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, Karen Kay Cody, David Loud, and Jay Hunter Morris. 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 .
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MASTER CLASS TICKETS
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Plot synopsis
At its core is
diva Maria Callas, a glamorous, commanding, larger-than-life, caustic, and surprisingly drop-dead funny pedagogue of 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 all culminates into a monologue about sacrifice taken in the name of art.
Awards and nominations
Master Class
won both the 1996
Drama Desk Award for Outstanding New Play and the 1996
Tony Award for Best Play.