A Dream Fulfilled

Years ago, I saw a play that changed my life.  I was attending a college trip to a larger city, the goal of which was to see several professional productions in a weekend.  This was 1999, and the play was Terrence McNally’s “Master Class,” the title still freshly abuzz in the theatre world for having won the Tony Award for Best Play just three years prior.  I went in hoping that the play would live up to the hype.  I left the play, having fully experienced a word I had just learned in my theatre studies, and had come to love: “Catharsis.”  Here I am, 19 years later, fulfilling an oath I swore to myself that I would do that play someday.

“Master Class” is inspired by the series of master classes that opera legend Maria Callas taught at Juilliard in the early 1970s.  As an audience, you will get to experience what we hope will be an adequate representation of being in one of those classes.  Ambitious singers from all over the world attended these master classes, hoping to extract something of the magic that made Madame Callas arguably the most famous opera singer of all time.

I’ve assembled quite the crew for this one.  For the first of what Maria jokes are her “victims,” we have Miss Wyoming hopeful Becky Bridger, who has just spent two years enhancing her musical craft in Los Angeles.  Next is fan favorite Dan Cole; notably, we’ve seen him recently as one of the outstanding ensemble members of “The Musical of Musicals: The Musical.”  Finally, we have Trident mainstay Jennifer Reed, who many may remember from her performances in “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying,” and as one of the ensemble members of our production last summer “The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) [Revised].”

But, stepping into the main role of Maria Callas (“La Divina”) is the incomparable Mary Jo Johnson.  To be honest, this is a project that Mary Jo and I have talked about for years.  Evidently, we had both had a similar experience of seeing the play, and thinking, “Ooooh ... I wanna do that.”  This is quite the role, as I would estimate about 80% of the play’s lines belong to Maria, but the role is much more intimidating than just an exercise in memory.

The real challenge of this play will be to enter Maria’s mind, which the audience actually does at a few key points in the play.  The play has something of a magic realism to it, which allows the audience to transcend the seemingly fragile film of reality, and see the inner workings of one of the greatest artists of the Twentieth Century.

For those of you intimidated by the subject of opera study, worry not.  The play is as much about opera as “Million Dollar Baby” is about boxing.

Trident will present “Master Class” at the WYO Theater during the last weekend in June, and the first weekend in July.  We hope to see you there!

And, as always, I’ll see you at intermission!