The New Jewish Theatre is having a grand start to its 20th season. Opening the year with the brilliant Golda’s Balcony, it continues with the best Driving Miss Daisy I’ve seen in years. Artistic director Kathleen Sitzer takes on the role of Daisy Werthan. While she’s curmudgeonly and recalcitrant, as might be expected from a Southern Jewish woman in 1948, her passionate support of Martin Luther King, enthusiastic acceptance of her changing world, and relationship with her driver Hoke Coleburn are all as charming and delightful as can be.
As Hoke, the always talented J. Samuel Davis has a number of brilliant moments, especially in his humorous scenes with Eric Dean White’s Boolie Werthan. White’s Boolie is always the calm in his mother’s storms, and both men give Daisy her head, and then change her course, with love and respect. The result is a charming and emotional evening.
The three actors create a lovely ensemble and emphasize the grace and humor in the script. A scene when Daisy teaches an illiterate Hoke to recognize a name on a tombstone was particularly affecting. Costumer Michelle Friedman Silar received her own well-earned laugh with Boolie’s golf ensemble.
Sydnie Grosberg Ronga’s deft direction and playwright Alfred Uhry’s succinct scenes move the story from 1948 to 1973 seamlessly in 35 pages. It is testament to their skills that the 90-minute play feels so full and nuanced.
My only complaint was that Dunsi Dai’s set design felt unfinished rather than minimalistic. But that’s a small criticism in an otherwise exceptional evening.
The Fox celebrated Christmas a little early this month with a solid touring production of Annie. This iconic, completely American musical features a delightful Tori Bates as Annie. What made this show particularly charming were the hordes of rapt children in the audience and the one little lady behind me, singing along.
Annie and Driving Miss Daisy both speak to low points in American History: the Great Depression and institutionalized Southern segregation, respectively.
Viewed in the current political climate, it makes me ponder the concept of change, with three steps forward, four steps back and an inability to stop making the same mistakes. Art always turns the glass toward us. How often do we admire the reflection?
Pictured: Kathleen Sitzer and J. Samuel Davis in Driving Miss Daisy
Photo: Eric Woolsey
