Dan McGeachy directs Nashville actress Pat Rulon as Maria Calls in Terrence McNally’s Master Class, running February 10 and 11 at Nashville Opera’s Noah Liff Opera Center, continuing a run that opened at Darkhorse Theatre in mid-January.
McNally’s Master Class, which McGeachy has previously directed in a production by Nashville’s Circle Players, features incidental music by Verdi, Puccini and Bellini, and focuses on Callas and her interactions with three aspiring opera singers during “master classes” conducted by the diva late in her career.
An award winning classic, Master Class won both the 1996 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding New Play and the 1996 Tony Award for Best Play. At its core it is a lesson in life with the diva Maria Callas—a glamorous, commanding, larger-than-life, caustic and, surprisingly, drop-dead funny pedagogue—holding a voice master class.
The play is loosely based on Terrence McNally’s actual experience of attending a series of master classes given by Maria Callas at Julliard in 1972. In the play, Maria, alternately dismayed and impressed by the students who parade before her, 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. The play culminates with a monologue about sacrifice taken in the name of art.
Playing opposite Rulon as Sophie, the first soprano, is her daughter Emily Apuzzo, a well-known actress and singer in her own right, who is a member of the Nashville Opera Chorus. Jennifer Whitcomb-Oliva plays Sharon, the second soprano, and L.T. Kirk is cast as Anthony Candolino. John Todd doubles as musical director for Master Class and plays Manny, the accompanist. Patrick Goedicke completes the cast as a stage hand.
“We are excited to announce two very special evening performances on February 10and 11 at 7:30 p.m. on the stage of Nashville Opera’s Noah Liff Opera Center,” says ACT 1 spokesperson Melissa Bedinger Hade.
Located at 3622 Redmon Avenue, Nashville Opera’s Noah Liff Center is home to Nashville Opera, the state’s largest professional opera company. Tickets may be purchased at www.ticketsnashville.com or you may visitACT1’s website at www.act1online.com.
Tickets prices for the special performances includes a pre-show reception offering light appetizers and drink. The reception starts at 6 p.m. and show doors open at 7 p.m.
