Master Class

Play (1995)
by Terrence McNally

With Amelia Broome (Maria), Brendon Shapiro (Manny), Erica Spyres (Sophie), Michael Caminiti (Stagehand), Darren T. Anderson (Tony), Lindsay Conrad (Sharon)

This really is a kind of master class, with Maria Callas (Amelia Broome) holding forth on her philosophy of art while mercilessly lambasting several students in the service of it.

It is a brutal scene in a way, but not heartless. Maria, as vividly and intensely embodied by Amelia Broome, is, to say the least, a determined character whose relentless insistence on conveying the meaning of artistic expression overrides traditional notions of decency.

The results, however, are vivid, and it is quite something to see, and to hear, these three young vocalists – Erica Spyres (Sophie), Darren T. Anderson (Tony) and Lindsay Conrad (Sharon) – move, in each case, from routine to passionate performances. Blood almost appears on the stage in the process of bringing these young singers to artistic term, but, in the end, we understand the drive and the vision that motivate Callas as teacher.

The play is long – about two hours and twenty minutes with intermission – and is a lot for a single central actor to carry. Broome does an excellent job of keeping the tension high and the audience riveted, a demanding, and certainly exhausting, task.

I wonder whether the play needs to be as long as it is. Near the end there is a long autobiographical stretch about Callas’ stormy and complicated involvement with Aristotle Onassis, which relies to a considerable extent on our familiarity with that well-known story. Leaving that out of this narrative would not likely have diminished from our understanding the subtext, and certainly not from the dramatic thrust of the play.

The three singers are all excellent actors as well as superb vocalists.

I saw Erica Spyres give energetic performances last season in Avenue Q, and earlier this season in The Mikado, at the Lyric Stage, and she was equally compelling here.

Darren T. Anderson and Lindsay Conrad do considerable acting, as well as expert singing, in this show, and both rise beautifully to the occasion on both scores.

Brendon Shapiro, as Manny, the pianist, does wonderful musical work as well as providing intermittent and droll theatrical support. As the Stagehand, Michael Carnitini gives an almost wordless, but very funny, series of cameos.

The set is almost an empty stage, save for a piano, with a backdrop that simulates the keys of a piano.

When the stage is backlit, some hanging musical instruments show through. At one point, the backdrop opens and the instruments get pulled away; it is not clear what the significance is, and the effect is somewhat episodic.

The stark, brightly lit stage, on its own terms, however, provides a dramatic frame for this vivid and heart-rending portrayal of one of opera’s greatest vocal artists as teacher.

– BADMan