Alfred Uhry's 1987 Off-Broadway hit, Driving Miss Daisy, seems a natural choice for theatre companies. Its cast of three, simple staging, limited design specs, and emotional power has made me wonder why it isn't produced more often. Phoenix Theatre's current production, directed by Graham Whitehead, offers some insight explaining why.
Driving Miss Daisy's simplicity belies an underlying complicated acting experience that puts those in the show through the ringer. The play details the twenty-five-year relationship between a crotchety, Jewish Southern woman and her black chauffeur. It requires an amazing amount of physical and emotional transformation for all three actors performing their roles. The two leads especially, Daisy Werthan and Hoke Coleburn, require older actors with a great breadth of ability. While Mr. Whitehead has succeeded in casting three professional performers who are capable of the theatric acrobatics of the piece, the final product is missing something (at least based on the Thursday night performance). While technically brilliant, all three seem to be just off the mark of the emotional intensity and connection required for the piece. What happens during the intermissionless hour and fifteen-minute evening looks great, sounds wonderful, and hits all of the play's required reads, but in the end, I didn't cry. I'm a softie, and I'll cry at nearly anything, so I had to ask myself why I didn't this time. The answer is that elusive element: chemistry.
Joan Steen Silberschlag offers a Daisy that is loath and begrudgingly loveable all at once. She is as persnickety as any dour grandmother, and as disarmingly charming as only a granny can be. She moves from 72 to 97 years of age gracefully, using her wide actor's arsenal of physical, vocal, and emotional tricks. She first treats poor Hoke with thinly veiled disdain, then with a didactic air as she learns more of him, and finally with desperation as she comes to see the unanticipated bond that has grown between them. For his part, Percy Littleton is even-keeled and passive, choosing only to cross the line once Hoke has become indispensable to Daisy. While he's not as strong as some Hokes I have seen, he does stand firm, while also bringing out the character's near-infinite reserve of patience. Finally, Mark DeMichele is a likeable Boolie, doting and being driven mad by his fussy mother. He is appropriately jokey, and brings out his character's frustrations without hammering them too hard.
Mr. Whitehead, in drawing out these requisite great performances, seems to have stopped short. What is missing is the chemistry between the three. This isn't a terrible thing: chemistry is tricky, and even great performers can lack it. What Mr. Whitehead has given us is a technically flawless show. The blocking is crisp, the voices sharp. I never really sensed the growing bond, though. Everyone said and did the right things, but they didn't seem to feel what was being presented. I wanted palpable electricity between the three actors, and what I received was three talented performers scaling impossible heights with no tether between them. I suspect that this was not a matter of an off-show. If performers are not at their best, they might miss the technical elements, but rarely do they forget the others onstage with them.
PT's Miss Daisy drove me to the edge with powerful performances, but failed to push me over it with powerful connections. For a show this intrinsically difficult to perform, that's still a worthy feat.
Production Details:
Driving Miss Daisy by Alfred
Uhry
Phoenix Theatre, Phoenix
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click this
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(602) 254-2151
October 26th - November 11th, 2001