- Driving Miss Daisy (play)
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For the 1989 movie, see Driving Miss Daisy.
Driving Miss Daisy Written by Alfred Uhry Characters Hoke Colburn
Daisy Werthan
Boolie WerthanDate premiered April 15, 1987 Place premiered Playwrights Horizons
New York City, New YorkOriginal language English Series Atlanta Trilogy:
Driving Miss Daisy
The Last Night of Ballyhoo
ParadeGenre Drama Driving Miss Daisy is a 1987 play by Alfred Uhry about the relationship of an elderly 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 Jewish residents of that city in the early 20th century.
Contents
Productions
Off-Broadway (1987-1990)
The original off-Broadway production, which opened on April 15, 1987[1], starred Dana Ivey and Morgan Freeman. The production was staged at Playwrights Horizons on 42nd Street in New York, and later transferred down the street to the John Houseman Theatre. Uhry received the 1988 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for the work. The play closed on June 3, 1990, with 1,195 performances.[2]
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.[3]
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[4] on October 25, 2010 at the John Golden Theatre; the run was later extended and Driving Miss Daisy closed on April 9, 2011.[5] 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.[6] The show was the top-grossing Broadway play in the week ending January 16, 2011.[7]
West End revival (2011)
The production will play at the Wyndham Theare in London's West End with the same cast, beginning previews on 26th September 2011, with it's opening 5th October 2011 and is expected to close December 17th 2011. [8]
Awards and nominations
- 1987 OBIE Awards
- Best Performance - Dana Ivey (winner)
- 1988 Pulitzer Prize
- Pulitzer Prize for Drama (winner)
- Best Off-Broadway Play (winner)
- Best Actress in a Play - Dana Ivey (winner)
- Best Director - Ron Lagomarsino (winner)
Film adaptation
Main article: Driving Miss DaisyUhry adapted it into the screenplay for a 1989 film of the same name starring Jessica Tandy, Morgan Freeman and Dan Ackroyd, an adaptation which was awarded the Academy Award for Writing Adapted Screenplay.
References
- ^ Uhry, Alfred. "Driving Miss Daisy", pg.4, Dramatists Play Service, INC.
- ^ Brantley, Ben. "Stooped and a Bit Slow, but Still Standing Tall", The New York Times, October 25, 2010.
- ^ "'Driving Miss Daisy' coming to Dundas Theatre". Bahama Islands. June 19, 2008.
- ^ "Rave reviews for Vanessa Redgrave, ‘sassy’ at 73 after year of family heartbreak". London Evening Standard. October 26, 2010.
- ^ Healy, Patrick, "Driving Ms. Redgrave Through a Reluctant Conversation", The New York Times, February 15, 2011. Retrieved 2011-02-15.
- ^ Gans, Andrew. "Driving Miss Daisy Recoups Investment" playbill.com, December 21, 2010.
- ^ Samelson, Judy. "CHART TOPPERS: Top-Grossing Broadway Productions, Week of Jan. 10-16". Playblog. January 21, 2011.
- ^ http://www.playbill.com/news/article/151731-Driving-Miss-Daisy-to-Park-in-London-in-Fall-2011
External links
- Official Broadway Website (2011)
- Driving Miss Daisy at the Internet off-Broadway Database
- Driving Miss Daisy at the Internet Broadway Database
Pulitzer Prize for Drama (1976–2000) - A Chorus Line (1976)
- The Shadow Box (1977)
- The Gin Game (1978)
- Buried Child (1979)
- Talley's Folly (1980)
- Crimes of the Heart (1981)
- A Soldier's Play (1982)
- 'night, Mother (1983)
- Glengarry Glen Ross (1984)
- Sunday in the Park with George (1985)
- Fences (1987)
- Driving Miss Daisy (1988)
- The Heidi Chronicles (1989)
- The Piano Lesson (1990)
- Lost in Yonkers (1991)
- The Kentucky Cycle (1992)
- Angels in America: Millennium Approaches (1993)
- Three Tall Women (1994)
- The Young Man From Atlanta (1995)
- Rent (1996)
- How I Learned to Drive (1998)
- Wit (1999)
- Dinner with Friends (2000)
- Complete list
- (1918–1925)
- (1926–1950)
- (1951–1975)
- (1976–2000)
- (2001–2025)
Categories:- 1987 plays
- Plays by Alfred Uhry
- Off-Broadway plays
- Pulitzer Prize for Drama
- Race-related plays
- Atlanta, Georgia in fiction
- Plays set in the United States
- Jews and Judaism in fiction
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