Driving Miss Daisy (play)

For the 1989 film, see Driving Miss Daisy.

Driving Miss Daisy
Written by	Alfred Uhry
Characters	Hoke Colburn Daisy Werthan Boolie Werthan
Date premiered	April 15, 1987
Place premiered	Playwrights Horizons New York City
Original language	English
Series	Atlanta Trilogy: Driving Miss Daisy The Last Night of Ballyhoo Parade
Genre	Drama

Driving Miss Daisy is a 1987 play by Alfred Uhry about the relationship of an elderly white Southern Jewish woman, Daisy Werthan, and her African-American chauffeur, Hoke Colburn, from 1948 to 1973. The play was the first in Uhry's Atlanta Trilogy, which deals with white Jewish residents of that city in the early 20th century.

Background

Uhry wrote his Atlanta Trilogy based on his own experiences living in Atlanta as a Jew. He set his three plays at "historic moments in the city’s twentieth century—the 1915 lynching of Leo Frank, the 1939 Gone With the Wind premiere, the 1958 Temple bombing, and the city’s 1964 dinner honoring Martin Luther King’s Nobel Peace Prize." The plays are Driving Miss Daisy, The Last Night of Ballyhoo, and Parade.

Productions

Off-Broadway (1987–1990)

The original Off-Broadway production was staged at Playwrights Horizons Studio Theatre on 42nd Street, opening on April 15, 1987. Directed by Ron Lagomarsino, the cast starred Dana Ivey, Morgan Freeman and Ray Gill (Boolie). It later transferred to the John Houseman Theatre, closing on June 3, 1990, with 1,195 performances.

Uhry received the 1988 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for the work.

West End (1988)

It was then performed in London's West End in 1988 at the Apollo Theatre, with Dame Wendy Hiller as Miss Daisy Werthan, Clarke Peters as Hoke and Barry Foster as Boolie.

Broadway (2010–2011)

In October 2010, James Earl Jones (as Hoke), Vanessa Redgrave (as Daisy), and Boyd Gaines (as Boolie) appeared in a revival of the play, marking the Broadway debut of the show and the first time Jones and Redgrave have appeared on stage together. The show premiered to rave reviews on October 25, 2010, at the John Golden Theatre; the run was later extended and Driving Miss Daisy closed on April 9, 2011, after 20 previews and 180 performances. It recouped its initial investment of $2.6 million on December 21, 2010, making it the first show of the 2010/2011 season to do so. The show was the top-grossing Broadway play in the week ending January 16, 2011.

West End revival (2011)

The production played at the Wyndham's Theatre in London's West End with the same cast, beginning previews on September 26, 2011, opening on October 5, 2011, and closing on December 17, 2011.

UK tour (2012–13)

The show toured UK theatres from October 2012 until April 2013, starring Gwen Taylor, Don Warrington, and Ian Porter.

Australian tour (2013)

The Broadway production of Driving Miss Daisy toured Australia from February to June 2013, starring Angela Lansbury, James Earl Jones and Boyd Gaines. This production was filmed and broadcast on PBS Great Performances.

Plot

The time: 1948, the place: Atlanta, Georgia. A crash is heard, and Daisy Werthan, age 72, is in her living room, with her son Boolie, age 40. They are Jewish, with Atlanta accents. She has crashed her car, and Boolie insists that she have a driver. Boolie is in his office and interviews Hoke Coleburn who is a black man of around 60. He is unemployed. Over the next 25 years Hoke drives "Miss Daisy". They are initially wary of each other, and Hoke puts up with the somewhat crotchety Miss Daisy with dignity. She teaches Hoke to read, having been a teacher. Ultimately, they form a friendly bond, with Miss Daisy inviting Hoke to accompany her to a dinner for Martin Luther King, Jr.

Hoke visits Miss Daisy, now age 97, in a nursing home, seeing her for one final time.

Awards and nominations

• 1987 Obie Award for Best Performance – Dana Ivey (winner)
• 1988 Pulitzer Prize for Drama
• 1988 Outer Critics Circle Awards:
  • Best Off-Broadway Play (winner)
  • Best Actress in a Play – Dana Ivey (winner)
  • Best Director – Ron Lagomarsino (winner)

• 2011 Tony Award, Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play (nominee)

Film adaptation

Main article: Driving Miss Daisy

Uhry adapted it into the screenplay for a 1989 film of the same name starring Jessica Tandy, Morgan Freeman and Dan Aykroyd, an adaptation which was awarded the Academy Award for Writing Adapted Screenplay at the 62nd Academy Awards in 1990.

External links

• Official Broadway Website (2011)
• Driving Miss Daisy at the Internet Broadway Database
• Driving Miss Daisy at the Internet Broadway Database
• Driving Miss Daisy at the Internet off-Broadway Database