From 1995: Terrence McNally, Zoe Caldwell on “Master Class”

Four-time Tony-winning playwright Terrence McNally, whose credits include “Frankie and Johnnie in the Clair de Lune,” “Love! Valour! Compassion!,” “Kiss of the Spider Woman” and “Ragtime,” died Tuesday, March 24 at age 81. In this “CBS Sunday Morning” report originally broadcast November 12, 1995, McNally talked with correspondent Eugenia Zukerman about his play “Master Class,” starring Zoe Caldwell and Audra McDonald. Zukerman also interviewed Caldwell about playing the tempestuous opera singer Maria Callas instructing young Juilliard students.
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[@nycava0520]

RIP. Mr. McNally. 🙏🏼

[@douglaspohl1827]

NORMALIZE the volume and repost.... geez! CBS? You got to be kidding!

[@MissPerriwinkle]

zoe is brilliant !!!!!

[@heroncabo3756]

Boa noite 🙏🏻🙏🙏🕊️🇧🇷 abençoado por Deus 🙏🕊️

[@williesullivan3985]

It's interesting how much damage to Callas' legacy Terrance McNally has done, mainly through this play. McNally sometimes makes clear that the Maria Callas in Masterclass is a made up character who has very little in common with the real Callas or the way she conducted these masterclasses. In fact, if one were to listen to the actual masterclasses they would be shocked by this parody Mr. McNally created. He claims to adore Callas but has done everything possible to destroy her reputation as an artist and professional. Good riddance.

[@pmurraymusic]

If anyone would have understood the ability for a creative person to utilize artistic license to be able to tell the caricatured version of a life story, it would be Maria Callas. Terrence McNally is a playwright. He wasn't a historian, he wasn't a sociologist or a formidable voice on operatic technique or the lives of the greats. He utilized his experience to tell a story about a person he thought he understood, when in reality, nobody did, because nobody could. And if we are committed to the idea that artistic license has the ability to comprehensively ruin the reputation of the subject of a play, or a musical, or an opera, that says far less about the person who created the performance, and far more about the people receiving it. If you want to hold people accountable for the way that they damaged the reputation of Maria callas, look to the press, the impresario's, and the gossip mongers of her time, who took sadistic delight in the many ups and downs of her career. Hold them accountable for the way that they refused to see her as a human being, and chose to consume her as a product. I'm not trying to give any credit to Terence McNally for the problematic ways in which he has tried to describe this person through his work. I'm saying that we all bear responsibility for the way that we remember people that we say we love and honor. And none of that is going to be solved through snide or boring comments on KZbin.

[@shaundudley4576]

@@pmurraymusic Excellent sense. Callas is immortal her legacy is inexhaustible. How we treat her and her prodigiousness reflects on our worth, not hers, that is unfathomable.