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SIUSLAW NEWS ❚ SATURDAY, JUNE 10, 2017
Last Resort Players earn top grades for Master Class
“Master Class ”
Review
B Y B URNEY G ARELICK
If you thought school was
out, hold on. The Last Resort
Players (LRP) added one more
course to the curriculum.
But this one’s easy, and it’ll
only take a couple of hours this
weekend or next. Besides,
you’ll get to grade the teacher,
hear some great music, and
have some fun.
So, follow the crowd to the
Florence Events Center flat
floor and take a seat June 10
and 11 or June 16 to 18 for
“Master Class”, an award-win-
ning play by Terrence McNally.
Your instructor, the play-
wright, will not be there, but
LRP will make his words sing.
Singing is what this play is
all about.
Maria Callas was a rock star,
an international opera singer
and an inspiring if intimidating
singing teacher.
Callas is portrayed by
Florence rock star Annie
Schmidt who has been on stage
since LRP originated in 1993,
Yachats
Ladies
Club to
host
benefit
dinner
The Yachats Ladies Club is
inviting the community to
attend and support a fun,
fundraising Pulled Pork
Dinner Benefit for the
Yachats Youth and Family
Activities Program Summer
Programs.(YYFAP0
The YYFAP is known for
providing wonderful enrich-
ing activities for the children
and families in the area and
have created some unexpect-
ed opportunities for children
during the summer months.
The dinner will be served
on Saturday, June 17, from 5
to 7p.m. at the YLC
Clubhouse which is located
at 286 W. 3rd Street, Yachats.
The YLC benefit dinner
includes
Pulled
Pork
Sandwiches with coleslaw
and a dill pickle, baked
beans, potato salad, apple-
sauce cake and choice of cof-
fee or tea.
The cost for the dinner is
$15 at the door.
To go dinners will be
available as well.
The Pulled Pork Dinner
Benefit to support the
YYFAP Summer Programs is
an entertaining and fun way
to help the community while
enjoying a delicious home
made dinner while visiting
with neighbors and meeting
new folks.
Women interested in creat-
ing fundraisers for the com-
munity while enjoying them-
selves are invited to inquire
about membership in this 90
year old group by calling
Sandy Dunn at 541-547-
3205. If there are questions
regarding the pulled pork
Dinner Benefit for the
Yachats Youth and Family
Activities Program Summer
Programs, please call 541-
547-5425.
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before the FEC was built in
1996 and frequently since then.
Schmidt has been a tireless and
loquacious supporter of the arts
and the humanities.
When Callas realized her
premier voice was faltering, she
wasn’t ready to retire. She had
more to say, if not to sing.
So, for a few months in 1971
and 1972, she taught master
classes to opera students at
Julliard School in New York
City. Such was her world-class
reputation that people bought
tickets to watch her teach,
browbeat, humiliate and inspire
the students.
Callas’ master classes were
the genesis for McNally’s
“Master Class.” Callas gave her
final performance in 1974 and
died in 1977 at age 53.
Annie Schmidt is not an
opera singer, but she does have
pedagogical experience in real
life and on stage.
At least a decade ago in an
LRP production, she gave
instruction in a hilarious song
and dance, “Brush Up Your
Shakespeare,” a gangsta rap
from “Kiss Me Kate,” Cole
Porter’s take on the Bard’s
“Taming of the Shrew.”
In 2015 LRP cast Schmidt in
Thornton Wilder’s “Our Town”
as the Stage Manager to instruct
restless souls on the vicissitudes
of life.
Thus, armed with experience
on stage and off, ambition,
determination, and mut —
Callas’ favorite German word
for courage — Schmidt was
ready to tackle La Divina, as
Callas was called.
“Master Class” is not as
much about singing and opera
as it is about the drama of life,
of finding yourself — your
look, Callas stresses — who
you are beyond your appear-
ance, what you stand for and
against, grasping your passion
and pursuing it to become the
best you can be.
In effect, it is the ultimate
graduation address.
Of course Callas’ passion
was music and she pursued it
without compromise.
Callas’ road
to
The
Metropolitan Opera and La
Scala was a bumpy one, fraught
with jealous rivals, weight
problems, and two wealthy,
overbearing, arrogant men —
Battista Meneghini, her much
older husband who ran her
career, and Aristotle Onassis,
her abusive thuggish paramour
who didn’t even like opera.
Her story unfolds in the mas-
ter class when certain music
evokes memories. At those
moments, her students retreat
and the stagelights dim.
Videos of Callas are project-
ed on a big screen, and her ele-
gant voice soars.
At other moments gruff mas-
culine voices rumble over the
crowd — exasperated, taunting
voices that made her life miser-
able and broke her heart.
In truth, the play is a mono-
logue, a probing of Callas’ psy-
che. The other five players are
place marks for her self-exami-
nation. They do, however, illu-
minate her character.
Callas was not the nicest per-
son. She hadn’t a lot of empathy
for her students. She didn’t
refrain from hurling insults,
however much she insisted they
were for the greater good.
The dialogue throughout is
tight, brisk, cutting and witty,
masterfully
written. And
Schmidt is La Divina in her
own right.
Three nervous opera students
have come for lessons from La
Divina, who wastes no time
putting them in their places.
She devastates Sophie
(Joanie Schmidt, no relation to
Annie), who is barely able to
sing her chosen song. La Divina
tries hard to throw Tony the
tenor (Patrick Rowley) under
the bus because sopranos hate
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tenors, and she sends Sharon
(Sheena Moore) off stage in ter-
ror and into the bathroom to
vomit.
How do the students cope
with their teacher? That would
be telling. What can be said is
that all three actors are excep-
tional singers, and their songs
will knock your socks off.
The students are accompa-
nied by estimable pianist
Jennifer Weier on the FEC
grand.
You’ll hear some terrific
piano, even though La Divina is
not kind to Weier’s character,
Manny.
Even the Stagehand (Mary
Conley) is harassed by La
Divina, who demands a foot-
stool, a cushion and a glass of
water as if she were the Queen
of Sheba.
Callas ruled the roost when it
came to performing and teach-
ing, but she remained true to
herself and her art. She had mut.
It was her legacy.
Top grades to LRP director
Leah Goodwin and her produc-
tion team. “Master Class” is a
triumph.
A half hour before show time
June 9 to 11 and June 16 to 18,
there will be a pre-concert talk
when Florence opera aficiona-
do Linda Yoder will whet your
whistle for the art of song that
possessed Maria Callas.
The talk is free, but if you
don’t already have a ticket to
the show, you may be enticed to
buy one.
541-999-5083