Theatre and Opera director 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.  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 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 and sound by Jon Gottlieb.  Tickets go on sale today (4 November 2011) for Master Class and further casting will be announced shortly.

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.

Terrence McNally’s Master Class received its world premiere at the John Golden Theatre in 1995, wining the Tony Award for Best Play and the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding New Play.  Stephen Wadsworth’s Manhattan Theatre Club production opened at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre earlier this year.  Tyne Daly first appeared in Stephen Wadsworth's production of Master Class at the Kennedy Center.

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 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. Daley’s film credits include The Enforcer, Dirty Harry, John and Mary and Telefon. 

Writer Terrence McNally has won four Tony Awards for his plays Love! Valour! Compassion! and Master Class and his musical books for Kiss of the Spiderwoman and Ragtime.   More recent Broadway revivals of his plays include The Ritz and Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune.  His other plays include A Perfect Ganesh, Corpus Christi, Lips Together and Its Only a Play.  His most recent play, Golden Age, was featured in the Kennedy Center celebration of his work year.  For the musical theatre other his librettos include Catch Me if You Can, The Full Monty, The Rink, The Visit, A Man of No Importance and the opera Dead Man Walking.  McNally has also written a number of television scripts including Andre's Mother for which he won an Emmy Award.

Theatre and Opera director 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.  Wadsworth is the Head of Dramatic Studies at the Metropolitan Opera’s Lindemann Young Artist Development Program, the James S. Marcus Faculty Fellow and Director of Opera Studies at The Juilliard School, an artist in residence at the Aspen Institute, and a Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.

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