Theater review: 'Daisy' a great play with players to match

Regardless of the Civil War's outcome, the South still has a lilt and language that sets it apart from other U.S. regions. Playwright Alfred Uhry, who was born in Atlanta, rendered these qualities with impeccable perception in "Driving Miss Daisy." Likewise, American Stage Theatre Company has produced a flawless version of the 1987 Pulitzer Prize-winning play.

In 1948 Atlanta, Daisy Werthan (Ann Morrison) is 72 years old and no longer able to drive safely. To Daisy's consternation, her son Boolie (Steve Garland) hires Hoke Colburn (Bob Devin Jones) to chauffeur her around town. He is a black man in the still-segregated South; she is a Jew whose Southern sensibilities and white skin hide her kinship to targets of discrimination.

It takes six days before Daisy trusts Hoke enough to take her to the Piggly Wiggly, and those same six days before her pride takes a back seat to reason. From there the business arrangement evolves into a color-blind friendship that lasts 25 years.

Garland, Jones and Morrison more than honored Uhry's tender story with their outstanding performances. Garland inhabited the role of Boolie, wearing his character like a well-made seersucker suit. He was the responsible son concerned for his mother's well being. And even more impressive, he grasped the makeup of a Southern Jew: assimilated into the new world but an old-world peddler at heart.

Together, Jones and Morrison crafted a beautiful parallel between Hoke and Daisy. Jones played the bright but illiterate driver with poise and wit. He didn't gag the audience with sickly-sweet sentimentality. Rather, he elegantly presented Hoke as an unselfconscious, caring man of the highest morals.

At his side was Morrison's spitfire - a proud, cranky old lady who is set in her ways. She was a most charming fusspot, nudging her way to the car's front seat with her sharp backseat driving. It wasn't just that Uhry penned a delightfully crotchety character; Morrison breathed life into this woman, even while aging 25 years and stilling her palsied hand at a nursing home.

Under T. Scott Wooten's direction, scene changes seemed almost choreographed as the actors moved from living room to car to office and back.

"Driving Miss Daisy" is yet another must-see American Stage production, both for the performances and the rich content of Uhry's play.

THEATER REVIEW

'Driving Miss Daisy'

WHEN: Through April 18; 7:30 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday, 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday

WHERE: American Stage Theatre Company at the Raymond James Theatre, 163 Third St. N., St. Petersburg; call (727) 823-7529 or visit www.americanstage.org

HOW MUCH: $26-$45, depending on date and time of performance

RUNNING TIME: 85 minutes