Reader Reviews
Master Class (Vaudeville Theatre, West End)
Back to Show Details| Score | Comment | Date |
 | What an amazing story - fantastic music!I love Maria she is stunning! Did you the infamous superyacht The Christina O is currently moored at South Quay, Canary Wharf. Guests can take a tour on board and travel back in time to glamorous life of Maria, hear her story and see her memorabilia. It is a must see for all Callas lovers. Tickets can be purchased online at ticketmaster or else call down to the booking station on board the yacht. It was an amzaing tour and talks of her relationship with the yacht and Ari! - Laura Phillips | 09 Mar 12 |
| - | I have no idea why this play is not packed out night after night. When there are so few non musicals on it is a pleasure to watch something a bit different and Tyne Daly was just amazing in the role. - jjay | 01 Mar 12 |
| Only paid £2.50 thru a papering club and still felt robbed-DIRE! - Tabby | 28 Feb 12 |
| - | Play is a bit his and miss but Tyne Daley is just awesome! Don't miss seeing class act on stage. Not many of those in the West End at present. - Gman490 | 27 Feb 12 |
| I first saw Masterclass when Patti Lupone starred as Callas. The run ended early and I always felt there was more to this play than we got to see in that production. I saw Tyne Daly in the part last night and quite simply she is excellent. The play may have its flaws but her portrayal of Callas is compelling and often very funny. - Paul Wallis | 25 Feb 12 |
| If the play's the thing, then there's really not much to this. Art should connect with the emotions, not merely be technically proficient. That's the lesson Callas teaches her three students, but not apparently Terrence McNally, who wrote this play (effectively a monologue by Callas). This is neither a particularly dramatic play, nor a great biographical character piece, such as the marvellous "End of the Rainbow," in which Tracie Bennett absolutely definitively showstoppingly brought Judy Garland back from the dead. Here Callas remains beyond our reach, and we learn about art what we already know. There is a caveat though: Tyne Daly is commanding, her stark facemask-from-the-Mikado appearance cracking to reveal a passion for art and life, casting a mesmeric spell. Jeremy Cohen, as the pianist, is utterly charming, and Naomi O’Connell makes an impression with her contrary nature (she is the play's only obvious antagonist, taking Callas to task) and beautiful singing voice. - steveatplays | 22 Feb 12 |
| Rubbish play but oh what a performance. Tyne Daly is the best! - coral | 17 Feb 12 |
| I saw it in Washington DC, then Saw it on Broadway, now saw it in London ... and it just keeps getting better and better! Brilliant and innovative performances of a brilliantly directed and (yes)written play. - Steve Bard | 09 Feb 12 |
| I do wonder if Mr Coveney was at the same theatre as I last night. What a lot of nonsense as usual. I'm certain that your reviews are more about wanting to be controversial than wanting to provide a service through your critiques. This is a superb production. Well designed. A tour de force performance by Tyne Daly. Yes - there could be more detail but it balances the potential content well without patronising the subject or romanticising it either. Ignore MC's comments and treat yourself to a Master Class of class acting and see this or you'll miss one of the highlights of proper theatre in the west end for some time. - Barry Honeycombe | 08 Feb 12 |
| Outstanding! Tyne Daly is sublime. A performance people will still be talking about in 50 years time. Finally the West End has some class! - Mr Hewitt | 01 Feb 12 |
| Even though the clue is in the title, I hadn’t quite clocked that this play was going to be almost entirely set in a, well, Master Class! Terrence McNally tells the story of Maria Callas by showing her conducting a Master Class with three young opera singers on stage in a theatre in front of an audience. This cleverly makes you part of the play and allows the actress to involve and interact with the audience. In particular, it means she’s talking directly at you, making a lot of eye contact, heightening the belief that you’re watching Callas herself. Though there is a scene at the end of the first act where the scenery disappears and we witness a dialogue between Callas and Onassis (she speaks the words of both) and another towards the end of the second act where we hear more about her personal life story, most of the play comprises the merciless persecution of three singers as she prowls the stage barking instructions and advice, throwing withering looks and spitting acid lines. This is how we learn about both her professional life and the art form itself. Tyne Daly, with severe make-up and a fierce expression which hardly ever leaves her face is simply extraordinary. By moving her head and her eyes, she gives us a whole catalogue of attitudes and emotions including contempt, indignation, impatience, disdain, regret, arrogance, superiority and vulnerability. She has some terrific put-downs and bitchy lines to go with these expressions and she commands the stage like few actors can or few characters allow. The supporting cast is, as a result, just that. However, Garrett Sorenson sings Caravadossi’s aria from Act I of Tosca better than a fair few of the renditions I’ve heard in an opera house (and I’ve heard a fair few) and Naomi O’Connell deserves an award for getting through a whole chunk of Verdi’s Macbeth whilst being talked over, glared at and prodded. Jeremy Cohen’s piano accompaniment is excellent, but he’s also a character in the play. The men get off better than the women (jealously that they can still sing?). I don’t know if she really was as much of a cow as depicted here, but it makes for good theatre and story telling, however biographically accurate it is. You can tell it’s written and directed by people who understand opera (Director Stephen Wadsworth is a renowned opera director and teacher as well as a director of plays). I come to it as both an opera and theatre lover, but I’m not sure that matters – and you can’t miss a performance as good as this, as they don’t turn up that often. The Whatsonstage Q&A after the performance was the icing on the cake. The producer, director and playwright, as well as Tyne Daly, gave up their time and it was very insightful. When Tyne walked on the stage after the others I gasped because her appearance as herself confirmed that I’d just seen a terrific performance - Gareth James | 01 Feb 12 |
