How much should one sacrifice in the name of art? That’s one question posed in Terence McNally’s play, “Master Class”.
The play follows opera diva Maria Callas as she leads post-career master classes at Julliard.
VPR's Neal Charnoff recently went Backstage with the BarnArts production of “Master Class” being presented in Barnard this weekend.
In this scene, Callas guides an unprepared student through an excerpt from Verdi’s Tosca.
"You haven’t done your homework Tony. (I just came here to sing for you.) I’m not interested in just singing. (Singing for your feedback.) My what? My feedback? Oh. What an ugly word. What an ugly word. What is feedback. He wants my feedback. I don’t give feedback. (Your response.) I respond to what I feel. I feel nothing but anger for someone who so little treasures his art."
Tony perseveres and the lesson continues.
Master Class is not necessarily a musical … in fact, it won the 1996 Tony Award for best play. And the character of Maria Callas barely sings in the production. This fictionalized depiction of Callas portrays her as the ultimate diva -- glamorous, demanding and egotistical.
The play is being directed by BarnArts artistic director Jarvis Green. Green says he thinks Callas was not actually the caustic diva drawn by playwright McNally.
Green says, "I feel that McNally portrays her as really gruff, tough, if you listen to any of those audio recordings when she was doing her master classes at Julliard, she was very kind to her students."
Green says that as a performer, Callas brought a new, emotional sensibility to the world of opera, which in turn, brought in new audiences.
"You might not know she’s saying, the Italian or the French or any of the language, but you understood it because of her acting, and I think that was a big shift in opera".
Maria Callas is played in the Barn Arts production by Lois Resseguie of Barnard.
Resseguie believes that McNally created a Callas who is sillier and more superficial for comedic effect.
She says the outsize portrayal of a diva allows the playwright to better convey the themes of Master Class.
"Well, you don’t need a realistic portrayal on stage. You need drama on stage. That was his art. You know she talks about art this whole play. And his art is finding the truth in the artifice."
In Resseguie’s view, Callas lived her life to extremes, but never really developed a personality outside of her stage persona.
"Who were here role models? Medea. Lady Macbeth. She didn’t have a real-life role model, really".
Resseguie points out that before her return to public life with Master Classes, Callas had been leading a quiet life, listening to her old recordings.
"So all of a sudden, she’s on stage again. But she’s not really on stage, she’s supposed to be, what is she doing? Am I supporting? Am I entertaining? Am I ceding to the next generation? And so, she tries to vanquish everyone. In the end she doesn’t. And that’s what it’s about".
Resseguie also believes the play is about an artist who wants to be immortal.
"It’s like every fairy tale where there’s a woman, an older woman who doesn’t know how to cede her reign. It’s about giving up your role as center stage woman, and going to another role."
Director Jarvis Green says his own artistic life has been enhanced by learning about the real Maria Callas, and her fictional counterpart in Master Class.
"I really have learned what it takes to be a really good artist, and her work ethic and her students work ethic, you just have to keep working, you’re constantly studying, you’re constantly being a student, and that’s what I’ve been learning through this play, is like, it never ends. Ever."
Master Class will be performed at Barnard’s Town Hall Thursday through Sunday.
