The Last Mile (1992) (TV)

User Rating:

5.9/10   

Director:

Paul Bogart

Writer:

Terrence McNally (writer)

Release Date:

9 October 1992 (USA)

Genre:

Short | Drama

Plot Keywords:

Opera

Cast

Tony Goldwyn
Bill Irwin
Nathan Lane	...	The Stage Manager
Bernadette Peters	...	The Soprano
Paul Sorvino	...	The Tenor

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Company:

Public Broadcasting Service (PBS)

Trivia:

Produced and orginally shown as part of the twentieth anniversary celebration for "Great Performances" (1972).

Interesting, low key piece.

This short, one-act play concerns a young singer about to debut in big-time opera. She is sitting in her dressing room waiting for her cue, and talking out her nervousness with the imagined ghost of her dead brother. The dialog is intelligent. The play is devoid of action, but engrossing. There is an odd bit when she leaves the room and her brother ceases to exist. There is a moment of silence and then you hear his voice saying, "Boy! Rooms sure are empty when there's no one in them." It could have made an excellent TV series about a part of the music world that people rarely see. Bernadette Peters plays the young singer and brings a warmth and vulnerability to a role that has often been caricatured in the past, i.e. an opera singer, but virtually never shown simply as a real person doing a real job.