REVIEW - The USA Now Has Access to 'Mozart! Das Musical' - RESPECT.

It turns out that Hamilton isn’t the only musical about a historical figure that shakes things up in its representation.

Sylvester Levay and Michael Kunze’s Mozart! revival is even more rock and roll than the original show from 1999. The musical, as one may guess, is about none other than Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The show tells us of his life and struggles, but with a few twists. The Weber family, Mozart’s in-laws, drives on stage in a hippy van filled with inflatables that look like they belong on a ’90s family road trip. Mozart’s song “Ich Bin Extraordinär” has him rocking an electric guitar while the ensemble chants the German equivalent of “up yours” (expletives tuned out by an air horn, of course).

While all of this is happening, Mozart is haunted by his genius, which takes the form of himself as a child, back when he was just known as Amadé. As Mozart tries to live a normal life—find a wife, have fun with friends—his genius is in the background, constantly writing music and demanding attention as Mozart continues to make poor decisions concerning his money and his family. It comes to the point that Amadé must stab him with the quill to get Mozart’s blood to continue writing the music that is always in his head.

The musical had become popular enough in Vienna that it was decided that a DVD would be made for fans to own if they had no way of seeing the show live or if they loved it enough and wanted to buy it. The revival first started playing in September of 2015 in Vienna, where Mozart! had been adapted specifically for the Raimund Theater. News of the DVD production was confirmed on March 18, with pre-orders available soon after. The DVD was officially released on June 17 and it is now available worldwide, region free, through Musicalvienna.at. Fans in the United States have just now begun to receive their own copies. While it remains in the original German, English subtitles have been included for easier translation.

The DVD production of the musical stars Oedo Kuipers as Mozart, Mark Seibert as Hieronymus Colloredo, Franziska Schuster as Constanze Weber, and Ana Milva Gomes as the Baroness von Waldstätten. More information on the production can be found here.