'Driving Miss Daisy' at the Golden Theatre

On Wednesday night we went to see 'Driving Miss Daisy' at the Golden Theatre, with Vanessa Redgrave, James Earl Jones and Boyd Gaines. It's a short play, lasting about 1:40 hours with no half time.

The play opens with Miss Daisy's son, Boolie (Boyd), trying to persuade her to hire a chauffeur since her driving is getting worse against her continued refusal to do so. He then hires Hoke behind her back and imposes him on her, and so we have a battle of wills, with the amiable Hoke trying to win over his employers' mother and convince her to let him drive her to the shops. It's quite a charming tale of two old people getting to know one another and their foibles set against a backdrop of the 50s and 60s in the South, social unrest and the civil rights movement.

I quite liked the play, a gentle introduction to Broadway and the madness outside with hailstones and snow, the seething masses of Times Square and endless honking of traffic. It was a masterclass from Vanessa on the art of aging on stage, quite strange to see that happening right in front of you as I watched her shoulders gradually rounding and her stooping slowly becoming more pronounced, an excellent performance. They were all excellent, with James Earl Jones giving us a blend of amiable old man and someone who's tired of being talked down to and Boyd Gaines providing the movement of the show as the son (I saw Boyd in 'Gypsy' a few years ago). The performances were all excellent but I found the play a bit picaresque, with lots of short scenes that never developed. It seemed like as soon as the characters were comfortable in a new scene it ended rather than going somewhere.

Still, it was an enjoyable first play of this trip and we made the discovery of a new trend for Broadway shows, apparently picked up from theme parks - when you get a drink at the bar you also buy (as part of the price) a plastic tumbler with marketing on the side (either the name of the show or of the theatre group) and a 'non-spill' lid. This means the bar staff can say you get a discount when you go back at half time to fill it up again. Why this has been introduced is a mystery but it's another souvenir of the theatrical experience I suppose, along with the free playbill, but it's odd walking through the streets back to the hotel with snow drifting down and clutching an empty plastic beaker in freezing fingers. I now have a small collection of those tumblers.