Masterclass. Maria Callas=Tyne Daly

[+ Italiano]

Even if she looks nothing like the Divina, I think it will be interesting to see at Broadway the revival of Terrence McNally's Tony awarded play with Tyne Daly as Callas, from next week.

[BaronArtz]

It must be amazing to be referred to as 'La Divina', isn't it? Thank you for mentioning it, caro xafnndapp. I will make sure to get tickets for this performance.

[whipped guy]

How long will this be on B'way and at what theater? When I get to NYC this time of year it is usually for "other" activities... but this might be a different type of summer diversion.

 

Also, not only is it amazing that Callas is "La Divina", but she is still referenced as such decades after her death... The legend lives on and on... and rightfully so!

[+ sf westcoaster]

The show is scheduled to begin previews on June 14th with an opening on July 7th. It has been posted as a limited run. The last time I checked tickets were being sold through some time in August, but I suspect that has already been extended. It will be housed in the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre (47th St ??).

[whipped guy]

I was in NYC this weekend to visit the New York Bondage Club where I met up with a working guy and a fellow poster for some over the top fun. Still, I did find the time to check out Ms. Daly in Master Class via some ads for the Show... and it is amazing how she is made up to look like the Callas of the 1970's... I think she will be able to pull it off... I guess I am used to seeing her as a police officer and not an opera star... but the hairdo completed the transformation quite effectively. Of course she has appeared previously in this and has received good reviews... Supposedly she is a tamer Callas than was Zoe Caldwell who first interpreted the part... so the "softer side of Callas" might be a more apt description for her interpretation. Though most of us don't think of Callas having a softer side... but I think she most certainly did... in fact I say she was quite insecure and somewhat fragile under the strong public persona.

[joeyboy107]

I'm definitely intriuged. From what I know, it has an incredible supporting cast as well!

[+ Italiano]

I am going today (yes!) and I am a bit confused by the fact that these are previews and the actual premier is July 7th....

What's the actual difference??

[uwsman2]

Until the official opening, the press is supposed to refrain from reviewing it.

[whipped guy]

Well xaf... Since La Divina is not an escort... and neither is Ms. Daly... and you are not an official member of the press... How about a review here! You being so well informed about all things Callas, I think we would all be intersted in and respect your opinion regarding the production.

[+ Italiano]

Well, I came back home REALLY impressed. I have seen this play about 15 years ago with Dixie Carter and loved it, I saw it again and loved it even more. Of course being a superfan of the unique original Artist I have to admit that there is a component of magic and morbid fascination in watching someone on a stage walking and talking (even singing!) and pretending to be Maria Callas, as I have never seen the original live.

The play per se is very good, a superb piece of theatre, with a few gripping moments, few hearty laughters and a general sense of total participation. Tyne Daly in real life resembles Callas like Larry King resembles George Clooney, and even if coiffured and dressed (her badly tailored dress and ugly shoes are the only downfall of the production, knowing how elegant la Divina notoriously was!) like her, there is very little which can be put together between the two. Nevertheless it didn't really matter because she dominated the stage from the very first moment, and she was absolutely fantastic in developping the complex character that McNally imagined for la Divina. She completely took everybody on her hand throughout the play, and her two monologues (the gripping moment where she "disappears" from the classroom and sadly recalls the past success and her tormented love-affair with Onassis) kept everybody on the edge of the chair.

Daly's way of speaking English doesn't really remind the very peculiar accent that Callas had and that one can hear in the audio recordings of those famous real Masterclasses that she gave in 1971 and 1972 at Julliard's, and I also have to criticize her Italian that sometimes she used speaking the words of the various librettos, which had an English accent which Callas never had, but hey, Callas has been dead for almost 34 years and what you see in Masterclass is a superb actress. Very good the rest of the supporting cast, but at the end she got (and really deserved) a thunderous ovation.

 

I HIGHLY recommend it!

[+ sf westcoaster]

xaf, thanks for the review. I will be in NY next week and will try to nab a ticket. The first time I saw this show, Callas was played by Zoe Caldwell and the second viewing was it was Faye Dunaway.

