Amadeus Reviews
Washington Post- Highly Recommended
"...For goodness' sake, don't allow Ian Merrill Peakes to get his hands on that proverbial phone book, because he just might be tempted to wring compelling drama out of a list of random names and numbers. Urge him instead to stick to the juicier role he's undertaking now at Folger Theatre, where the play is "Amadeus" and the actor's performance as Antonio Salieri is, well, gorgeous."
DC Theater Arts- Highly Recommended
"...What a great lively yarn about a musical disruptor as a stand-in for the volcanic eruptions of out-and-out revolution in the air throughout Europe and America. Amadeus at Folger Theatre is a triumph."
MetroWeekly- Recommended
"...In the current climate of fake and thoroughly feral news, Peter Shaffer's Amadeus touches something of a nerve. A comic-tragic flight of historical fancy, it offers some very unsubstantiated ideas about some very real people. In Shaffer's vision, the elderly and ailing 17th-century composer Antonio Salieri recalls a rivalrous, dangerous obsession with the young and far more talented Mozart. It may be a vehicle for a robust, sometimes amusing display of ruinous envy, but in this unironic, anti-fact age, the 1979 play feels in need of a very big disclaimer: "Just messing around folks; it didn't really happen!""
Talkin Broadway- Recommended
"...Samuel Adams embodies both the purity of Mozart's musical gift and the crude obliviousness of his personality, also showcased through Mariah Anzaldo Hale's gaudiest costumes and Dori Beau Seigneur's cotton-candy-colored wigs. Hokama is a skillful foil to Adams, and Phillips amuses as the clueless emperor who sums up everything with "Well, there it is.""
MD Theatre Guide- Highly Recommended
"..."Amadeus" has always been one of my favorite plays and this production reminded me why. It features plummy dialogue and a chance for two tour-de-force performances by masterful actors as the rival composers. Folger's production carries on this tradition note for note."
DCTheatreScene- Highly Recommended
"...The Folger Theatre's current production does honor to this work's ambition and its illustrious past."