Of pencils and oranges: A review of Terence McNally's 'Master Class'

By Philip Cu Unjieng

Published May 19, 2026 10:55 am   




Maria Callas was one of those larger than life figures who made an impact beyond the world of Opera, where the Greek-American first made a name for herself.

In today’s world of social media, La Divina, as Callas was known in music circles, would be famous for being shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis’ girlfriend right before he pursued (and married) Jacqueline Kennedy.

Callas passed away in 1977 in Paris, as a virtual recluse. But in 1971, with her voice practically gone, and in the twilight of her professional career, she gave a series of Master Classes at the Juilliard School of Music in New York City. The fact that she was conducting these Master Classes served as the inspiration for playwright Terrence McNally to write "Master Class," as a ‘what if we were a fly on the wall during these Juilliard sessions’?

Callas was notorious for being a diva, she was mercurial, imperious, and what we would call today, a ‘terror’. Could we match that image while showcasing her vulnerability, her life story, and the anguish and pain she would be experiencing at that stage in her life? 

The character study, "Master Class," premiered in 1995; and won the Tony Award for Best Play. It’s admired for its theatricality, and how it addresses themes of Art with the concomitant sacrifice and discipline; and chronicles the steep, uphill road to greatness - that many can aspire for, but only very few can attain. So, it was welcome news to have our Philippine Opera Company stage this very well-pedigreed drama once again. 

Directed by Jaime Del Mundo, and with Menchu Lauchengco-Yulo in the lead role of Maria Callas, the drama runs until May 30 at the Carlos P. Romulo Auditorium.

Supporting Menchu are Alexandra Bernas as Sophie, Arman Ferrer as Tony, Angeli Benipayo as Sharon, Nelsito Gomez as the Stage Hand, and Louie Oca as Manny.

Sophie, Tony and Sharon are the students who join the "Master Class," while Manny is the resident pianist who accompanies the students. 

The first Act is virtually a one-woman show, with Menchu firmly placing the audience - and the rest of the cast - in the palm of her hand. It’s masterful, it’s domineering, it’s subjugation; and we are willing, compliant acolytes. And I use the term acolyte because we literally enter this ‘Maria Callas Church’, and come out believers. That’s how entertaining, engrossing, and compelling this drama is. The lines are just wonderful, McNally has done his job, and its up to the cast to make the magic happen. 

Menchu interacts with the audience from the moment she makes her entrance. The ‘pencils and oranges’ phrase refers to when she was a 15 year old student of opera, and would always have a pencil on her for note-taking, and never have an orange because they couldn't afford it. So the pencil was an essential tool on her journey to artistic greatness, while the orange became a symbol for future success and financial stability. 

"Master Class" is a wonderful play to enter blind, as I did. I’ve read about it, but had never watched it, and the lines are magnificent. The interplay between her conducting a class and triggered memories are priceless, and presented with much drama. The shafts of humor are so engaging, like when she says, “When you’re fat and ugly, and I’m not saying you are…” Or when a student refers to contemporary Joan Sutherland, and gets a frosty reaction from Callas. And unlike other plays where so much is expended in the first act, then there’s a letdown in the second; this one kicks off on a sustained high note, and the second act only gets better. Book your seat, and be charmed by this production!  

CHANGES AND CHALLENGES

 

By

 Klaus Döring

 -

Tuesday, May 19, 2026

TO KEEP pace with a rapidly changing world, businesses continuously undergo organizational changes to outperform competitors, innovate, improve productivity, and drive revenue. Yet despite the increasing volume and complexity of these changes, only one in three change management initiatives succeeds.

Why do many of these initiatives fail? Often, organizations neglect the human aspect of change management.

It is important to humanize change. Many organizations underestimate the power dynamics within their structures and fail to consider the broader context in which change occurs. They also tend to downplay internal resistance, relying too heavily on a top-down approach and forgetting that imposed change is often met with pushback.

To minimize resistance, leaders must first conduct baseline assessments to identify barriers to change and address them effectively to ensure successful implementation.

