I had a wonderful seat for this show, in the box in the dress circle directly centre to the stage, so I had the full view of the stage, plus I didn't have to crane my neck too far up to see the English surtitles. :-) The surtitles were probably one of the best parts of the show for me, since I'd never seen an English translation of the lyrics before!

The show begins with Dr. Mesmer and Constanze searching for Mozart's grave. She points it out, and we flashback to Amadé and Nannerl performing as children. Here Amadé meets the Baroness, who gives him a quill (a "hangvilla" - thank you Edit!), which he uses to compose with throughout the show.

An older Wolfgang has ordered himself a fancy red coat like the one he used to wear as a child, but his father won't let him wear it. They go to the archbishop - Wolfgang gets in an argument with him and is dismissed. He and his mother go to find another position. They go first to Mannheim, where he meets the Webers (reminding me more than a little of the Thénardiers, though not quite so farcical), then to Paris, which is in a pre-revolutionary state which he finds exhilirating. However, he behaves irresponsibly, and his mother becomes ill and dies.

Wolfgang returns to Salzburg in failure. His father presents him with a list of debts that he must pay off. However, the chance comes for him to go to Vienna, and when the archbishop himself offers it, Leopold cannot refuse. There he runs into the Webers again (and humiliates Collerado's aide in the process), and falls in love with Constanze. Collerado is furious over his behaviour, and their argument ends in Wolfgang being thrown out. He is thrilled to be free, but realizes he will never escape the demands of his genius.

Contanze's mother attempts to blackmail Wolfgang into marrying Constanze, but he is willing to do it freely, and they are married, against his father's wishes. When Nannerl also finds a man she wishes to marry, she writes to Wolfgang, asking him for the money that their father had promised to him, but he loses the money at cards.

Collerado and Leopold must both attempt to come to terms with their lack of power. Collerado argues with God about why music should be so much stronger than the work he has done. Leopold comes to visit Wolfgang, and when his son tries to show him that he has been successful on his own, the father only sees that he is not needed. They argue, and he leaves saying that he never wishes to see him again. He dies shortly afterward, which plunges Wolfgang into despair.

Amadé is finding it harder and harder to write while Wolfgang grows more distracted. He argues with Collerado one last time, and realizes that no matter what he does, he will never be free. After the success of the Magic Flute, his lifeblood is dried up, and Amadé, the embodiment of his genius, kills him.

I've left out a lot of smaller scenes and details, of course. I felt that overall, the show had a lot of very nice moments, but didn't really work for me as a whole. The later scenes of Nannerl and Leopold felt repetitive. The role of Collerado seemed under-developed, if he was intended to be a major character. The show couldn't seem to decide if it was about Mozart's relationship with his father, with his wife, or with the incarnation of his genius. It felt like it was trying to tell too many stories at once, and therefore didn't tell any of them particularly strongly.

However! There were lots of things that I really enjoyed. The cast, first and foremost. The child Amadé was excellent, and a very good gymnast! Dolhai Attila as Wolfgang was very good - he was extremely enthusiastic, with a big grin on his face most of the time, very much a wide-eyed dreamer and optimist. And a great voice as well. He's on stage a LOT, it's a very demanding part, and he pulled it off well. His "Miért nem fogadsz el engem?" was particularly great, though I wasn't expecting him to take off *all* his clothes. :-) And his interaction with Amadé was excellent too.

Janza Kata and Szabó Szilveszter were names I was familiar with from Elisabeth, so it was fun to see them, and they were both very good as well, though, again, I felt, particularly with Collerado, that there was much more of a story to tell there.

The sets were very good, and some really inventive things happening as well. I liked the symbolism of Wolfgang tied up in the ribbons at the masquerade, and I also really liked the final fight between Wolfgang and Collerado - pretty cool to have them swinging around in mid-air! I could have completely done without Schikaneder's song, but I'm just not a fan of those types of characters.

I'm curious how this production compares with those done in Vienna and Hamburg, and I think there's a lot of really great material here, but it still needs a bit more tweaking. If there were some changes made, I would definitely be interested in seeing it again!