Alfred Uhry’s Pulitzer Prize-winning show is hitting the stage at the Walnut Street Theatre this month.
‘Driving Miss Daisy’ first hit the scene when it premiered off-Broadway in 1987, and the tale of unlikely friendship also inspired a screen adaptation (starring Jessica Tandy and Morgan Freeman) which went on to win the Academy Award for Best Picture in 1989. It made its Broadway debut about two decades later in 2010.
Show previews at the Walnut began on Jan. 7, and opening night is set for Jan. 15. The show will run until Feb. 2, with multiple nighttime and matinees available.
The official description for ‘Driving Miss Daisy’ describes the production as a transformative power of friendship: “Miss Daisy is an elderly Jewish widow who is struggling to come to terms with her diminishing independence. After a car crash, her son convinces her to take on a chauffeur and hires an African American driver named Hoke. Set in Atlanta from the late 1940s to early 1970s, the relationship between Miss Daisy and Hoke changes from one of employer and employee to a deep friendship, as they encounter issues of growing old, race and class in an America fighting for equal civil rights.”
Walnut veterans Wendy Scharfman and Johnnie Hobbs Jr. will take on the lead roles of Daisy and Hoke, with Scott Greer appearing as Daisy’s son, Boolie. Directing this production is Walnut Street Theatre Producing Artistic Director Bernard Harvard.
Harvard’s recent Walnut Mainstage productions include Edward Albee’s ‘Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?’; Tennessee Williams’ ‘Cat on a Hot Tin Roof’; Noël Coward’s ‘Blithe Spirit’; plus Oscar Wilde’s ‘A Woman of No Importance’; ‘The Humans’; ‘God of Carnage’; and ‘ART’. As a release notes, Harvard has served the Walnut for 42 years. Under his leadership, the establishment became a not-for-profit, self-producing theatre, gaining recognition as one of America’s premier regional theatres.
Other creatives joining Harvard for the production include set designer Roman Tatarowicz, lighting designer Ryan O’Gara, sound designer Christopher Colucci, and wig designer Amari Callaway. The production’s set will transform the Walnut’s stage into the world of Atlanta from the 1940s to the 1970s.
To find a full list of showtimes and tickets for ‘Driving Miss Daisy’ at the Walnut Street Theatre (825 Walnut St.), visit walnutstreettheatre.org
