The acclaimed hit show "La Divina - The Last Interview of Maria Callas" performed by musician-actor-writer Shelley Cooper returns to Southern California, Namba Performing Arts Space, to perform her show, which received resounding audience and critical plaudits this past summer. “We feel fortunate to bring this incredible talent to the community of Ventura,” said Namba Board Chair Tamara Varney, “as part of the Women’s Voices series that began this past October. Shelley Cooper was chosen as a NAMBA Splash Award finalist at the 2021 Hollywood Fringe Festival.”
Winner of the 2021 Orlando Fringe Critics Choice Award for Best Individual Performance in a Drama! La Divina: The Last Interview of Maria Callas is a one-woman show inspired by the life and work of the Dramatic 20th Century Opera Singer Maria Callas. The audience eavesdrops on La Divina’s interview with a nonexistant Mr. Wallace and are taken on a journey through trauma, allowed glimpses of an extremely complex and tormented woman, and treated to some operatic gems including “O Mio Babbino Caro”, “Habanera”, and “Vissi d’arte”. The show provides interesting tidbits from the singer’s life — how opera kept her alive during World War II — and delves some into her complicated relationship with Aristotle Onassis, while offering insight into the singer’s own complications.
Cooper-as-Callas sings selections from Callas’ repertoire, including arias from Puccini, Verdi, Bizet, Gluck- a selection of some of opera’s greatest hits, as it were. Cooper’s own thrilling soprano singing works associated with La Divina is perhaps the finest homage one could make to her acclaimed predecessor. It has the effect of making Cooper’s show a concert as much as a narrative.