‘Master Class’ is riveting drama at Shakespeare & Company

 

By David Begelman

Theater Critic

 

Word has it that Terrence McNally’s play about Maria Callas was inspired both by his love of opera and the classes she scheduled at the Juilliard School in New York City in the early 1970s. But during those appearances, well after her days of glory in leading opera houses, the diva did sing passages from arias in order to demonstrate their proper interpretation.

In McNally’s play, however, the actress who takes the role usually talks around the subject—for obvious reasons. Any simulation of one of the great sopranos of our time doing her thing is bound to result in invidious comparisons between the real diva and the performers who take on the role.

“Master Class” at any rate doesn’t depend on depictions of Callas singing. The play is about her as a person, someone who is portrayed in the drama as intolerant of the artistry of rivals including Zinka Milanov and Joan Sutherland, merciless when it comes to training three aspiring singers at Juilliard, and a survivor of some ravaging personal experiences in her ascent to the pinnacle of fame.

The show opened in 1995, with Zoe Caldwell in the lead and the stunning soprano Audra McDonald as Sharon Graham, one of her students. In Shakespeare & Company’s current production, the veteran actress Annette Miller is Callas, while Deborah Grausman is Sharon.

In the show, Callas’ approach to operatic interpretation involves a near fanatical emphasis on emotional preparation. She stops Sophie (Nora Menken) from singing an aria from Bellini’s “La Sonnambula” before the soprano barely opens her mouth. As far as the diva is concerned, the student has no conception of the emotional work demanded of her.

Maybe McNally’s Callas is a bit too hard on her performers. Although emotional preparation (a.k.a. acting) has improved over the years, the acting abilities of singers with glorious voices like Gigli, Melchior, Tucker and Bjoerling were often less than commanding.

But “Master Class” is only partially about singing, however much the lead character’s part is devoted to its technical aspects. When she pulls back from vocal coaching, McNally’s drama becomes a memory play in which Callas reprises vulnerable moments in her life. These include her youthful days as an “ugly duckling,” being savaged by critics earlier in her career, her marriage and separation from her first husband, her later triumphs at opera houses like La Scala, and her relationship with Aristotle Onassis, as well as the abortion he forced her to have.

As in previous productions, the Director Daniel Gidron’s Shakespeare & Company’s staging includes actual recordings of the real Callas singing signature roles from her repertoire.

Miller’s portrayal of Callas tugs at the heartstrings, although on rare occasions became a bit affected and declamatory. Nora Menken, Alec Donaldson and Deborah Grausman gave pleasing interpretations of students singing arias by Bellini, Puccini and Verdi, while Luke Reed as Manny the accompanist and Josephine Wilson as a blunt stagehand supplied some lighter moments in the production.

“Master Class” runs through August 18 at the Elayne P. Bernstein Theatre, Shakespeare & Company, 70 Kemble Street, Lenox, Mass. Performances are Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday 8:30 p.m., Sunday matinees 3 p.m. Tickets are $15-$50 and may be purchased by calling the box office at 413-637-3353 or online at www.shakespeare.org.