At the end of the Broadway adoption of Driving Miss Daisy I had felt it did a lackluster job of developing the characters compared to its film counterpart. The two head roles of Miss Daisy (Angela Lanbury) and Hoke Coleburn (James Earl Jones) did phenomenal work in developing the emotional relationship between the two and setting up the race relations in the United States at the time the play takes place, but compared to the film the individual development was not as matured. Most anyone who has ever heard the story of Driving Miss Daisy, has heard it from it’s now dated 1989 movie starring Morgan Freeman and Jessica Tandy. The story begins with Miss Daisy clashing with her son on whether she needs a chauffeur after her miraculous car crash. After finally giving into her son, …show more content…
The 1958 bombing of Atlanta 's oldest synagogue for its support of racial freedom prompts Hoke to observe that African-Americans have long been subjected to discrimination and racism. In a later scene Miss Daisy’s son turns down an invitation to a Martin Luther King dinner in angst that he would not be accepted in his line of business. One of my favorite scenes from the play came from Miss Daisy being driven by Hoke to go reminisce with her relatives. The scene conveys how different Hoke’s and Miss Daisy’s lives were growing up, Miss Daisy recalls her first time to see the ocean, and Hoke tells of a heartbreaking story about seeing a colored man hang from a tree. Considering the play ran for about as long as the film, the play does a fantastic job of developing the emotional relationship between the two lead roles, but does a subpar job of developing the characters as individuals. If you have not seen the film version of Driving Miss Daisy, then I recommend you go see this play. On the other hand, if you have seen the film you will not get much out of the Broadway