Amadeus and Maddux

“Greg Maddux was everything I wanted to be in the picture, but I wasn’t good enough.”

~Don Sutton

I saw the play “Amadeus” in its first release and first season on Broadway one New Year’s Eve. We came into the theater and sat down, and noticed something on stage that didn’t move. As the lights rose and 8:05 PM, the person in the wheelchair who had been seated there the entire time, unmoving, seeming not to breathe, began to tell the story.

His character was Antonio Salieri, believed to be the greatest composer this time during his time. He was Mozart’s contemporary and held the most prominent place at court. He had everything that a composer wanted — fame, the monarch’s accolades, fawning patrons, gold.

He had everything a composer would want except the one thing he craved more than anything — talent. The first time he heard Mozart play, he realized the great joke that God played upon — Salieri was given everything a man could want except he gave talent to the incredible boor and barbarian, Mozart.

In his torment, Salieri tormented Mozart and attempted to destroy him. Yet Mozart kept composing the work that we know him for. Salieri was removed to the dustbin of history.

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