Free Articles: Master Class (play)

2011-12-03

Master Class (play)

Master Class

For the type of high-level artistic tuition, see Master class.

Master Class

Written by	Terrence McNally
Characters	Maria Callas Sharon Graham Sophie De Palma Emmanuel Weinstock Anthony Candolino Stagehand
Date premiered	November 5, 1995
Place premiered	John Golden Theatre New York City, New York
Original language	English
Subject
Genre	Drama
Setting	A master class with Maria Callas at the John Golden Theatre
IBDB profile

Master Class is a play by Terrence McNally, with incidental music by Giuseppe Verdi, Giacomo Puccini, and Vincenzo Bellini.

The play originally was staged by the Philadelphia Theatre Company and the Mark Taper Forum. After twelve previews, the Broadway production, directed by Leonard Foglia, opened on November 15, 1995 at the John Golden Theatre, where it ran for 598 performances. The original cast included Zoe Caldwell, Audra McDonald, , David Loud, and Jay Hunter Morris. Caldwell and McDonald won Tony Awards for their performances in 1996.

Patti LuPone and Dixie Carter subsequently replaced Caldwell as Callas and Alaine Rodin replaced McDonald later in the run. LuPone played the role in the London production and Faye Dunaway played the role in the national tour. Tyne Daly recently starred as Callas in a new production of the play at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre.

Plot

At its core is the diva Maria Callas, a glamorous, commanding, larger-than-life, caustic, and surprisingly drop-dead funny pedagogue holding a voice master class. Alternately dismayed and impressed by the students who parade before her, she retreats into recollections about the glories of her own life and career. Included in her musings are her younger years as an ugly duckling, her fierce hatred of her rivals, the unforgiving press that savaged her early performances, her triumphs at La Scala, and her affair with Aristotle Onassis. It culminates into a monologue about sacrifice taken in the name of art.