Meisterklasse

Maria Callas. A name like a thunderbolt. To this day she is considered the most outstanding soprano of all time. When she appeared, even time stopped and held her breath. When she realized that her voice was no longer up to her standards, she stopped singing and began teaching at the Juilliard School in New York. The piece is about these master classes. Callas is merciless, brutal and mercilessly demanding - with her students and with herself. A second time level shows important stages of her life in retrospective monologues. In addition to her unforgettable global successes, she was also notorious for her moods: in Chicago she fought with several police officers, in Rome she insulted the President and she fell out with the directors of the Met and La Scala. Not to mention her self-destructive relationship with Aristotle Onassis. In her search for love and real security, she never let go of her harsh childhood in poverty and in the shadow of her prettier sister. In “Master Class” we experience a deeply torn woman, sensitive and vulnerable, and an artist who could make worlds collapse.

Terrence McNally's bittersweet comedy is like Callas herself: wonderfully evil and breathtakingly entertaining.

Photo: Michael Petersohn