Theater Review: 'Driving Miss Daisy' at Cabaret on Main Theater

Review by Connecticut Critics Circle member, Naugatuck Patch Neighbor and WATR contributor Nancy Sasso Janis

Cabaret on Main has chosen the beautiful play “Driving Miss Daisy” as the next part of the always ambitious season. The Cabaret production of the two-act comedy/drama by Alfred Uhry that was awarded the 1988 Pulitzer Prize is lovingly directed by Nick Rapuano.

The director writes in his program note that this story “covers many years and carries a great deal within them. Friendship, family, change, and the people who become part of our lives in ways we may not always recognize at first."

“You needs a chauffeur and I needs a job” - Hoke to Miss Daisy

What I love about this script is that it is the source of the multitude of wonderful lines that became part of the beloved film. While the film script definitely added many details to the story and changed the family’s business from a printing press to a cotton mill, the vast majority of the script is exactly the same. The story takes place in Atlanta, Georgia between the years of 1948 and 1973 and addresses the Civil Rights movement.

Rapuano points out that as the play moves across these important twenty years of American history, it centers on these three well-drawn characters “experiencing life from very different perspectives while moving through many of the same changes, losses, joys and connections that come with time.” The dialogue is so well written that this story gently unravels itself in a relatively short run time and the droll comedy continues throughout the story. While some may leave the theater in tears, there will be plenty of laughter before the heartwarming ending.

Debi Freund returns to this stage after playing Annie Wilkes in “Misery” and Emma in “Over the River and Through the Woods.” She fully embodies the role of the crotchety “Miss” Daisy Werthan, who begins the story as a 72-year-old Jewish widow who was a fifth-grade teacher. Educators can relate to the humor in Daisy’s recollection of her career as a teacher in the South, and her reaction to discovering that Hoke is unable to read. These are my favorite lines to quote.

Marvin “MJ” Jones takes on what he deems “the most personal role of his acting career,” that of the chauffeur Hoke Coleburn, who is 60 years of age as the play opens. The actor inhabits the role of the ever-patient black man in the segregated South. Jones adds that this play “is about every one of us: learning to trust, caring for those we love as they grow older, and discovering that the people who change our journey most are often the ones we least expect.”

Jamie Carson makes his Cabaret on Main debut in the role of Daisy’s son Boolie. The performer makes the most of the role of the successful businessman who is doing his best to help his beloved mother age in place. Carson has appeared onstage at Farmington Valley Stage Company, Little Theatre of Manchester and Suffield Players.

All three of the performers adopt a Southern drawl for their lines and Freund even gets to sing a bit of a Christmas carol. Because the play only includes the three characters, the actors each have many lines to master. Supporting characters like Boolie’s wife Florine (played in the film by Patti Lupone) and the maid Idella (Esther Rolle who says “I wouldn't be in your shoes if the Sweet Lord Jesus come down and asked me himself”) are referred to but never seen.

The three areas of the set design remain onstage throughout the performance, with the lights illuminating a corner of Daisy’s Southern home, Boolie’s office, or the current car that Hoke drives. Bobby DeStefano helped to create the set. Rapuano set out to create an almost grayscale quality to this world of the three characters, along with “a deliberate calmness in the pacing, sound and lighting.” This gentle touch sets the tone, and as the director writes, it gives “the story room to breathe” as audience members “simply spend time with these characters.”

Billy DeCrosta worked as the show’s producer. Neil Fuentes, who is currently on stage in “The Odd Couple” at Legacy Theatre, designed the lovely lighting, and the director was in charge of the sound design that worked well with Alicia Gonzalez as sound engineer. Rapuano worked as the designer of the projections that surround the venue on three sides and includes movie-style credits. Lily Paraday, the lone stage crew member, worked as the wig designer. The costumes and the hair design worked beautifully to age the characters.

I learned that “Driving Miss Daisy” was the first in Uhry's Atlanta Trilogy, which deals with Jewish residents of Atlanta in the early 20th century. The first play in the series was inspired by Uhry's grandmother, Lena Fox, her chauffeur, Will Coleman, and his father. His grandmother was actually a Jewish woman who lived in Atlanta during the 1960s, who had to give up driving after a car accident. She hired Coleman and he drove her for 25 years.

The Off-Broadway play that debuted in 1987 included Dana Ivey as Daisy, the venerable Morgan Freeman as Hoke and Ray Gill as Boolie. The first national tour featured Julie Harris as Daisy. The hard-hitting “Parade” is a musical with a book by Alfred Uhry and music and lyrics by Jason Robert Brown that is based on another play in the Atlanta Trilogy.

The 1989 film version of “Driving Miss Daisy,” one of my favorites, is the only film based on an off-Broadway production ever to win Best Picture. This was the first time that I saw the play live and I look forward to enjoying it again and again. I very much enjoyed the “Great Performances” bare-bones version that aired on PBS with Angela Lansbury and James Earl Jones.

“Driving Miss Daisy” is presented with a 15-minute intermission that begins about forty minutes into the show. The intimate space offers flexible seating and offers traditional seating or cabaret seating. The theater correctly advertises that “this intimate production brings audiences remarkably close to every laugh, every conflict, and every heartfelt moment.” Tickets are available at https://broadwayonmain.ludus.com/show_page.php…

Cabaret on Main is located at 597 Main Street in the rear of the building in East Haven. Its ambitious seasons offer 13 shows per year and for the first time will be offering season subscriptions.