https://nwhyte.livejournal.com/3625237.html

The play is a three-hander with Daisy, Hoke and Boolie the only visible characters, so we lose Boolie's wife Florine, the cook Idella, etc (they and others are referred to but not seen). This of course makes for a tighter script, but I feel that the film built solidly on what was already a decent enough (and Pulitzer-winning) story, and of course could show us what Atlanta actually looks like in a way that can only be conveyed less directly on stage. Apart from that, all the good lines from the film are here, and I think it's possibly the script least changed from the original material of any of the films I have seen. ( )

Driving Miss Daisy is a short episodic play in 25 scenes written by Alfred Uhry. It was first staged in 1987 and the screenplay was adapted for a 1989 movie. The play is set in Atlanta between 1948 and 1973. The story is quite simple, not least due to the fact that there are only three characters, namely Hoke Colburn, Miss Daisy's chauffeur, Miss Daisy Werthan, a Jewish lady who is 72 years old at the beginning of the play, and Boolie Werthan, Miss Daisy's son. Driving Miss Daisy starts with Daisy crashing her car in her own driveway and her son hiring Hoke as her chauffeur. At first the relationship between Daisy and Hoke is tense as Daisy insists that she is perfectly able to drive herself and does not need someone to drive her around. Throughout the play, the relationship between Hoke and Daisy becomes more friendly. The play ends when Hoke visits 'Miss Daisy', now age 97, in a nursing home.

The relationship between an old Jewish lady and a black chauffeur in the American South of 1948 provides an exemplary glance at what life was like in the US at that time. Both characters belong to a minority and both, while different, have their own struggles and fears. Not for nothing the play has won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and was staged on Broadway in 2010 after starting out off-Broadway in 1987. 4 stars. ( )

Driving Miss Daisy packs a lot into its 51 pages and rings true to me as to time and place. Exploring both aging and the changes in the relationship between Miss Daisy and Hoke, Uhry held my attention all thought this small prize-winning gem. Recommended.

Most individuals have seen the film adaptation of this play staring Jessica Tandy and Morgan Freeman and know the premise: The relationship between a Southern-Jewish matron, Miss Daisy Werthan and her black chauffeur Hoke Coleburn, hired by the son Boolie Werthan to keep his mother from getting behind the wheel of another car.

Winner of the 1988 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, the play is surprisingly sparse - my copy was a mere 51 pages in length - for a play that spans 25 years (1948 - 1973) and touches on the civil rights movement and growing desegregation of the time period. The play has only three characters - Miss Daisy, Hoke and Boolie - so one can be excused if left with a feeling that the film adaptation with 22 characters and a run time of 99 minutes would be a more satisfying experience. I think the play, as sparsely written as it is, provides the actors with framework to make something great. The dialogue with its sparing banter is the anchor of the play, no doubt about that, but it is the progression over time and the development of the relationship between Miss Daisy and Hoke where the actors have the ability to make the play really shine.

I have never seen the stage version of Driving Miss Daisy but after reading the play, I will be keeping my eyes open for such an opportunity in the future. If you have some time and have never read a play before, this is one that any reader will have an easy time following. There are no confusing stage directions and minimal action for the reader to try to visualize in their mind while reading this play. ( )

This play spans a few decades and chronicles the budding friendship between an old cranky, Jewish woman, Daisy, and her driver, a black man named Hoke. Over the years their relationship changes from a business one to that of old friends. The dialogue is wonderful and though it is a short play, I quickly felt attached to the characters. I just reread this as an audio performance with James Earl Jones and Angela Lansbury as the two main characters. It was wonderfully done. ( )