TheatresSquared Launches Season 10 with Five-time Tony Winner

Don’t underestimate the powerful drama and star performances offered at theater productions in Northwest Arkansas. The upcoming TheatreSquared production of the modern classic “Amadeus” by legendary playwright Peter Shaffer is the perfect example.

Winner of five Tony Awards—including Best Play—and the Oscar for Best Picture, “Amadeus” is a modern classic, weaving intrigue, comedy, suspense, and music into a tale of breathtaking dramatic power.

TheatreSquared will launch its 10th anniversary season with this production that’s co-directed by Broadway veteran Sean Patrick Reilly and Amy Herzberg, T2 co-founder and associate artistic director. Performances are scheduled Aug. 27 through Sept. 20, Wednesdays through Sundays, at Walton Arts Center’s Nadine Baum Studios, located at 505 W. Spring St. in Fayetteville.

The production will feature T2’s largest ensemble cast to date. In Amadeus, composer Antonio Salieri schemes to discredit a foul-mouthed former child prodigy that threatens his legacy. But genius, it seems, is not easily obscured, and Salieri must ask himself how far he will go to destroy the young Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, according to a press release description.

“Amadeus is the perfect play to open our 10th anniversary season—an undisputed modern masterpiece that reaches the heights of human drama,” said T2 Artistic Director Robert Ford. “It’s brilliant, risky and ridiculously fun, with a soundtrack that’s pure genius.”

The record-size cast of Amadeus includes James Belcher* (Baron Gottfried van Swieten), Bob Hart (Count Johann Kilian von Strack), Bryce Kemph (Major-Domo), Steven Marzolf* (Emperor Joseph II), James Taylor Odom (Venticello), Denna Reilly* (Katherina Cavalieri), Sean Patrick Reilly* (Antonio Salieri), Bill Rogers (Count Franz Orsini-Rosenberg), Warren Rosenaur (Guiseppe Bonno), Courtneay Sanders (Costanze Weber), Laura Shatkus (Teresa Salieri), Nate Stahlke (Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart), Mark Landon Smith (Valet), Justin Walker (Venticello), and Britney Walker-Merritte (Cook). The intern ensemble includes Jalen Bell, Landon Calhoun, Guadalupe Campos, and EJ Ogbeide.

The performance will run two hours and thirty minutes, including an intermission, and contains occasional adult language and themes. Tickets are on sale now at 479-443-5600 or at theatre2.org. To mark the play’s opening, a string quartet by SoNA will perform at 7:30 p.m. in the lobby on the opening Friday and Saturday night performances.