Who is the Maestro? She’s a malificent god, or a deity with daddy issues.
The upcoming episode revolves around the Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa) and his companion Ruby Sunday (Millie Gibson) traveling back in time to 1960s London in order to meet The Beatles, only to encounter the “all-powerful” Maestro seeking to change the course of history, played by drag performer Jinkx Monsoon. Speaking to Doctor Who Magazine in April, Doctor Who showrunner Russell T Davies gave audiences a teaser for what they can expect from Monsoon’s appearance on the show, teasing her character as a “maleficent god” and “a deity with daddy issues.”
“My notation is … Maestro. I … am … MUSIC.”
“But it’s so sad, Timothy — you never had the luck! You never got that break,” they declare. “All those melodies, stifled and strangled inside you.”
They continue, letting the onlooking Drake know that he is “the greatest composer who ever lived.” As they continue to menacingly pull on Drake’s heartstrings, Maestro finally explodes into a tirade about the difficulty of the artistic process.
This season of Doctor Who seems to be focused on the truth behind the myths, legends and magical beings that haunt our imaginations. Gods and monsters, anyone?
What is The Devil’s Chord?
The inspiration for the story of the upcoming episode The Devi’s Chord may have come from a song called “A Lost Chord”, composed and finished January 13, 1877 by Arthur Sullivan, which he composed at the bedside of his brother Fred during Fred’s last illness. Fred died five days later. The song set to music a poem by Adelaide Anne Procter, published in 1860 in The English Woman’s Journal, and was immediately successful. Many singers have recorded the song, including Enrico Caruso, who sang it at the Metropolitan Opera House on April 29, 1912 at a benefit concert for familes of victims of the sinking of the Titanic. The piece has endured as one of Sullivan’s best-known songs, and the setting is still performed today.
Our guess is that Timothy Drake (played by Jeremy Limb) is about to become the pawn of the Maestro in some sort of nefarious plot to upend the normal turn of events of history, presumably to harm the Doctor in some way, or to give the Maestro control of all time and space (for if not for that control, then what would be the point of pitting her against the Doctor?)
-30-
