Revival Opens MTC’s New Season
Master Class at Music Theatre of Connecticut, Norwalk
By Tom Holehan
Connecticut Critics Circle
A splendid revival of Terrence McNally’s Tony Award winning 1995 play, Master Class, has opened the Music Theatre of Connecticut’s 38th season. The Norwalk theatre is being seen to great advantage with this rendering of McNally’s thoughtful play about the great opera diva, Maria Callas.
Master Class observes Maria Callas at the end of her life when, in the 1970s, she presented a series of special master classes for singers. McNally’s play is a fictional work which presents Callas’ in teaching mode while also highlighting her fascinating backstory of early struggles, family conflicts and an affair with Aristotle Onassis.
The play is not about opera, it’s about life. About living a life and finding a dedicated passion and a reason for whatever you do. Over two acts in just under two and a half hours, Master Class rivets the attention from start to finish.
Any production of Master Class will only succeed with a powerhouse at its center. In the celebrated Broadway production the formidable Zoe Caldwell played Callas and the Tony winning role has attracted such other name stars as Patti LuPone, Faye Dunaway and Tyne Daly. MTC is fortunate then that Irene Glezos, who played the role at the theatre in 2013, has returned to dominate that intimate space once again.
I question why management decided to produce the play again this soon, but I’m glad they did having missed the earlier production. Glezos is a mesmerizing Maria Callas, you can’t look at anyone else on the stage while this woman inhabits the ego, passion and vast contradictions of the role. It’s an emotional tour de force and Glezos meets the challenge admirably.
Under Kevin Connors’ smooth direction the nearly 30 year old play still works beautifully. Playing the music students (or “victims” as Callas quips at one point), Emily Solo is a sweet, anxious Soprano, Constantine Pappas is a sturdy Tenor nearly stopping the show with his solo, and Heidi Giberson, in a gorgeous dress compliments of designer Diane Vanderkroef, plays the Second Soprano with a wonderful combination of confidence and frayed nerves. Her surprising exit lines to Callas are delivered perfectly. These three performers not only have to be good actors but believable as opera singers. They are. Effortlessly. Zachary Anderson, as the accompanist, is an accomplished pianist as well as a pretty funny actor.
The handsome scenic design of a polished rehearsal hall is by April M. Bartlett with lovely lighting and projection design by RJ Romeo. Jon Damast designed the expert sound. With Irene Glezos commanding the MTC stage, this is Master Class not to be missed.
Master Class continues at the Music Theatre of Connecticut, 509 Westport Avenue in Norwalk, Connecticut through September 29th. For further information visit: www.musictheatreofct.org and or call the box office at: 203.454.3883.
Tom Holehan is one of the founders of the Connecticut Critics Circle, a frequent contributor to WPKN Radio’s “State of the Arts” program and the Stratford Crier and Artistic Director of Stratford’s Square One Theatre Company. He welcomes comments at [email protected]. His reviews and other theatre information can be found on the Connecticut Critics Circle website: www.ctcritics.org.
