Mozart to be Played by British-Japanese Actor in Woke Reboot

Mozart will be played by British-Japanese actor Will Sharpe in Sky’s woke reboot of Amadeus, sparking criticism that the period drama will be “historically inaccurate and misleading”. The Telegraph has more.

Sky has created a new series based on the life of the composer, based on Peter Shaffer’s play Amadeus, which explores the rivalry provoked by his musical genius.

A diverse group of actors will play courtiers and composers, including real historical figures based in 18th-century Vienna.

Critics have said such portrayals are “historically inaccurate and misleading”.

Sky made a commitment in 2020 – following a summer of Black Lives Matter protests – to ensure 20% of all roles went to black and minority ethnic performers.

In addition to British-Japanese actor Will Sharpe in the role of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and Paul Bettany as his Italian rival Antonio Salieri, the cast includes young actors Ényì Okoronkwo and Jyuddah Jaymes in supporting roles.

Okoronkwo, who appeared in Disney’s Renegade Nell, will play the Italian librettist Lorenzo Da Ponte, the man who wrote the texts for Mozart’s celebrated The Marriage of Figaro, Don Giovanni, and Così Fan Tutte.

Jaymes, who has appeared in the ITV series Sanditon, will play the Austrian composer Franz Xaver Süssmayr, who completed Mozart’s Requiem mass following his death in 1791.

Lead actor Sharpe, whose mother is Japanese, was nominated for an Emmy award for his performance as American tech entrepreneur Ethan Spiller in White Lotus.

The series is a ‘reimagining’ of Shaffer’s 1979 play, which charts the obsessional envy of Salieri for Mozart’s divine musical talent. The play was previously adapted into a lauded 1984 film version, which won eight Oscars.

While 18th-century Vienna, as the centre of the Holy Roman Empire, was home to a range of European ethnic groups, the level of diversity depicted in the upcoming series has been questioned.

Pianist and music scholar at the City of London University, Professor Ian Pace, said that such a portrayal was “certainly historically inaccurate and misleading”.

He added: “Vienna was a diverse society: Austrians, Hungarians, Czechs, Slovaks, Poles, Croats, Serbs and others.

“But the Holy Roman Empire, of which it was then part, had no major colonial holdings outside of Europe and no significant population of African origin.”

He added that there was in fact a large Ottoman Turkish population in Vienna at the time. However, this group does not appear to feature in the new Amadeus.

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