PlayMakers to make over Mozart production

Mozart is getting a makeover.

PlayMakers Repertory Company is reviving their 2008 production of Peter Shaffer’s “Amadeus” — a fictional biography of the famed classical composer — but this time, the company will join forces with the North Carolina Symphony.

“One of the biggest comments I heard after (the 2008 production) was how people wished they could have heard more of Mozart’s music,” said Joseph Haj, PlayMakers’ artistic director, who will make a guest appearance in the play as the emperor.

Shaffer allowed Haj to edit the script considerably, leaving room for, as Haj calls them, “those glorious musical passages.”

During the year and a half of preparation, Haj approached the N.C. Symphony for help.

More than 50 members of the N.C. Symphony will take part in the production, playing music as a part of the play’s development.

“The collaboration so far has been really thrilling,” said Grant Llewellyn, music director for the symphony.

The partnership between PlayMakers and the N.C. Symphony saw two separate entities practicing and preparing individually.

This week, the two parts were brought together.

“I’m not sure if a show with this type of combination of music and theater has been done before — this way anyway,” Llewellyn said.

PlayMakers’ regular and UNC dramatic arts professor Ray Dooley will reprise his role of Antonio Salieri, Mozart’s scheming rival.

Dooley previously played the role in 1985 and 2008, but he has yet to play in a musically integrated production of this sort.

“To visit the character again while it is still fresh in my mind is a great joy and a great gift,” Dooley said.

Joining Dooley on the stage at Raleigh’s Meymandi Concert Hall will be television actor Michael Urie — known for his role on ABC’s cancelled comedy “Ugly Betty” — who will play the titular classical genius.

“I’ve always, like always, wanted to play Mozart,” Urie said in an e-mail.

Urie was brought into the production with help from his friend Brendon Fox, who is also a director for PlayMakers.

“I listened to lots of Mozart’s music, which I’ve long been familiar with as a former French horn player in my high school days,” Urie said.

But Urie is aware of the big shoes to fill in such a famous role, he said.

“Playing a famous part like Mozart, that so many great actors have tackled is daunting, but thrilling,” Urie said. “I get to put my own stamp on a timeless classic.”

There is a deeper meaning behind Llewellyn decision to collaborate with PlayMakers — even though he is excited to play Mozart’s music, he said.

“Mozart can come across as very vain, but the substance behind the music can sometimes get lost,” Llewellyn said. “So this was a fantastic opportunity to do justice to the man behind the music.”

Contact the Arts Editor at artsdesk@unc.edu.