Joanna Gleason to Direct Phylicia Rashad in MASTER CLASS

Following last year’s smash-hit production of The Sound of Music, for their 4^th annual collaboration, Theatre Aspen and the Aspen Music Festival and School announced the complete casting for the special presentation of Master Class for performances on July 9 and July 10 at 7:30 PM at the Wheeler Opera House in Aspen, CO.

Master Class features direction by Tony, Drama Desk, and Outer Critics Circle Award winner Joanna Gleason.Starring as opera star Maria Callas is two-time Tony Award- and two-time Drama Desk Award-winning actress Phylicia Rashad.

In the dramatic and musical roles of the students, Ms. Rashad will be joined by sopranos Anna Thompson and Marissa Moultrie and tenor Joseph Tancredi—three rising-star opera fellows of the AMFS’s Aspen Opera Theater and VocalARTS program—accompanied by pianist Rhys Burgess from AMFS’s Collaborative Piano program.

“I love this play - and the chance to hear glorious, rising talent bring it to life is thrilling,” said Ms. Gleason. “I’m so happy to be reuniting with Phylicia, who brings such fierce intelligence, heart and humor to every role.”

Master Class is a full-length drama by Terrence McNally as Maria Callas is brought back to life in this Tony Award-winning play, inspired by the legendary series of master classes given by the opera diva at Juilliard toward the end of her career. The play puts her center stage again as she coaxes, prods, and inspires students – "victims" as she calls them – into giving the performances of their lives while revealing the disappointments in her own life and her relationship with the shipping tycoon Aristotle Onassis.

For more information, visit here.