Full Cast Announced for Tyne Daly Led West End MASTER CLASS

Stephen Wadsworth's new production of Terrence McNally's Master Class starring Tyne Daly as the legendary opera soprano Maria Callas is to transfer to the Vaudeville Theatre following its critically acclaimed, sell-out run on Broadway. Joining Daly are Gerard Carey (Stagehand), Jeremy Cohen (Emmanuel Weinstock), Naomi O'Connell (Sharon Graham), Dianne Pilkington (Sophie De Palma) and Garrett Sorenson (Anthony Candolino).

Master Class, produced in the West End by Max Cooper, Maberry Theatricals, The Marks-Moore-Turnbull Group, Ted Snowdon and Sonia Friedman Productions in association with Morris Berchard, Scott M. Delman, Susan Dietz, Scott & Brian Zeilinger/The Broadway Consortium and the Manhattan Theatre Club, will run at the Vaudeville Theatre for 14 weeks only from 21 January to 28 April, with press night on 7 February 2012. Set design is by Thomas Lynch, costume design by Martin Pakledinaz, lighting by David Lander, sound by Jon Gottlieb and wigs by Paul Huntley.

Terrence McNally's play about Maria Callas takes audiences to one of her famous master classes, where, late in her own career, she dares the next generation to make the same sacrifices and rise to the same heights that made her the most celebrated, the most reviled and the most controversial singer of her time.

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 a 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. Daly's film credits include The Enforcer, Dirty Harry, John and Mary and Telefon.

Dianne Pilkington will play Sophie De Palma. Her theatre credits include She Loves Me for Chichester Festival Theatre, The 39 Steps at the Criterion Theatre, Glinda in Wicked at Apollo Victoria and Grizabelle in Cats and Belle in Beauty and the Beast on tour nationally. Pilkington played opposite Benecio Del Toro in the film The Wolf Man.

Naomi O'Connell will play the role of Sharon Graham. Having released a solo album at the age of sixteen entitled Christmas with Naomi she went on to train at the Royal Irish Academy of Music and the Juilliard School in New York. Her operatic roles at Juilliard include Transformations, Conception and Monteverdi's Ottavia. O'Connell was the 2011 First Prize winner of the Concert Artists Guild Competition and the Altamura/Caruso International Voice Competition. She will make her UK professional operatic debut playing the title role in La Périchole for Garsington Opera in June next year.

Garrett Sorenson will play the role of Anthony Candolino. An acclaimed opera singer who has appeared at the Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago and Houston Grand Opera, Sorenson has performed with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra and the Cleveland Orchestra, as well as the New York Philharmonic. He made his Boston Symphony Orchestra debut in 2009 in a concert performance of Verdi's Simon Boccanegra. His other recent opera credits include Beethoven's Ninth Symphony at the Tanglewood Festival, Verdi's Requiem at the Houston Symphony and Salome at the San Francisco Opera.

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