Mozart!

MOZART! A two-act musical by Michael Kunze and Sylvester Levay
Book and lyrics: Michael Kunze
Music and orchestration: Sylvester Levay
Poetic translation into Lithuanian: Viktorija Streiča, Kristina Siurbytė
Premiere: 6 October 2023
Vereinigte Bühnen Wien
Worldwide Stage Rights: VBW International GmbH

With the musical MOZART!, Austrian creators present a celebrated figure in Austria’s rich history and a genius of the musical world: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791). One of the most renowned classical composers of all time, he captivated audiences with his masterful melodies and was, notoriously, known for an extravagant lifestyle reminiscent of many modern pop stars. After a dazzling, feverishly rapid career, he died young, at just 35.

The plot of MOZART! explores the main character’s conflict with the world around him. Although the story unfolds in the 18th century, modern audiences will immediately recognise the problems facing the protagonist and find many connections with their own life experiences. Mozart confronts an unavoidable fate and the drama of personal growth, making his story moving and timeless.

MOZART! is the splendour of rock in a Rococo world. The clash of styles and irreconcilable face-off between past and present reflect the ambiguity of the protagonist’s identity. As a man, Mozart feels stifled by the traditions of the Salzburg court: as an artist, he is merely a servant to the aristocracy. Yet he longs for creative and personal freedom—to live his own life, dream, and also carouse, play cards and love. Mozart, a former child prodigy, is relentlessly pursued by the genius within him, “the porcelain child” Amadeus, who is constantly composing music and visible only to Mozart and the audience.

Composer Sylvester Levay’s musical concept underscores this compelling psychological ambiguity. The score combines vivid contemporary genres—ballads, ragtime and rock—with subtle, original Rococo melodies by Mozart, heard whenever Amadeus sits at the piano: Mozart’s grumbling, childlike alter ego. Rather than focusing on the prevailing myth of the genius composer, the musical portrays the legendary Mozart as flawed and fragile, and therefore deeply relatable. MOZART! seeks to free Mozart’s personality from clichés and superficial adoration, allowing audiences to see and feel him as a real, living, breathing person.

The world premiere of MOZART! took place at Theater an der Wien in Vienna in 1999. The first international premiere was in Hamburg in 2001. Productions have been staged in nine countries: Austria, Belgium, China, the Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Japan, South Korea and Sweden, and performed in seven languages: Czech, Flemish, German, Hungarian, Japanese, Korean and Swedish. More than 2,300 performances have been given, and over 2.5 million people have seen the musical.

The cast includes theatre performers and guest soloists, artists from the theatre choir and ballet, and students from the Mikas Petrauskas School of Performing Arts...