In the 30 years since Peter Shaffer’s play “Amadeus” first appeared at the National Theatre of Britain, it has played to much acclaim in various productions and revivals in London and on Broadway. Many of us came to it through a hit movie in 1984 that featured Tom Hulce as a madcap, foul-mouthed Mozart.

When I first saw the movie, I felt conflicted. Should I be relieved that people now saw a classical composer as a real human being (surprise!) or irritated that the movie was so all-or-nothing, showing Mozart as an idiot savant whose music poured out with no effort on his part? Or should I just lighten up about the whole thing?

The “Amadeus” currently onstage at Akron’s Weathervane Playhouse, a Knight Arts Grantee, keeps the focus on the composer Antonio Salieri. Shaffer’s play imagines that when the obscenely talented Mozart turned up in Vienna, it drove the older, well-established Salieri so mad with envy that he schemed to ruin him. Think of it as a midlife crisis, set to music.

In this play, Salieri is presented as a foil to his boss, the Austrian Emperor Joseph II. Unlike the Emperor, who reacts to Mozart’s opera “Don Giovanni” with the remark “Too many notes,” Salieri understands Mozart’s genius. In fact, he understands so well that massive envy ensues.

Directed by Eric van Baars, the play opens with appealingly antic back-and-forth commentary from a pair of Salieri’s lackeys. The initial quick pacing doesn’t hold out its promise: this two and three-quarter hour-long show features a Salieri (Alex Cikra) who becomes tedious. But Ryan Nehlen is a charming Mozart who brings some touchingly earnest moments to his portrayal, and there’s a playful spark between Mozart and his wife, Constanze (Anna Bradley). The production looks terrific, with luxurious period costumes by Jasen J. Smith.

No one really thinks that Salieri did Mozart in. Still, it’s intriguing to think about the nagging, everyday, middle-aged envy that might have driven him to it.

Amadeus, through April 15, at Weathervane Playhouse, 1301 Weathervane Lane, Akron; 330-836-2626; weathervaneplayhouse.com