constanze Mozart. The cast also features Michael Fitzpatrick (Count Von Strack), David Graham Jones (Venticelli I), Brad Heberlee (Emperor Franz Joseph II), Richmond Hoxie (Count Orsini-Rosenberg), Ned Noyes (Venticelli II) and Robert Rutland (Baron Von Swieten). Royce Bleier, Vinnie Carbone, Kate Dylan, Tim Ellison, Darrell Lance, Patricia Lewis, Stephanie McKee, Ricky Thomas and Rachael Yoder complete the ensemble.

Amadeus is directed by Paul Mason Barnes and the design team includes Bill Clarke (scenic design), Dorothy Marshall Englis (costume design), Ken Smith (lighting design) and Rusty Wandall (sound design).

Amadeus opens on September 7 and runs on the Mainstage through October 3.

PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE:

Previews: September 7, 8, 9 @ 7:30pm
September 10 @ 8pm
September 11 @ 2pm
Opening: Saturday, September 11 @ 8pm

Performances: Sunday, September 12 @ 2pm and 7pm
Tuesday, September 14 @ 6pm
Wednesday, September 15 @ 7:30pm
Thursday, September 16 @ 7:30pm
Friday, September 17 @ 8pm
Saturday, September 18 @ 4pm and 8:30pm
Sunday, September 19 @ 2pm and 7pm
Tuesday, September 21 @ 7:30pm
Wednesday, September 22 @ 2pm
Wednesday, September 22 @ 7:30pm
Thursday, September 23 @ 7:30pm
Friday, September 24 @ 8pm
Saturday, September 25 @ 4pm and 8:30pm
Sunday, September 26 @ 2pm (Audio-described) and 7pm
Tuesday, September 28 @ 7:30pm
Wednesday, September 29 @ 7:30pm
Thursday, September 30 @ 7:30pm (Sign Interpreted)
Friday, October 1 @ 8pm
Saturday, October 2 @ 4pm and 8:30pm
Sunday, October 3 @ 2pm (Sunday Salon) and 7pm (closing performance)

Tickets are $22 - $59.  For reservations, call (585) 232 GEVA (4382), or visit www.gevatheatre.org.

Geva Theatre Center is located at 75 Woodbury Blvd, Rochester, NY 14607.

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