Customer Reviews

Master Class

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

When Tom Hanks and Denzel Washington listen to Maria Callas sing "La Mamma Morta" in the film "Philadelphia," I am sure most viewers did recognized neither the aria nor the diva. If the name of Maria Callas is mentioned it is as likely because she was Aristotle Onassis' mistress as it is that she was one of the world's greatest opera singers. In 1971 Callas returned to the stage to teach master classes at Julliard, which were transcribed and collected into a book edited by John Ardoin. A quarter century later Terrence McNally was inspired by those lectures to write his play, Master Class," which may do as much as anything to restore Callas to her rightful spot in the history of opera as anything since her death.

McNally's great conceit in this play is to make the theater audience the members of the master class. The house lights never go completely down during the course of the play, allowing Callas to lecture (harangue) the audience along with her master students who she puts through the wringer, usually reducing them to tears. The play uses an accompanist, two sopranos and a tenor to play and sing the music, while Callas comments on both the meaning of the texts and their performances. When she performed on stage the key description of Callas was that she was "dramatic" as a singer. In this play McNally tries to make it clear why this is true, for even if the diva can no longer sing, she retains her total understanding of each piece under discussion.

Because Callas is talking about music in general and various arias in particular, there is certainly a missing dimension to this script. I am serious when I say it would be nice if there was an audio tape of the arias that you could play while Callas talks about them (e.g., Verdi's "Macbeth"). Unfortunately, I am ashamed to admit my opera collection is inadequate to the task of putting together my own tape. But it is certainly fun to listen to those particular works as they are discussed. Not as good as actually seeing this play in performance, but that is unlikely to happen since it requires not only someone with the commanding presence of Zoe Caldwell but several singers like Audra McDonald. This is a fascinating portrait of a person who was as dynamic a personality as she was a performer. As much as I enjoyed reading this play, I have to lament the fact that reading it deprives me of the musical dimension that is at the heart of "Master Class." If you enjoy opera, musical theater or the creative process of the performing arts, this is a wonderful play for you to read.

This play is a true masterpiece. Whether Callas was actually as she is portrayed in this play makes little to no difference (it's called dramatic license). _Master Class_ offers one of the strongest characters ever created for the stage, a character who encompasses a large spectrum of emotion. Maria Callas is witty, funny, harsh, genius. She "has a look" that is truly brought to life within the pages of this play, but which refuses to be bound there!

Let history books decide if Callas was this or that, McNally's play is not an attempt to photograph La Divina. Master Class is a brillant play that allows the audience to enter onto the stage at La Scala and quaking with fear, hit that one perfect note. You follow the corridors of Maria Callas' character through her past, her grief, her triumph, and her art as she teaches a master class. Read this play and then see it, if you interest is in a great tragic story rather than detailed scholarship you will be tremendously engaged.

An engaging drama, fun to read. I do not think that the portrayal of Callas as a capricious and cruel instructor should mistaken as historically accurate. I would encourage anyone who is interested to look at the texts of her real master class a Julliard; parts of that master class are also available on cd. These reveal a highly dedicated and outstanding professional, a true genius in musicianship, drama, and musical interpretation. Her private life obviously provided a springboard for the plot of this play, but ms. callas did not let her private and professional worlds affect in the sense depicted here. Nor am I aware of any history of her having savaged her students!

Although the play itself was entertaining, I found it confusing, because I knew nothing about Maria Callas. Before I reached the end of the play, I could make almost no sense of her long, emotional flashback narratives. I plan to do research on the woman and reread the play, and I advise others to do so as well. As a singer I appreciated the depiction of Maria Callas and her students as artists who want to have something special that other artists can envy and strive for. Every artist experiences the wish to be different from those who possess the same dreams, and this play shows that truth. The sarcastic dialogue etches for the reader a distinct picture of Maria's character in the play. (Whether or not it is accurate to her true personality, I cannot tell.) I appreciate this play for its accurate portrayal of the struggling artist, but I am sure I will appreciate it more after I have done my homework on Maria Callas.

I have played violin since age 4 hence especially enjoyed Maria's passion for music. Her eccentricities with the students and her theatrical manner are traits with which practically anyone in the music business is destined to encounter in his or her career. Also, the significance of Maria, Ari, and Ms. Kennedy-Onassis (only briefly referred to) adds another interesting element to the play.

The spirit of Maria Callas propells this play. Certainly an homage from McNally to her, and for me a good introduction into her personality and place in theatre history. In a way this is a one-woman piece, with accompaniment, from student singers and a pianist, as Callas the character engages them and the audience in a ride on her spirit, in the guise of a Master Class. Because of the play I looked into Callas on the net and learned of her connection to Aristotle Onassis and Jackie Kennedy as well. This was new to me, and serves the play too, in trance like reminiscences where she speaks to Onassis and husband Battista Meneghini, as well as her audience(s).

Master Class is a powerful theatre piece, full of simple yet difficult truths about performing and a life in the theatre, about artists and giving ones life, heart and soul to your craft. She gave us everything, and with a load of bitterness and a load of love she comes alive in the place that she made and the place that made her.

Although the play itself was entertaining, I found it confusing, because I knew nothing about Maria Callas. Before I reached the end of the play, I could make almost no sense of her long, emotional flashback narratives. I plan to do research on the woman and reread the play, and I advise others to do so as well. As a singer I appreciated the depiction of Maria Callas and her students as artists who want to have something special that other artists can envy and strive for. Every artist experiences the wish to be different from those who possess the same dreams, and this play shows that truth. The sarcastic dialogue etches for the reader a distinct picture of Maria's character in the play. (Whether or not it is accurate to her true personality, I cannot tell.) I appreciate this play for its accurate portrayal of the struggling artist, but I am sure I will appreciate it more after I have done my homework on Maria Callas.

I saw this performance a number of years ago (with the incredible Zoe Caldwell) and I was completely paralyzed by the end of the performance. When the curtain finally fell - I couldn't move out of my seat - so great was the story and the acting.
The story is about Maria Callas and it begins with the audience being "invited" to sit in one of her master classes. As she begins to listen and analyze a student's performance, we are drawn into her mind as she recounts her life, her love for Onasis, and the difficulties she faced in the opera world. What makes the play so incredible is that in her recounting the stories and dialogue, the character Maria Callas transforms herself into the other people she is talking about. She "becomes" Onasis and reconstructs the conversation she had with him years before.
I truly recommend this play to anyone who loves opera, Maria Callas as well as to any student actor looking for what is almost a one woman show.

Master Class by Terrence McNally is a hystarical play written for adults, due to some sexual content, about a master class in Opera. The play begins with Maria Callas a prima dona of the stage. She is holding the class to improve todays singers so they can become great like she is. The story has many flashbacks of Maria's life from her affair with Aristotle Onassis to an abortion she has. The only downfall to the play was the itallian was hard to understand. And some references delt with Opera.