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.
3 Reviews
Standard McNally
PaulineDorchester18 August 1999
Do you like Terrence McNally's stage plays? If so, you'll probably like his television play "The Last Mile" just fine.
If, on the other hand, you find McNally narrow and self-referential in his concerns; if it seems to you that he displays his passions rather than sharing them; if you suspect that, deep down, he genuinely despises women -- well, "The Last Mile" won't change your mind one bit.
It doesn't help that Bernadette Peters gives what may be the worst performance of her career. Granted, she's a singer, but there is a world of difference between belting into a microphone that's an inch away and singing opera. Every time Peters opens her mouth to "sing," she tells us that she doesn't know a thing about the latter. (Paul Sorvino, a classically trained tenor, does a lot better with this, and whomever that is dubbing Peters is awfully good!)
If, on the other hand, you find McNally narrow and self-referential in his concerns; if it seems to you that he displays his passions rather than sharing them; if you suspect that, deep down, he genuinely despises women -- well, "The Last Mile" won't change your mind one bit.
It doesn't help that Bernadette Peters gives what may be the worst performance of her career. Granted, she's a singer, but there is a world of difference between belting into a microphone that's an inch away and singing opera. Every time Peters opens her mouth to "sing," she tells us that she doesn't know a thing about the latter. (Paul Sorvino, a classically trained tenor, does a lot better with this, and whomever that is dubbing Peters is awfully good!)
shouldn't be as good as it is
ecedent5 October 2008
Warning: Spoilers
Terrence McNally's early plays are among my favorites in contemporary theater. This one stunned me. It is all wrong. There are weak jokes at the start. The story is oversentimental to the point of sappiness. The talents of Bill Irwin are wasted on a pointless insert. The concept of an unrehearsed performance at the Met is ridiculous, as is the character of the novice diva. I rented The Last Mile from Netflix, watched it ten times and bought three copies. I have no idea why it succeeds. Nathan Lane seems at first to be doing an impression of Nathan Lane, but ultimately creates a warm quietly funny character. Paul Sorvino is over the top of the top, but hilariously believable. The trite plot elements become a surprise in how well they work. The sentimentality is ultimately sincere, and the final moment when Bernadette Peters walks on stage as Tosca is heart wrenching
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