Steppenwolf strips the masterpiece to its beautifully costumed bones
with gains, losses, and a lingering ache for Mozart’s full glory

Steppenwolf’s in-the-round production of Amadeus, directed by Robert Falls, takes a sparse approach to design, perhaps by necessity, or perhaps to highlight the juxtaposition between the court’s stiff opulence and Mozart’s descent into poverty — but with mixed success. The performances, however, are in no way sparse, and there are moments of splendor to be found.

Ian Barford

Peter Shaffer’s Tony Award-winning play imagines a secret rivalry between Italian composer Antonio Salieri and the Austrian prodigy Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Salieri, having devoted his life to making music in worship of God, has his faith shaken when he hears God’s true gift of music making given to an irreverent nitwit. In Amadeus, we are presented with the mystery: did Salieri murder Mozart?

David Darrow with the cast

Ian Barford gives a masterful performance as the jaded Salieri. A charming and precocious David Darrow brings Mozart to bubbling life, and Jaye Ladymore matches his energy delightfully as his soulmate, Constanze Weber. Ora Jones and Sawyer Smith are sugary treats on the tongue every time they prance onstage as Venticello 1 and 2. The cast is rounded out by experts in the craft, Robert Breuler (Kapellmeister Giuseppe Bonno) and Yasen Peyankov (Baron Gottfried van Swieten, through December 21). It’s delightful to watch them play.

David Darrow and Ian BarfordIan Barford with (back, left) David Darrow and the cast 

Though the cast does marvelous work, the production falters in bringing Mozart’s music to life. Sound design by Connor Wang and music supervision/additional original music by Mikhail Fiksel support the world of the play, but the audio never quite reaches the immersive sweep Mozart’s music demands. I can’t pinpoint where the problem lies — if in design, equipment, where I’m sitting, or simply the nature of the room — but even in the most ethereal moments when Mozart’s music is meant to sweep us away into heaven, it never quite fills the space. The sound is somehow always a little dampened, slightly too far away, or disappearing into the background. I may be a hard audience to please in this regard, as my dream would be to see a production of this play with a live orchestra, but even when that’s impossible, the music is the most important part of this play, and it must be central. Here it feels secondary.

Ian BarfordIan Barford, John Lister, Robert Breuler, Joey Slotnick, Yasen Peyankov

The set, designed by Todd Rosenthal, captures an interesting juxtaposition of this opulent era — marble flooring and a painted vaulted ceiling — against Mozart’s downfall into poverty, with shattered glass in all the windows and a simple set of mostly chairs. A largely obstructed image of a heavenly scene appears on the ceiling at various points as Salieri speaks to God, giving the sense that God is hovering, watching all of this unfold. It’s a beautiful and interesting set but feels limited by the space. I can’t help but wonder what Rosenthal would do with the set on a proscenium stage.

(front) Ian Barford, Erica Stephan, (back) Matt Miles, Yasen PeyankovJaye Ladymore, David Darrow, Gregory Linington, Yasen Peyankov

Costume designer Amanda Gladu creates beautiful designs for the stiff and extravagant court fashions and brings splashes of color and intrigue to Mozart’s clothes. Most notable, though, is her choice to leach the color from Wolfgang and Constanze’s clothes as they descend into despair. This is beautifully done — keeping the costumes interesting with shape and texture, but shifting starkly to neutrals as the joy hemorrhages from the Mozarts’ lives.

David Darrow, Jaye Ladymore, Ian Barford

Though this production makes some beautiful choices, it seems to be missing something important: a profound respect for Mozart’s music. Besides the struggle with sound, this is evident in the handling of the physical manuscripts onstage. It’s established early on that Mozart doesn’t make copies of his manuscripts, so all the manuscripts we see are the originals. Still, both Mozart and Salieri — who plots for Mozart’s downfall but practically worships his music — tread on and even crumple up several manuscripts. These actions seem inconsistent with how they speak about the scores, and, I admit, it very much bothered me.

Jaye Ladymore and David Darrow

Steppenwolf’s in-the-round production of Amadeus tries something different by stripping the play down to a barer form to fit a more intimate room, but I’m not convinced it works better this way. Even so, the cast is packed with masters in their craft, and the play is worth the watch — full two-and-a-half-hour runtime and all — just to see them perform.

Joey Slotnick, Gregory Linington and John ListerThe Cast

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photos by Michael Brosilow

Amadeus
Steppenwolf Theatre Company
Ensemble Theater, 1650 N. Halsted St.
2 hours, 35 minutes with one intermission
ends on January 25, 2026
Tues-Fri at 7:30; Sat at 3 & 7:30; Sun at 3; (check for dark holiday dates)
for tickets ($20–$153.50, including service fee), call 312.335.1650 or visit Steppenwolf

for more shows, visit Theatre in Chicago

Ora Jones, Sawyer Smith