Among the most common barriers to change are:

* Lack of clarity

* Ineffective communication

* Strategic shortcomings

* A culture resistant to change

* Lack of organizational buy-in

* Change fatigue

* Weak governance

“I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat.” Former British statesman Sir Winston L. Churchill (1874–1965) uttered these famous words in 1940 during the dark days of World War II.

Blood, tears, and sweat are also part of the changes and challenges we encounter in everyday life. How often does life challenge us to a duel? I am not referring to the provocative or defiant people around us who seem to enjoy obstructing progress or pushing our lives toward negativity. Such people often make “much ado about nothing” — to borrow the words of William Shakespeare. They wear polite but insincere smiles, yet rarely take even a single step toward meaningful change or genuine growth.

The rest is silence. And allow me to quote Shakespeare once more: “There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.”

Every change brings a challenge. Changes in life are both important and necessary. Let us alter, improve, and make a difference. Let us move from one state to another, embrace fresh beginnings, and welcome transformation. Change means moving from the old to the new, from negativity to positivity, from ignorance to knowledge, from doubt and worry to understanding and awareness, from fear to faith, from stagnation to growth, from sadness to happiness, and from “I cannot” to “I can.”

Nothing is permanent except change. Change cannot be avoided, even if we choose to close our eyes to it. At best, it can only be delayed. Let us therefore open our eyes and embrace the challenge of becoming successful in life. Those who fail to change are eventually left behind by history. We cannot expect new results if we continue relying on old ways.

Burn the “lock fat” away, and perhaps one day we will wake up happier after enduring times of blood, tears, and sweat. After all, nothing comes from nothing.

***

Email: doringklaus@gmail.com or follow me on Facebook, LinkedIn or X – Twitter or visit www.germanexpatinthephilippines.blogspot.com or www.klausdoringsclassicalmusic.blogspot.com/PN

The breath in Pentecost

By Fr. Roy Cimagala

Chaplain

Center for Industrial Technology and Enterprise (CITE)

Talamban, Cebu City

Email: roycimagala@gmail.com

THE gospel of the Mass on the Solemnity of Pentecost reminds us of that part where Christ breathed on the apostles and gave them the breath of God in a way that was new and was greater than the breath God gave Adam during the Creation.

“Peace be to you,” Christ told the apostles. ‘As the Father has sent me, I also send you.’ When he said this, he breathed on them, and he said to them: ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven; and whose sins you shall retain, they are retained.’” (Jn 20,21-23)

This breath in Pentecost signifies the Holy Spirit, making us have the very life of God. It surpasses the breath in Creation that simply makes us a living being that came from dust. In other words, the breath in Creation gives us a biological and rational life, while the breath in Pentecost gives us sanctifying grace, making us adopted children of God.

We have to feel very much at home with this very wonderful reality and start to correspond to it as we ought. We have to go beyond our earthly dimensions and enter into the more fascinating world of the spiritual and the supernatural life of God and with God.

This does not mean that we escape from our earthly reality to be in the spiritual and supernatural reality. No. It means that while deeply immersed in our mundane conditions, we also have to learn to go beyond them to be with God. This is what the word ‘transcendence’ means.

To be sure, we are enabled to do that, because of our intelligence and will. These are powerful faculties that would enable us to know and to love, and eventually to enter in the lives of others and ultimately to be with God.

But more importantly, we are always given the grace so that our capacity to be with God is actualized. It’s not enough that we are enabled to know and love God. That potency has to be put into act with the grace of God who gives it to us in abundance.

We have to do our part, of course. And the first thing to do is to be aware that there is such a reality as developing a life in the Spirit, and from there start cultivating the proper attitudes, skills and virtues.

This may look like a daunting, overwhelming task, but it can always be done. Sure, there will be difficult, awkward moments, but those usually happen in the beginning of the learning curve. As long as we persist, time will come when living in intimate relationship with the Spirit becomes second nature to us.

We need to spread this Good News more widely, because many of us are still completely ignorant of it. And of those who may already know about it, a lot of confusion, doubts and misunderstanding abound. 

