ARIZONA THEATRE COMPANY GOES FOR THE REAL ARTIST'S ULTIMATE EFFORT TO REACH FOR THOSE DEEPEST, TRUEST DECLARATIONS IN  ACHIEVING THE PUREST EXPRESSION OF THEIR TALENT

photo by Tim Fuller

From left, Manny the accompanist (Walter "Bobby" McCoy), Maria Callas (Vicki Lewis) and Sophie the student (Rachel Gold) in a tense search for artistic truth.

We the audience are sitting in on a master class conducted by famed soprano Maria Callas. Noted playwright Terrence McNally (“Ragtime,” “Love! Valor! Compassion!”), a professed opera buff, drew on similar classes Callas conducted at the Juilliard School in the early 1970s to write his Tony award winning “Master Class,” named the Best Play of 1996.

Now the Arizona Theatre Company is running “Master Class,” directed by Marcia Milgrom Dodge, with Broadway and Carnegie Hall artist Vicki Lewis as Callas, who is most certainly remembered for her fiery spirit.

ATC audiences can be assured they don't need to know anything about opera – or about Callas, for that matter – to be drawn into the deeply layered intensity of McNally's “Master Class.”

The playwright is more interested in showing how the most talented artists of every discipline must indeed work harder and dig deeper than those more exceptional artists who are content enough to be merely great.

Just as Spider-Man reminds us, “To those whom much has been given, much is expected, ” Callas is eager to enforce that relentless desire for more.

These emotions, the very tensions between Callas and each of her students, becomes a true contest of wills that ultimately strips away the teacher's own lifetime grip on her defense mechanisms. 

Lewis herself is smaller in stature but fills the stage with her uncompromising confidence. She swirls and demands, insisting three of her students accept nothing less than complete sacrifice for their art.

The students are: Sophie (Rachel Gold), a shy soprano whose voice seems stronger than her personality; Sharon (Kanisha Marie Feliciano), a more defiant soprano eager to stand for what she believes; Tony (Victor Ryan Robertson), still defining for himself that unique quality for which all tenors are known.

All three have more than met their match in Callas. But the playwright also knows all true artistic greatness must come from within the ordinary experiences everyone shares, the same hunger for love, praise and admiration.

So as Callas keeps asking her students for more, she keeps being reminded of her own life's past, her own heartbreak and frustrating experiences chasing elusive moments of happiness.

Adding classroom atmosphere are Walter “Bobby” McCoy as Manny the accompanist, playing a magnificently grand piano, and Trent Mills as a nameless stagehand who keeps bringing Callas more glasses of water.

“Master Class” runs through March 23 with performances at various times Wednesdays through Sundays in the downtown Temple of Music and Art, 330 S. Scott Ave. Tickets are $25-$90. For details and reservations, visit atc.org or phone 833-282-7328 (833-ATC-SEAT)























































































































































































































































STAGE FOUNDATION THEATER HAS OPENED "CAMELOT" WITH ALL THE OPTIMISM AND ELAN WE HAVE ALWAYS ASSOCIATED WITH THIS TIMELESS BROADWAY SHOW OF SWORDS AND SONGS 

photo by Britten Leigh

The court of King Arthur was a happy place, setting a new standard for civilized behavior, from the vaunted Knights of the Round Table to the ordinary people in the streets.

On October 1, 1960, “Camelot” opened on Broadway, eager to fulfill its destiny as the musical that became emblematic of the presidency of John F. Kennedy. Through the ensuing decades of real war and violence, goodness and light have continued to be associated with the spirit of “Camelot.”

During that time the show has won four Tony awards and enjoyed four successful Broadway revivals – plus the making of a Hollywood box office hit in 1967 starring Richard Harris and Vanessa Redgrave.

Now a relatively new Tucson company Stage Foundation Theater has opened its own production of the Alan Jay Lerner and Frederic Loewe classic, in the Proscenium Theatre on the Pima Community College west campus.

Singing the role of King Arthur is Scott Seamen from Flagstaff. Guinevere is sung by Caroline Murphy. Appearing as Lancelot and singing the signature hit “If Ever I Would Leave You” is Matt Milne.

Directing this ambitious cast is Gene Abravaya, with Korby Myrick as music director.

While the music itself is the star of the show, Myrick does create a full orchestral sound using a combination of choral voices and symphonic musicians that fill the stage nicely.

Period costumes and an elaborate stage design that includes several moving pieces plus wide rear screen projection effects add depth and a professional edge to the entire production.

In contrast Seamen and Milne use a more laid back, casual style to project the atmosphere of King Arthur's Knights of the Round Table.

These are happy warriors, proud to be creating a civilized culture unlike any society the unruly leaders of England's kingdoms past had managed.

Adding pronounced personalities of a stronger sort are Arnie Kraus as Pelinore and Kevin Orduno as the trouble-making Mordred.

“Camelot” runs through March 24 with performances at 7 p.m. Friday, March 22, and Saturday, March 23; 2 p.m. on Sunday, March 24, in the Proscenium Theatre of the Pima Community College Center for the Arts, 2202 W. Anklam Road.

Tickets are $35. For details and reservations: www.stagefoundationtheater.org