Tyne Daly has big shoes to fill in Terrence McNally’s Master Class. Not just those of her character, the legendary opera star Maria Callas, but also such esteemed forerunners in the role as Zoe Caldwell and Patti LuPone, who delivered mesmerizing turns as the imperious star in the 1995 play’s original Broadway run.

But while Daly seemingly lacks the diva-lack qualities necessary to fully embody the part, she more than delivers the goods in this Manhattan Theatre Club revival, first seen last year at Washington, D.C.’s Kennedy Center. Her Callas is perhaps less immediately commanding and formidable than her predecessors, but with the help of subtle make-up and superb technique she pulls it off in dazzling fashion.

McNally’s conceit is to show Callas teaching a master class at Julliard, something she actually did briefly in 1971 after she had stopped performing. As she interacts with several cowering and worshipful young student singers, an endlessly patient pianist, and an uncommunicative stagehand, she delivers acerbic comments about their techniques, reveals colorful anecdotes about her life and career, and occasionally loses herself in reveries in which she recalls singing her greatest roles.

The play is essentially a tricked-up version of the sort of autobiographical one-person shows that have become a theatrical staple. But it works beautifully and, as this production again demonstrates, it serves as a terrific vehicle for actresses who are up to its considerable demands.

Whether asking with mock innocence out about her supposed rivals, “How can you have rivals when no one can do what you do?”; observing of several unlucky audience members that they have “no presence”; or criticizing one of the students for having the temerity to wear an evening gown to class, Daly’s Callas is a deliciously bitchy creation.

The actress is well supported by Sierra Boggess in the role for which Audra McDonald won a Tony Award; Alexandra Silber as a tremulous young singer who can barely get a note out; and Garrett Sorenson as a big-boned tenor whose rendition of an aria from Tosca brings Callas to tears.

Stephen Wadsworth’s staging gives the proceedings a properly realistic feel, while Thomas Lynch’s shifting sets effectively convey both the modest university theater setting and the grandiose La Scala when Callas relives her past triumphs.

You don’t have to be an opera buff, although it certainly helps, to appreciate the incisive portrait that the playwright has created of one of the twentieth century’s most iconic performers. And Daly, like Caldwell and LuPone before her, delivers a commanding performance that is a master class all by itself.

Samuel J. Friedman Theatre, 261 W. 47th St. 212-239-6200. www.Telecharge.com.