So more than spreading the Good News, we need a lot of teachers and models who can clearly show how this life in the Spirit can be achieved. Let’s hope that we can count on many people, especially those who are already active in the Church, to serve as teachers and models for this purpose.

Of special interest in this regard is the crucial role of parents. They should be the first teachers and models of their children in living the life in the Spirit. That’s why parents should do their best to be very consistent with their faith, because the most important duty they have toward their children is to make their offspring children of God, living the life in the Spirit!

How to Be Happy in Life?

1. Remember, everyone has problems. You’re not alone in facing challenges.

2. Life has ups and downs. Only someone who isn’t alive doesn’t have challenges.

3. Every problem has a solution. You can find answers to the difficulties you're facing.

4. How you see yourself matters. Think of yourself as valuable and special. Don’t let low self-esteem bring you down.

5. Don’t worry about what others say. Some people say mean things to make others feel bad.

6. Make friends with kind people who uplift you. Avoid those who tease or make fun of you.

7. When you have free time, enjoy your favorite hobbies like sports, movies, or games.

8. Don’t let anyone scare you with their money or things. A poor person today can be rich tomorrow. Change happens.

9. No matter how tough things get, don’t give up. As long as you are alive, there is still hope.

10. Pray often. Prayer can help bring good things into your life more quickly.

11. Be brave and go after what you want. Life involves taking chances. If you don’t try, you won’t reach your dreams.

Stay true to yourself because nobody can be you better than you. You are wonderful just as you are!

 

Peso extends decline, hits new record low of 61.75:$1

BY IAN NICOLAS P. CIGARAL

MAY 19, 2026

FILE PHOTO

The Philippine peso slid to a new record low against the dollar on the first trading day of the week, as rising US Treasury yields amid mounting expectations of interest-rate increases from global central banks drive the greenback’s strength.

The local currency fell 2.9 centavos to close at 61.75 per dollar, matching the day’s intraday low and surpassing the previous record-low finish of 61.721 set in the prior session, data from the Bankers Association of the Philippines showed.

THAT MOVES ME

 

TWO major issues concern me: climate change and the coronavirus Covid-19. Millions of people around the world are exposed to the virus and dangerous levels of heat stress - a dangerous condition that can cause organs to shut down. Many live in developing countries and do jobs that expose them to potentially life-threatening conditions. These include being out in the open on farms and building sites or indoors in factories and hospitals.

Science editor David Shukman shares the worries with me and many others. Summers are becoming hotter and hotter for humans. Global warming will increase the chances of summer conditions that may be "too hot for humans" to work in.

When we caught up with Dr. Jimmy Lee, his goggles were steamed up and there was sweat trickling off his neck. An emergency medic, he's laboring in the stifling heat of tropical Singapore to care for patients with Covid-19. There's no air conditioning - a deliberate choice, to prevent the virus from being blown around - and he notices that he and his colleagues become "more irritable, shorter with each other".

Predictions shake me: more than 3bn could live in extreme heat by 2070. The monetary Siberian heatwave is clear evidence of climate change. 2019 was Europe's warmest year on record. And Dr. Lee's personal protective equipment, essential for avoiding infection, makes things worse by creating a sweltering 'micro-climate' under the multiple layers of plastic.

We can all imagine that working in a tropical climate can be extremely uncomfortable. One danger is that overheating can slow down our ability to do something vital for medical staff - make quick decisions.

Another is that they may ignore the warning signs of what's called heat stress - such as faintness and nausea - and keep on working till they collapse. If the body is unable to cool down properly so its core temperature keeps rising to dangerous levels and key organs can shut down. It happens when the main technique for getting rid of excess heat - the evaporation of sweat on the skin - can't take place because the air is too humid.

According to Dr. Rebecca Lucas, who researches physiology at the University of Birmingham, the symptoms can escalate from fainting and disorientation to cramps and failure of the guts and kidneys.

What impact will climate change have? As global temperatures rise, more intense humidity is likely as well which means more people will be exposed to more days with that hazardous combination of heat and moisture.

