The Last Mile (1992 film)
The Last Mile is a short (15 minute) comedy-drama filmed play written by Terrence McNally for Public television's Great Performances 20th Anniversary Special (1992). The film aired on American Public television stations in October 1992. The play concerns the hopes and fears of a soprano making her Metropolitan Opera debut. Directed by Paul Bogart, it stars Bernadette Peters as the soprano and Nathan Lane as the stage manager.
Synopsis
Backstage at the Metropolitan Opera House a soprano (Bernadette Peters) is preparing for her debut in the opera Tosca. The stage manager (Nathan Lane) gives her encouraging advice. She is visited by her "tenor for the evening" (Paul Sorvino). Equally terrified and nervous yet excited, she thinks fondly of her brother (Tony Goldwyn), who died from AIDS. He appears to her in her dressing room as a ghostly apparition.
Response
Daily Variety wrote that the play was "uneven", but that "Peters is a gem, with Bill Irwin terrif as a cynical conductor."[1] The USA Today reviewer wrote: "Another grande dame, Bernadette Peters, anchors the best piece, Terrence McNally's acerbic and sentimental backstage look at a soprano nervously awaiting her Metropolitan Opera debut as Tosca. Lurking in the wings: poignant awareness of that grand-opera tragedy of our time, the AIDS crisis."[2]