Story by Patrice Messina
 
Directed by Peter Medak
 
Original Airdate - February 4, 1986
 
Starring:    
 
Julia Migenes Johnson - Rosemarie Miletti
Sydney Penny - Mary Miletti
Rhonda Gemignani - Angelina Miletti
Kay E. Kuter - Maestro Barbieri
Catherine Paolone - Dorothy Miletti
Ross Evans - Sam
Ruth Zakarian - Teresa
Gina Marie Vinaccia - Dorothy Miletti (Age 9)
Elliott Scott - Joey
Toni Sawyer - Older Woman
Tom Finnegan - Cabbie
Craig Schaefer - Guard
Sandy Lipton - Woman

 

  
Story:
     

Rosemarie Miletti is training to become an opera singer. Her younger sister Mary has a terminal disease and is dying. Mary wishes on a falling star one night, after listening to Rosemarie say she won't ever be an opera star. Mary wishes that Rosemarie can see how successful she'll be, in the future. When Mary lays dying in the hospital, she tells Rosemarie her wish has been granted and that Rose must follow the singing, which they both seem to hear.

She does, and finds herself going to the Met. Rosemarie sees herself on stage, singing in a gala production, where she truly is an opera star. She visits the dressing room backstage, and sees her youngest sister Dorothy there, all grown up. Her future self looks to the open doorway, where there is no visible person; however, she knows that this is the day her younger self goes forward in time, so the future Rosemarie is aware of the presence at the door. Rosemarie hears Mary's voice calling her back, and she returns to the hospital where Mary dies, content that she has helped her sister realize her own dream.

  

 

Written by Patrice Messina, "Grace Note" is an episode that plays with time and wishes in an interesting and sentimental way. I don't know how you could have done a story like this and made it anything but sentimental, but it doesn't go overboard. Mary doesn't complain about being sick, and the family seems close-knit and caring. There doesn't seem to be a spare bit of dialogue in the script, and the story is well-paced and well written. Messina did some writing for several other shows and I wish she had done more. Her script for this teleplay is wonderful. This segment is also near the top in my favorites list.

Julia Migenes Johnson plays Rosemarie, and while I didn't know anything about her before this segment I really enjoyed her performance. It was warm and caring, and subtly nuanced between wonder and surprise. Peter Medak directed this segement, and two years after this Migenes and Medak married, which is interesting to me. Medak is one of my favorite directors, as I've said before, since he directed "The Changeling" in 1980. It's almost the script of a TV show: Opera star meets director during the filiming of a TV show.

Sydney Penny is angelic as the dying Mary. Her performance is not maudlin; she truly seems worried about her older sister and not herself. Penny is still acting today.
Kay Kuter played Migenes' singing coach, and he's a well-known character actor from 1951 on. He was also in an Outer Limits episode as the "Limbo Being" in "The Premonition," and in one of the classic B movies, "The Mole People." He was on many "Green Acres" episodes as Newt Kiley, adding comic relief. He seemed to work up to the day he died in 2003, and was always a delight to watch.