James Earl Jones and Vanessa Redgrave to Star in Broadway's Driving Miss Daisy

By Andrew Gans
29 Jun 2010

James Earl Jones
James Earl Jones
Photo by Aubrey Reuben

Producers Jed Bernstein and Adam Zotovich announced June 29 that Tony Award winners James Earl Jones and Vanessa Redgrave will return to the New York stage this fall in the Broadway premiere of Alfred Uhry's Pulitzer Prize-winning play, Driving Miss Daisy.

Directed by David Esbjornson (The Goat, Or Who Is Sylvia?), previews will begin Oct. 7 at the John Golden Theatre with an official opening Oct. 25.

From its Off-Broadway production in 1987 to the success of the Oscar-winning film version (four Academy Awards, including Best Picture), Driving Miss Daisy, according to press notes, "is a timeless, searing, funny, and ultimately hopeful meditation on race relations in America, told through the complex relationship between two of popular culture's most enduring characters. When Daisy Werthan, a widowed, 72-year-old Jewish woman living in midcentury Atlanta, is deemed too old to drive, her son hires Hoke Colburn, an African American man, to serve as her chauffeur. What begins as a troubled and hostile pairing, soon blossoms into a profound, life-altering friendship that transcends all the societal boundaries placed between them."

In addition to the Pulitzer Prize, Uhry received the Academy Award for his screenplay of Driving Miss Daisy, and is the recipient of two Tony Awards – for his play The Last Night of Ballyhoo (Best Play 1997), and his book for the musical Parade (1998).

James Earl Jones won Tony Awards for his performances in The Great White Hope and Fences and was also Tony-nominated for his work in On Golden Pond. The actor has also been seen on Broadway in Cat On a Hot Tin Roof, "MASTER HAROLD"…and the boys, Othello, A Lesson from Aloes, Paul Robeson, Of Mice and Men, The Iceman Cometh, Les Blancs, A Hand Is on the Gate, Danton's Death, Infidel Caesar, The Cool Wind and Sunrise at Campobello. Jones' screen credits are numerous and include an Oscar-nominated performance in "The Great White Hope" and Emmy-winning turns in "Gabriel's Fire" and "Heat Wave."

Vanessa Redgrave is a Tony winner for her performance as matriarch Mary Tyrone in the recent revival of Long Day's Journey Into Night, and she was also Tony-nominated for her work in The Year of Magical Thinking. The acclaimed actress also earned an Oscar for her performance the film "Julia."

Additional news about the production will be announced soon.