When Miss Daisy peers intently at Hoke and says, "You're my best friend," women grope for tissues and men blink their eyes. That simple statement speaks for the scope of Alfred Uhry's 90-minute play that won the Pulitzer Prize in 1988. Like the rest of this low-keyed, touching story, it is a moment that grows organically out of the play, believable and satisfactory.
Originally presented off-Broadway and later as a successful film, when the play recently came to Broadway's Golden Theater, two guaranteed audience magnets, Vanessa Redgrave and James Earl Jones, were brought in to play the leads. Redgrave portrays Miss Daisy, a single-minded, 72-year-old Atlanta Jewish widow, and Jones plays her somewhat younger African-American chauffeur, Hoke, both interpreting their well-crafted characters with empathy and comprehension. Miss Daisy is a financially comfortable, secure lady who knows what she wants, is always sure she is right and knows her place in society. She also knows Hoke's place. Hoke, experienced dealing with Southern white women like Miss Daisy, waits it out patiently but persistently.
Skillfully directed by David Esbjornson, the story starts in 1972 and flashes back through the 'fifties and 'sixties, the decades of social upheavals in the south. Against Miss Daisy wishes, her son, Boolie (Boyd Davis ) hires Hoke to be his mother's chauffeur, since she has had several car accidents. As expected, Miss Daisy obstinately refuses to be driven around, objects to even having Hoke work for her. Hoke learns to play the waiting game and eventually she comes around. Without lapsing into the maudlin, a wary trust develops between the two.
Jones, despite being quite a bit older than his character, injects dignity into his required deference, knowing when to stand firm but always suitably respectful as the society of the day dictated. Redgrave stands ramrod straight as Miss Daisy, never letting her guard down, always respectable until the end when she admits not only her dependence upon Hoke but her love and respect for him. The feeling each has for the other is obvious and is the focus of the character-driven story.
Boolie is a caring son, watching out for his mother but living his own life despite Miss Daisy's disapproval of his wife. Gaines, winner of four Tony Awards, understands and appreciates Boolie, deftly balancing long-suffering with loyalty. When he stands up to his mother, he is firm, as when he refuses to go to the Martin Luther King benefit dinner because of business repercussions.
With a stage design more suitable for an off-Broadway production, the set is remarkably bare. Costumes are restricted to a chauffeur's uniform for Jones and a deep pink dress for Miss Daisy, except for the benefit dinner when she is helped into a long velvet cloak, obviously a garment worn in her more social days.
The performances of indomitable Vanessa Redgrave, James Earl Jones and versatile Boyd Gaines reinforce the universal audience appeal of Driving Miss Daisy.
