@Tim608562482779@benryanwriter It's the simplicity/complexity of it, as an establishing shot that leads you into the story/themes. You start with New York's ultimate working girl then zero in on the specific working girl we're following in the story, all in a single elegant shot. And the song.
@apascoe33@CinemaTweets1 Shaffer claims he didn't know of Pushkin's version; it's likely they just used the same gossip sources. My position on gossip is where there's smoke... No one disputes that Shaffer and Pushkin were writing fiction, and it doesn't diminish their work. Amadeus rocks.
@apascoe33@CinemaTweets1 But it is true that in his last years, around the time of his suicide attempt, Salieri did claim that he killed Mozart. It may have been dementia or a nervous breakdown. Peter Shaffer took that little historical nugget and ran with it.