Tony and Emmy Award-winning actress Tyne Daly will make her West End debut playing legendary opera singer Maria Callas, when Stephen Wadsworth‘s Broadway revival of Terence McNally‘s Master Class transfers to the Vaudeville Theatre from 7 February 2012 (previews from 21 January).
Daly won four Emmy Awards for Cagney & Lacey and also starred in as Maxine Gray in Judging Amy and as Alice Henderson in Christy for which she received two Emmys. Her Broadway credits include a Tony Award-winning performance in Gypsy as she has also appeared in The Seagull and Rabbit Hole.
Master Class, which won the Tony for Best Play in 1996, is based on the master classes Callas gave in the early 1970s in New York, after her final stage performances. As the diva works with three young singers just venturing into their professional careers, she reminisces on her past on-stage and off.
The Manhatten Theatre Club production finished its run at the Samuel J Friedman Theatre in September, where it also starred Sierra Boggess. Full casting for the West End transfer is still to be confirmed.
Terrence McNally‘s plays The Ritz and Johnny in the Clair de Lune have also recently been revived on Broadway. He has won Tony Awards for plays Love! Valour! Compassion! and musical books for Kiss of the Spiderwoman and Ragtime.
A director of theatre and opera, Stephen Wadsworth has worked for Metropolitan Opera, Teatro alla Scala, Royal Opera Covent Garden, Vienna Staatsoper, Edinburgh Festival, Nederlandse Opera, Seattle Opera and in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Toronto and Santa Fe.
The Broadway creative team including Thomas Lynch (scenic design), Martin Pakledinaz (costume design), David Lander (lighting design) and Jon Gottlieb (sound design) will stage the production in London.