Driving Miss Daisy
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Nichols, Learned
Photo by Michael Lamont
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By Ben Miles
Alfred Uhry's 1987 play, Driving Miss Daisy, won that year's Pulitzer Prize for Drama. In 1989, Uhry adapted his script into a screenplay; the cinematic tweaking earned Uhry an Oscar for his efforts. The film was also honored with an Academy Award as Best Picture of 1989. Now, Southern California audiences have an opportunity to enjoy Miss Daisy in its original form.
Cogently and economically staged by Brian Kite, at the capacious La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts, Daisy is a tender and surprisingly affecting story. Its narrative arch spreads across the epochal period--pre-to-post civil rights era--existing between 1948 and 1973. The action begins and unfolds primarily in Atlanta, Georgia. Miss Daisy Werthan is a septuagenarian with a transportation problem; she has wrecked her automobile while attempting to back out of the garage of her upscale home.
Daisy's son, Boolie, has the unfortunate task of informing Daisy that her driving days are done. Insisting that she has destroyed the automobile and, therefore, is no longer insurable, Boolie takes it upon himself to hire a driver for his beloved, but difficult, mother. Daisy's Boolie-imposed chauffeur is a black man named Hoke Colburn. Miss Daisy resents and resists her looming dependency, and initially rejects Hoke's role in her life.
Of course, over time, there's a mutually increasing acceptance of Hoke and Miss Daisy's working relationship by both parties. And, soon enough, the relationship grows into a necessity. Daisy needs the help; Hoke must make a living. But necessity does not mean without tension and conflict of personality. Daisy is set in her ways, and she's determined to control her life and the lives around those in her sphere of existence. In her routine sojourns to the Piggly Wiggly market, Hoke must endure Daisy's compulsive backseat driving. She orders him to "slow down," even when their travel speed is 19 miles-an-hour, in a 25 mile-an-hour zone.
Miss Daisy is a Jewish matriarch living as a minority-group member in the Deep South. Hoke is doing his best to survive under the yoke of entrenched racism. These facts do little to mitigate Miss Daisy's latent bigotry, however, or Hoke's naïve notions regarding Jewish wealth. Daisy denies her prejudicial inclinations, but the stereotypical assumptions she's carried and buried so long and deeply often rise to the surface of her being. For instance, during a road trip to an out-of-state social affair, the pair gets lost down a wrong road. Hoke needs to, in his words, "make water." Daisy won't allow it. She tells Hoke he must wait. At last, Hoke, asserting his manhood, defies Miss Daisy's directive and, with all modesty, does what nature has called upon him to do.
With warmth and credibility, Uhry's micro-tale is an examination of the macro-social structures that upheld American-style apartheid for so many years. Miss Daisy also delivers heartfelt insight into the power of sustained interpersonal relations and the transformative potential of friendship.
As Boolie, Morgan Rusler is a spot-on combination of concerned son and pragmatic adult. Boolie's interactions with Mother Daisy are made into authentic moments through Rusler's incarnation. Moreover, Rusler's Boolie conveys much about the tacit societal fabric that embeds the presumptions of racial segregation as well as the innate oppressions extant in a Jim Crow culture.
Lance E. Nichols delivers his characterization of Hoke with sublime affability and a delicate dignity. Nichols' portrayal is genuinely nuanced and charming. Further, the actor physicalizes the many driving sequences of the show in a manner that allows us to easily believe that he is navigating a paved thoroughfare.
Michael Learned (who played in television's long-lived series The Waltons as Mother Walton) is graceful and committed as the titular Miss Daisy. Learned's interpretation of Daisy is so comprehensible, as well as comprehensive, it often seems as if we're viewing episodes from a dear auntie's daily diary entries. Faults and all, like Hoke, we, through Learned's formidable skills, come to feel empathy and high regard for Miss Daisy.
Driving Miss Daisy continues through February 17. Performances are at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday through Thursdays. On Friday and Saturdays, show times are at 8 p.m. Matinees are on Saturdays and Sundays at 2 p.m., with a Sunday show at 7 p.m. The La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts is located at 14900 La Mirada Boulevard, in La Mirada. For reservations, dial (562) 944 - 9801 or (714) 994 - 6310. For more information, visit www.lamiradatheatre.com.
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