Sunday, October 15, 2000

Passion of soprano Maria Callas integral part of Seaside show

By LAURA STEWART
NEWS-JOURNAL FINE ARTS WRITER

DAYTONA BEACH — In real life, Maria Callas was more than a diva; after her 1951 debut with La Scala, she was opera itself. In "Master Class," the Seaside Music Theater play that runs Friday through Nov. 5 at SMT Downtown, Callas is all that, and more.

That's because in the Terrence McNally play that won acclaim after it opened on Broadway in 1996, Callas is also deeply human: the teacher in a 1972 Juilliard School master class, and a woman. "It's difficult to do someone who was a real person," said Wendy Lehr, who played Miss Havesham in Seaside's recent "Great Expectations" and plays Callas in "Master Class."

"What I want to do is an evocation of Maria Callas, not an impersonation. This is not just a play about a great singer it's also a play about her heart," she said. "She had great training in bel canto, and she was absolutely smart."

Callas, who was born to Greek parents in New York in 1923, was also absolutely talented right from the start, said Lehr, who has immersed herself in Callas facts, lore and performances. "I won't say she was temperamental, but she did not suffer fools gladly."

That comes through in "Master Class," which explores Callas' life through overlapping layers of music, memories and the class itself. When the play opens, Callas is past her days as a diva but in her prime as a tutor and inspiration for promising young singers. Standing with her accompanist at the piano, music director Terry Tichenor as Manny, she faces the master classes' auditors us, in the audience as one by one the students, literally, face the music.

They're timid as they perform for the revered Callas, who during the height of her fame in the '50s had sung a daunting range of roles, from her keynote Norma" to "Medea," "Brunhilde," "Aida" and other parts that showcased both her remarkably resonant soprano and her vivid dramatic skills.

Callas is still so famous that opera lovers divide history into two parts: B.C. (Before Callas) and A.C. (After Callas), said "Master Class" director Lester Malizia. Growing up in Pittsburgh with an Italian grandfather who loved opera and had heard Callas live many times, he listened to her recordings often and to his grandfather's lavish praise.

"Italians love opera because of its passion, which can be almost over the top at times," Malizia said. My grandfather just adored Maria Callas because of the passion she brought to opera."

As Callas, Lehr will bring that passion to her audience of "auditors" through recordings of the actual singer's voice. She'll also bring it and the sometimes wrenching facts of Callas' life to the students who tremble as they approach her. They are two young sopranos, Sophie (Anna Winthrop) and Sharon (Jenna Hintz), and a tenor, Tony (Colm Fitzmaurice).

After presenting their talents to the master, each student listens to her reaction, and the audience also sees and hears some of what went into those critical responses. Callas' background is as rich as any opera, and much of what she reveals in her reminiscences is still 23 years after her death the stuff of gossip and scholarship.

Her parents divorced when she was a child, and in 1937 her mother took her back to her homeland, Greece. The young Callas missed her father, and on the ship practiced singing with her three canaries. In Athens, she studied at the National Conservatory, but later recalled that her lessons with her favorite canary, David, were more valuable.

Still, part of Callas' success was purely biological. She had an unusually high palette, and that meant that she had a "very open voice," Malizia said. "She was her own megaphone, with a big range of voice to play with, and a huge amount of resonance."

Callas was 15 when she debuted as an opera singer, as Santuzza in Mascagni's "Cavalleria Rusticana" at the Athens academy. Four years later, however, she debuted professionally, as Tosca with an Athens company. Forced to return to America just before World War II began, she was unable to get auditions. She was considered for the role of Cio Cio San in Puccini's "Butterfly," but was refused the role because she was "too abundant." To improve her chances, Callas lost 20 pounds and dropped to 150 pounds. She traveled to Italy to audition, and won her first roles; by 1949, she was very busy. She married an older man, who acted as her manager, and appeared in 70 opera performances; in 1950, she appeared in 100. She became wildly successful, taking Renata Tebaldi's place at La Scala in "Aida."

Callas was hailed as "the greatest soprano in the world," but it wasn't only her voice that brought acclaim her dramatic acting and beauty were major factors in the creation of her legend. In the early 1950s, she lost more weight and modeled herself after Audrey Hepburn. Impressed by her slim appearance, fashion designers created styles just for her.

Throughout the '50s, she sang the most celebrated roles and sparked controversy. She met her match in 1958, at a party in her honor at Elsa Maxwell's home, Greek tycoon Aristotle Onassis. Before long, she was the topic of a new sort of gossip. She divorced her husband and became the mistress of Onassis. In 1968, he abandoned her to marry a very famous widow, Jacqueline Kennedy.

Callas' face was familiar from the covers of dozens of magazines, and the press that had delighted in portraying her as a prima donna continued to enjoy the excesses that were entirely operatic. But the voice that started it all had aged and deepened, and Callas took on the grueling task of teaching younger artists in master classes, at Juilliard in New York, in 1971 and 1972. She also directed operas, and settled into the Paris home where, at age 53, she suffered what was officially considered a heart attack.

In the years since her death, as is fitting for a diva, her legend has grown, Lehr said, opening the book she had just begun to read "Maria Callas: Sacred Monster." "I've done a lot of research from biographies, recordings, some documentaries, snippets of her performances and her interviews, to learn her voice.

"You know, her speaking voice was musical too it was low, and had cadences," said Lehr. "I'm already absorbed by her; I've had to allow myself to have this kind of personal connection to her."

Playbill

What: Seaside Music Theaters production of 'Master Class'

Where: SMT Downtown, 176 N. Beach St., corner of Bay Street, Daytona Beach.

When: 8 p.m. Friday, Saturday, Oct. 26 to 28, Nov. 2 to 4, and 2 p.m. Oct. 22, 29, Nov. 2 and 5

Tickets: $20 and $22 for adults, $12 college students, $10 youth younger than 18.

Information: (904) 252-6200, (904) 255-3146, 1-800-854-5593; www.seasidemusictheater.org