Masterclass

Masterclass depicts scenes from a masterclass given by the great opera diva, Maria Callas, at the Julliard School of Music in 1971. Apart from Callas we only meet three students and an accompanist.

This is a tour de force for the leading lady as Callas is on the stage for the entire play and Maria Mercedes didn’t blink. Only metres from the audience, she never dropped character and alternatively showed the strength and vulnerability of this operatic icon and her striking good looks mirrored the great diva. She was riveting.

21-year-old Georgia Wilkinson played Sophie and looked fifteen, but sounded thirty. She looked appropriately scared and sang well.

I am familiar with tenor Robert Barbaro, and can report that he is showing continuing improvement. He’d just returned from an overseas tour with the “Ten Tenors on Broadway” and coped easily with the first aria from Tosca, which is not his usual fach. He played an appropriate young upstart tenor.

Anna-Louise Cole played the intimidated dramatic soprano stopped before she opened her mouth. After running away, she returned to sing well and then tell Callas what she thought of her. Her voice was a bit big for the intimate venue.

Cameron Thomas was delightful as the bemused accompanist, playing well and chiming in with the bit parts of some arias, as accompanists often do. The lighting was effective and the costumes appropriate. This was a mesmerizing night in the theatre.

Graham Ford