Photo Preview: Main Street Theatre Presents MASTERCLASS
By: Gabrielle Sierra Jan. 12, 2010
Main Street Theater will ring in the new year with Terrence McNally's triumphant play Master Class. Master Class opened Thursday, January 7, and runs through January 24 at Main Street Theater - Chelsea Market, 4617 Montrose Blvd. (There is no performance on January 8.) Performances are on Thursdays at 7:30pm, Fridays and Saturdays at 8pm, and Sundays at 3pm.
Maria Callas is glamorous, commanding, larger than life-and wickedly funny. Terrence McNally creates a master class given by Maria Callas to reveal the contradictory personality of this revered as well as reviled artist. An accompanist sits at the piano, at the ready. Her first "victim" is Sophie, a ridiculous, overly-perky soprano. Before the girl can sing a note, Callas stops her-she can't stand hearing music massacred! And now what has started out as a class has become another stage for Callas herself. She glories in her own career, dabbles in opera dish and flat-out seduces the audience. As Callas tries to impart to her hapless students the dedication it takes to invest dramatic music with real feeling, the play pays tribute to the dedication of a great singer and actress to her chosen art. Of the 1995 production in New York, the New York Times raved, "...For Mr. McNally, the play demonstrates his ability to create rich, vivid, satisfying theater... Master Class is an unembarrassed, involving meditation on Callas' life and the nature of her art. Such subjects are not easily dramatized, certainly not with this brio."
Terrence McNally was born in 1939 in Florida, raised in Texas (Corpus Christi), attended Columbia University, and resides in New York. Mr. McNally has received four Tony Awards, two Guggenheim Fellowships, a Rockefeller Grant, the Lucille Lortel Award, and many others. His Tony awards were for Kiss of the Spider Woman (Best Book of a Musical, 1993), Love! Valour! Compassion! (Best Play, 1995), Master Class (Best Play, 1996), and Ragtime (Best Book of a Musical, 1998). He was also nominated for The Full Monty for Best Book of a Musical in 2001. McNally has collaborated with such greats as Kander and Ebb, Steven Flaherty, and Lynn Ahrens.
Houston favorite Celeste Roberts stars as the diva herself. This is Ms. Roberts' third portrayal of Callas in McNally's play, but her Houston premiere of the role.
The rest of the cast includes Ross Chitwood (The Light in the Piazza) as the tenor (Tony), Liz Cascio (The Last Night of Ballyhoo) as the first soprano (Sophie), Danica Dawn Johnston as the second soprano (Sharon), Alan Hall (Ps and Qs: the ABCs of Manners) as the stagehand, and Elliot Cole (Ps and Qs: the ABCs of Manners) as the accompanist (Manny).
Mark Adams returns to MST as director of Master Class. Elliot Cole is the Music Director. The design team includes Mark Roberts (set design), Macy Perrone (costume design), John Smetak (lighting design), Craig Seanor (sound design), and Andrew Ruthven (Properties Design). Eva De La Cruz is the production stage manager.
Since 1975, Main Street Theater has produced high quality professional theater for audiences of all ages through its MainStage productions and Main Street Youth Theater. The Main Street Theater Kids On Stage program offers performing arts classes and camps for children 5 years to 14 years of age. The organization produces plays at two locations, 2540 Times Boulevard in Rice Village and 4617 Montrose Boulevard at Chelsea Market.
Main Street Theater is a member of the Fresh Arts Coalition, a collaboration of 25 arts organizations that work collectively to raise awareness of the size and diversity of the arts in Houston, and a constituent of Theatre Communications Group (TCG), the national service organization for not-for-profit theaters. Main Street Theater offers a lively year-round repertory of classic and contemporary plays for audiences of all ages and provides a much-needed showcase for Houston theater professionals. Main Street Theater is also a member of Actors' Equity Association and of ASSITEJ, the world theatre network of theatre for children and young people. Main Street Theater is funded in part by grants from the City of Houston through the Houston Arts Alliance, and the Texas Commission on the Arts.
Tickets range from $20 - $36, depending on date and section, and are on sale in person at the Main Street Theater Box Office, 2540 Times Blvd., via phone at 713.524.6706, or online at www.mainstreettheater.com.
Photo credit: www.RicOrnelProductions.com
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