Broadway Revival of Master Class Starring Tyne Daly on Tap at MTC

Manhattan Theatre Club is “in negotiations” to present a Broadway revival of Terrence McNally’s Tony-winning 1995 play Master Class starring Tyne Daly as Maria Callas, according to the New York Post. Artistic director Lynne Meadow is quoted as saying, “We hope to have Tyne in Master Class at the Friedman in June,” which would put Daly out of contention for the 2011 Tony Awards. She won raves for her performance as Callas at the Kennedy Center’s Eisenhower Theater in a March 2010 production directed by Stephen Wadsworth.

Master Class is a portrait of the opera diva told through her recollections of the glories, triumphs, and tragedies of her own life and career. Her voice is gone, her lover is long departed, and her sanity could possibly be next. All she has is a lonely itinerary of master classes and luggage packed full of the memories that are her only travel companion.

The original production of Master Class won 1996 Tony Awards for Best Play, Best Actress (Zoe Caldwell as Callas) and Best Featured Actress (Audra McDonald as a student performing during one of the diva’s master classes).

Best known for her starring role in TV’s Cagney & Lacey, Daly is a Tony winner for playing Momma Rose in Gypsy and received a Tony nomination for Rabbit Hole. She has appeared on Broadway in The Seagull and off-Broadway in the original cast of Love, Loss and What I Wore as well as Mystery School and The Butter and Egg Man. She starred in the premiere production of Edward Albee’s Me, Myself and I at the McCarter Theatre.