This production began performances on 31st January and closed on 28th April 2012.
Tyne Daly… offers one of those high-definition Broadway star performances that deftly mingle comedy and pathos — and resistance proves futile.
The Telegraph
Don't miss Master Class, an extraordinary insight into the life and loves of Maria Callas, the iconic opera singer whose turbulent private life and fiery temperament were as astonishing as her formidable talents. Inspired by her master classes of the early 70s, this is a riveting, hilarious and intensely moving portrayal of the sacrifice and heartache behind the artist, the diva and the legend.
Tyne Daly is astonishingly good
The Independent
With an electrifying performance from Tony Award and six-time Emmy Award winner Tyne Daly (Cagney & Lacey) as the troubled and infamous Maria Callas, Terrence McNally's Tony Award-winning play Master Class was a smash-hit on Broadway and now arrives in the West End for a strictly limited season.
Terrence McNally’s Master Class received its world premiere at the John Golden Theatre in 1995, wining the Tony Award for Best Play and the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding New Play. Stephen Wadsworth’s Manhattan Theatre Club production opened at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre earlier this year. Tyne Daly first appeared in Stephen Wadsworth's production of Master Class at the Kennedy Center.
Multi award-winning Tyne Daly plays Maria Callas. She is best known on television for her portrayal of Detective Mary Beth Lacey in Cagney and Lacey, for which she received four Emmy Awards. For her roles as Maxine Gray in Judging Amy and Alice Henderson in Christy she received two Emmy Awards for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama. For the former she also won Golden Globe Award. Her many Broadway credits include Rose in Gypsy for which she won the Tony Award for Best Leading Actress in a Musical, Mme. Arkadina in The Seagull and Rabbit Hole. Daley’s film credits include The Enforcer, Dirty Harry, John and Mary and Telefon.
Writer Terrence McNally has won four Tony Awards for his plays Love! Valour! Compassion! and Master Class and his musical books for Kiss of the Spiderwoman and Ragtime. More recent Broadway revivals of his plays include The Ritz and Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune. His other plays include A Perfect Ganesh, Corpus Christi, Lips Together and Its Only a Play. His most recent play, Golden Age, was featured in the Kennedy Center celebration of his work year. For the musical theatre other his librettos include Catch Me if You Can, The Full Monty, The Rink, The Visit, A Man of No Importance and the opera Dead Man Walking. McNally has also written a number of television scripts including Andre's Mother for which he won an Emmy Award.
Theatre and Opera director Stephen Wadsworth has worked for Metropolitan Opera, Teatro alla Scala, Royal Opera Covent Garden, Vienna Staatsoper, Edinburgh Festival, Nederlandse Opera, Seattle Opera and in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Toronto and Santa Fe. Wadsworth is the Head of Dramatic Studies at the Metropolitan Opera’s Lindemann Young Artist Development Program, the James S. Marcus Faculty Fellow and Director of Opera Studies at The Juilliard School, an artist in residence at the Aspen Institute, and a Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.
Max Cooper, Maberry Theatricals, The Marks-Moore-Turnball Group, Ted Snowdon and Sonia Friedman Productions in association with Morris Berchard, Scott M.Delman, Susan Dietz/Lams Productions, Scott & Brian Zeilinger/The Broadway Consortium present “MASTER CLASS”.
Stephen Wadsworth's production gives Daly room to captivate, and she consistently does just that.
Evening Standard
CAST
TYNE DALY – Maria Callas
CREATIVES
STEPHEN WADSWORTH – Director
THOMAS LYNCH – Designer
MARTIN PAKLEDINAZ – Costume
DAVID LANDER – Lighting
JON GOTTLIEB – Sound
PAUL HUNTLEY – Wigs