[BaronArtz]

What a great review, Caro Xaf! Coming from your expert mind, it totally convinced me to get a ticket for this show. I will also check whether there are some Calllas masterclasses available on YouTube. Some of her interviews definitely are.

[whipped guy]

Xaf... Yes! Mille Grazie!!!! Funny that you mention the manner in which Callas spoke. When I read quotes by La Divina, I always hear it in my mind's ear exactly as she would have spoken it as she had a very precise and unique way of expressing herself. Would that we all spoke so eloquently! Once I get beyond that I think I will enjoy the play... now I have to figure out when!

[+ Italiano]

What a great review, Caro Xaf! Coming from your expert mind, it totally convinced me to get a ticket for this show. I will also check whether there are some Calllas masterclasses available on YouTube. Some of her interviews definitely are.

 

All her masterclasses are available on youtube. Only audio, alas. But some of them are REALLY electrifying!

 

[BaronArtz]

Caro xafnndapp, thanks again. In response to your post, I started browsing on YouTube and accidentally found this recording of Maria Callas in 'Casta Diva' (

) I didn't know this music before and found it almost inhumanely superb! This aria keeps on playing in my mind .... thank you again!

[+ Italiano]

Caro xafnndapp, thanks again. In response to your post, I started browsing on YouTube and accidentally found this recording of Maria Callas in 'Casta Diva' (

) I didn't know this music before and found it almost inhumanely superb! This aria keeps on playing in my mind .... thank you again!

 

Well, I am glad I inspired you to appreciate one of the most sublime arias in opera!

 

Here you have a chance to "see" Callas performing this aria, and enjoy also a different but equally beautiful rendition of this aria by another golden voice, Montserrat Caballe's.

 

Callas:

 

Caballe:

http://youtu.be/FIQQv39dcNE

[whipped guy]

Yes this is the most sublime aria! It has it all... a beautiful melody that slowly rises to a climax and then falls back down to earth... symmetry and elegance... all worthy of a lunar goddess! Callas and Caballe (in that order) are the top two in my book with Sutherland on a good day a somewhat distant third in this aria. Since they retired not one soprano has even come close... and that is unfortunate. Listen to the shadings in the Callas versions... the work of a supreme artist!

 

Now investigate "Qui la voce" from I Purtani and "Ah! Non credea mirarti" from La Sonnambula... both by Bellini... Again La Divina reigns supreme! Such legato! I could go on... and on!!!!!

[uwsman2]

I saw Master Class last night. The experience with Tyne Daley is very different from what I remembered with Zoe Caldwell - different but effective in its own way. The production is well staged. The play itself is a bit uneven. I think McNally spends too much time with the first student and not enough with the second and third, and the fantasy flashback sequences seem a bit hokey and contrived compared to the time spent with the students. But it is very entertaining, and will give some good insights into the detail of great singing. Worth a visit.

[Diverdan]

Thanks for all the links, guys. As a result, not only did I get to hear Maria again, but Pavarotti, Lanza and a host of other great voices and beautiful music. A great Saturday afternoon as a result. Thanks again, guys for all the great links and commentary.

DD

[edjames]

Great show!

 

Saw the show last night and it was electrifying. Ms. Daly sure does know her business. I saw the original production with Zoe Cadwell and have very little recollection of the production. This was a first rate performacne and the standing ovations were well-deseerved!

 

ED

[whipped guy]

Saw it the other night... Excellent!

 

Having never seen Terrance McNally’s Master Class, my initial reaction was that the playwright perfectly captured the essence that was Maria Callas. Fundamentally the play proved to be a study of the complex qualities, character traits, and even flaws that personified Maria Callas and how she came to be referred to as La Divina… the supreme diva of the Twentieth Century in the minds of many an opera lover. Consequently, there were not only significant bits of operatic lore introduced into the show, but also witty and sardonic comments about singers with whom Callas shared roles. Of course, there were the obligatory moments where Callas reflected upon her affair with Aristotle Onassis, which moments were aptly juxtaposed with references to the operatic Medea. Fittingly, that was how I had always imagined that the tempestuous and imperious Callas would have reacted when dealing with such a powerful and obstinate individual as Onassis.