Another study, published earlier this year, warned that heat stress could affect as many as 1.2 bn people around the world by 2100, four times more than now. It's not a new thing for me and you: people need to drink plenty of fluid before they start work, take regular breaks, and then drink again when they rest.

But scientists around the globe agree:  avoiding heat stress is easier said than done. There's a practical problem as well - some people do not want to drink so they can avoid having to go to the toilet. And another fatal attraction in my opinion: For many people, there's a professional desire to keep working whatever the difficulties so as not to let colleagues and patients down at a time of crisis.

Highly motivated people can actually be at the greatest risk of heat injury, says Dr. Jason Lee, an associate professor in physiology at the National University of Singapore. He's a leading member of a group specializing in the dangers of excessive heat, the Global Heat Health Information Network, which has drawn up guidelines to help medics cope with Covid-19. It's spearheaded by the World Health Organization (WHO), the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), and the US weather and climate agency Noaa.

This climate change will be a bigger monster and we really need a coordinated effort across nations to prepare for what is to come.

Hot days, rainy afternoons to persist nationwide — PAGASA

By Ellalyn De Vera-Ruiz

Published May 18, 2026 10:20 am

At A Glance

• Despite the increasing occurrence of thunderstorms, hot weather remains the dominant condition in most parts of the country.

Scorching and humid conditions will continue across most of the country this week, although more areas may experience isolated afternoon or evening thunderstorms that could bring sudden heavy rains, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) said on Monday, May 18.

PAGASA weather specialist Aldczar Aurelio said the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) continues to affect Southern Mindanao, while easterlies prevail over the Visayas and the rest of Mindanao.

Meanwhile, localized thunderstorms are affecting Luzon as daytime heat causes rain clouds to form.

The ITCZ is bringing cloudy skies with scattered rains and thunderstorms over Zamboanga Peninsula, the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, Davao Region, and Soccsksargen, where moderate to, at times, heavy rains may trigger flash floods or landslides.

Aurelio said the ITCZ is expected to continue affecting Mindanao until Tuesday, May 19, before gradually moving away from the country by Wednesday, May 20.

By then, easterlies, or warm and humid winds from the Pacific Ocean, are expected to become the dominant weather system nationwide.

Despite the increasing occurrence of thunderstorms, Aurelio said hot weather remains the dominant condition in most parts of the country.

“Asahan ang maganda at maaliwalas na panahon sa natitirang bahagi ng bansa pero mataas ang chance na magkaroon ng thunderstorm sa hapon o sa gabi na kung saan nagdadala ito ng biglaang buhos na ulan (Generally fair weather is expected in most parts of the country, but there remains a high chance of afternoon or evening thunderstorms that may bring sudden downpours),” Aurelio said.

High heat index levels continued to be recorded nationwide on Sunday, May 17, with Dagupan City, Pangasinan; Baler, Aurora; Sangley Point, Cavite; and Cuyo, Palawan all reaching 45 degrees Celsius.

In Metro Manila, the heat index ranged from 40 to 43 degrees Celsius.

For Monday, PAGASA forecast a heat index of up to 45 degrees Celsius in Coron and Cuyo in Palawan, as well as San Jose, Occidental Mindoro.

Metro Manila may experience heat index levels ranging from 40 to 42 degrees Celsius.

PAGASA classifies heat index values between 42 and 51 degrees Celsius under the “danger” category, as prolonged exposure may cause heat cramps, heat exhaustion, or heat stroke.

Aurelio added that there is no low-pressure area or tropical cyclone being monitored inside or outside the Philippine Area of Responsibility as of Monday.

DAVAO RIVER WATER LEVEL RISES

The situation at the Davao River in Bacaca, Davao City after water levels rose early Monday morning, May 18, 2026.

Heavy rains brought by the easterlies affected several parts of the city overnight, causing rivers and waterways to swell. Residents living near riverbanks and low-lying areas have been advised to remain alert for possible flooding and sudden water level changes.

Local authorities continue to issue precautionary reminders as weather disturbances persist in parts of Davao City.

Screengrab from Allan Cala via Davao Updates

All reactions:

120120

2

26

Like

Comment

Share