MANILA, Philippines - I missed the first production in Manila of American playwright Terence McNally’s “Master Class,” a play about the life and times of world renowned soprano Maria Callas by the Philippine Opera Company a couple of years ago. Had I missed the press preview of its restaging Wednesday night, I would have missed half of my life.

For to let pass a rare chance to watch a great cultural icon being fleshed out if only on stage is a sin.

I only heard of Maria Callas in the late seventies from the late entertainment writer Gil E. Villasana, a classical music romantic. Once in a while, I also bumped into an article or two about the American-born classical singer.

“Master Class” offers a myriad of multi-dimensional information about the personal and professional, the private and public lives of Callas, the colorful persona.

We just know her as the pride of Italy because she lived, married a wealthy Italian merchant and performed in the high art society of Naples, Verona, Florence and Rome for a long time, while being Greek.

We also know her as a contemporary world-class soprano. Her records are still being played in some art houses in the country.

Of course, the account of her controversial romance with the equally famous Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis before he married Jacqueline Kennedy wouldn’t skip our memory.
         
In literary transport, though, the whole play seems to cover a universe.
         
“Master Class” is more than Callas and Callas is more than art itself.
         
Because in McNally’s interpretation, the biographical work moves from the philosophical to the metaphysical, from the glamorous to the mundane, and even to the trivial.

Although the main course of the play is Callas mentoring music students at Julliard after her semi-retirement from stage, this part of her life is more than a novel.  

While it is true that the real character imposes a credo of sort in the perfection of art through domination, collaboration and use of assets, the play, as embodied by the playwright, also asserts its artistic right to achieve a sublime altar.

Callas the historical figure was a perfectionist, a disciplinarian.

Callas the literary creation is more than a perfectionist to the point of being destructive as what has been perceived by one of her students, Sharon Graham (Ana Feleo), an excellent, innate singer. She, however, feared the domineering scepter of her teacher prompting her to leave the class crying.

“I don’t like you. You will make this world a dangerous place to live in,” the student, something to that effect, said.

Callas the historical figure was a paradox.

She was a dominant artist and woman (imagine, she left her husband Batista for Onassis right under his nose). But because of love, she was at the same time weak and submissive to the point of kneeling down to Onassis, begging him in vain to marry her.

Callas the literary creation, on the other hand, is linear.
 
Here comes Cherie Gil’s dimensional delineation of Callas.

This time, she makes her more than what Callas was. Gil makes Callas larger than life.

There is a plethora of images, though, being shown not only of Callas the diva or her Batista, projected on walls. There are even sound clips from Callas’ aria.

But more than that, there is the illusionary pretense of Gil the actress and her ensemble taking part minute after minute in madness and sanity evoking meanings in the past and the present.

More so, we see Gil's own private self in diorama.

The cast members are truly fantastic: Gil, Feleo, Florence Aguilar as Sophie de Palma, an overly adorned soprano, Juan Alberto Gaerlan as Anthony Candolino, the eager-beaver tenor, Juan Carlos Veguillas as the stage manager, and Francis Amora as the pianist.

To actualize Callas’ tenet of domination and collaboration through individual assets to achieve perfection, even sacrifice in the name of art, they all dominate each other, at one time or another. There is no scene stealing, though, as the actors collaborate well to create a gem of a play.

“Master Class” will have playdates at the Carlos P. Romulo Auditorium of the RCBC Plaza on Ayala Avenue in Makati City on August 1, 5, 6, 7, 8, 12, 13, 14, and 15.