 

As for the play itself, while it may not be the ultimate masterpiece, it is still a fine piece of theater in what it attempts to achieve. I was particularly fascinated by the first act as it almost exclusively deals with the final scene of Bellini’s La Sonnambula and here again McNally perfectly captures the genius that was Callas in her portrayal of Amina in this opera… an opera that can seem to be superficially silly, but an opera that Callas respected as the vital work of art that its creators intended it to be. In the second act McNally also has Callas illuminate Puccini’s Tosca and Verdi’s Macbeth in a similar fashion.

 

As for Tyne Daly’s portrayal of La Divina, she was a veritable tour du force in what is in essence almost a one woman show. Curiously I wondered if Ms. Daly would be able to recreate the very distinctive and precise speech patterns that were the hallmarks of the Callas speaking voice. Indeed, I cannot read quotes from Callas and not hear in my minds ear the unique manner in which she expressed herself. Ms. Daley obviously did her homework as she had all the Callas trademarks mastered almost to perfection even if she was unable to totally replicate the exact sound of the Callas speaking voice. Only when speaking in Italian as Verdi’s Lady Macbeth (reading of the letter “Nel di della vittoria”) did I think that she faltered. However, I was basing my reaction on the 1958 commercial recording, while Daly was recreating the delivery as in the 1952 performance at La Scala, which is somewhat different in emphasis and inflection. Needless, to say Daly was spot on in that regard even though her Italian might not have been as spoken by a true native. (Nonetheless, I thought she was light years ahead of the other members of the cast as to her Italian pronunciation.)

 

Now I doubt that the original Callas had the theatrical timing to deliver McNally’s comic lines as perfectly as Daly did, but such an attribute was certainly an enhancement to the production. It was only in the visual aspects that Daly fell a bit short as we get the stout 1950 model Callas as opposed to the later slimmed-down svelte version. In addition, the actress looked a tad older than Callas would have been at the time. Still, Daly recreated so much of the Callas mystique that one easily overlooked these as minor distractions.

 

The other cast members performed at a high level, though none attained the heights that Daly achieved. Best of all were the accompanist and the stagehand both of whom seemed quite natural and believable in their roles. As for the three student singers, as fine as they were they all seemed to be acting as opposed to living their parts. Regarding their voices, the first student (who fortunately has little to sing) did not have a convincing bel canto voice… and would never have been able to master Bellini’s difficult vocal writing, and indeed Callas spends the most time with her. The tenor who sang the first act aria from Puccini’s Tosca was quite good… and such was the Callas verdict. The second soprano had a “Micaela type voice” which was lighter in quality than would be required to create a convincing Lady Macbeth… and indeed Madame Callas tells her so! Therefore, in regard to the singers (at least as far as their vocal abilities were concerned) the casting was spot on.

 

However, the main focus of the evening was on Tyne Daly and the standing ovation that she garnered at the final curtain was certainly well deserved.

 

Who woulda thunk that Mary Beth Lacey had it in her… but then again Callas was born in NYC and spent the war years in Athens and accordingly would have had more than a bit of the street wise Lacey in her. So, perhaps Ms. Daley was indeed the perfect actress to portray the passionate diva.

 

There is still time to see this as the limited run has been extended through early September.

[leigh.bess.toad]

Sounds like it was an amazing performance by Tyne Daly. For some reason, I was always able to sense a dramatic ability with her that would allow her to do more "serious" work than Mary Beth Lacey. Certainly more depth than I get out of her brother Tim.

 

Wish I could get to NY to see it.

[+ nycman]

Saw Master Class last week. Thought it was solid "B plus" theater. Very good but not great.

I got to see the original in previews in Philly years ago. I'd give the original an "A minus". Almost

great, but not quite. Daly's Callas was warmer and more human that Caldwell's, but I preferred

Caldwell. Caldwell's Callas seemed more archetypical, even if it was less true to the real woman.

 

The real downgrade in the cast comes from the students. In the original, I actually believed they

could be master class students at Julliard. This time, they were clearly musical theater majors mincing

around pretending to be budding opera stars. One of the original students was Audra McDonald.

She won a Tony for her role (as did Caldwell). The two of them battling on stage was a magical

and powerful combination. You just don't get that level of excellence in the current revival.

 

So in summary, Tyne Daly was much better than I expected, but not incredible.