One of the Midwest's most active dinner theaters takes a detour from its usual round of splashy musicals to present Alfred Uhry's Pulitzer Prize-winning comedy, Driving Miss Daisy. At first glance, this sentimental favorite seems perfectly chosen for the Fireside's typically gray-haired audience. It revolves around Daisy, a crotchety, elderly Jewish woman, and a slightly younger black man hired to be her chauffeur. As the play is set in Atlanta during the dawn of the Civil Rights era, author Alfred Uhry gently weaves a bit of race relations into the story. He makes his points but in a soft-spoken way palatable for regional theater audiences. While the play has been widely performed throughout the country since its Broadway debut, most folks are more familiar with the 1990 Academy Award-winning film, starring Jessica Tandy and Morgan Freeman.
Although Daisy is very comfortable financially (a fact her grown son, Boolie, must constantly remind her of), she is keenly aware of her poverty-ridden past. She can certainly afford a driver, but she doesn't like to be reminded of this fact. She also must come to terms with her own racist tendencies. In a beautifully written scene that outlines both points, Daisy does a routine inventory of her silver and pantry items and is dismayed to discover a missing can of salmon. When Hoke, her driver, appears for his shift, he freely admits to helping himself to the salmon. Before Daisy can utter a word of outrage, he cheerfully produces a replacement can of salmon and offers to put it on the shelf. Through their 25-year relationship, we see the growing closeness between these two improbably aligned characters.
In a three-character play, all the actors must be top-notch to pull off a winning production. The Fireside management is smart to have cast seasoned Equity actors in all three roles. Eve Johnson bristles and sputters appropriately as Daisy, the woman who fears losing her independence along with her car keys. As Hoke, Herbert Mark Parker is every bit Daisy's equal, despite the fact that society has assigned him to second-class citizen status. Their growing friendship seems genuine, and they are enchanting together. Neal Arluck is a bit over-the-top as Boolie, Daisy's son. His broad interpretation may be deliberate, however, given the difficulties of working in the Fireside's large performing space. Although the performances in Driving Miss Daisy are excellently delivered, one misses the larger, splashier productions that are the Fireside's typical fare.
