There are plenty of reasons to make the drive to see “Driving Miss Daisy” at the Lake Dillon Theatre, 70 miles west of Denver.
The biggest: To take in the latest easygoing, openhearted performance by Denver Center Theatre Company veteran Harvy Blanks, who plays the, yes, easygoing and openhearted black chauffeur, Hoke, to a high-strung Southern Jewish widow in Alfred Uhry’s 1988 Pulitzer-Prize-winner.
Blanks, who helped make theater history when the Denver Center completed the August Wilson cycle under director Israel Hicks, was, most recently and lovingly, seen there in an astonishing, four-star production of another Pulitzer-winner, “Ruined.”
The Lake Dillon Theatre Company has been taking on crazy-big musicals like “Hair” and “Tommy” in its breadbox of a theater, but “Daisy” is really just right for this 60-seat space. This is just a three-person play but, despite its modesty and pedigree, it’s not often staged in Colorado — probably because of the difficulty in finding actors “of a certain age” capable of pulling off these very demanding roles. We’re talking Jessica Tandy and Morgan Freeman in the film; Vanessa Redgrave and James Earl Jones in the 2010 Broadway revival.
Here it’s Blanks and a promising young (at heart) spitfire named Diane Gadomski. In a series of brief scenes that span 90 minutes, she must convey this complex Atlanta matriarch who morphs from entitled, patronizing socialite to a crankypants boss and mother, to a confused and vulnerable old lady who can no longer hold a fork.
Not to mention while aging 25 years — that happen to be the among most tumultuous in American history (ending in 1973). This play drives us headlong into a horrific time in the South, when a black man was not legally allowed to use a public bathroom at a gas station.
This is not an overtly political play, nor is it a treacly Hallmark Hall of Fame special. It is, in its slightly subversive way, the believable story of an unlikely friendship — without ever being in denial of the burnings, bombings and protests of the time that might understandably prevent any kind of meaningful relationship to bloom between a rich white woman and her dirt-poor black employee.
Director Mare Trevathan elicits performances that are sensitive without sentiment. Gadomski seems a bit overmatched in a shaky start, when Daisy should be at her most regal and vital, but her performance gains in stature as Daisy loses hers. Her warm chemistry with the soft-spoken Blanks is evident. They’re at their best when her brittle bluster gives way to small acts of decency that take place quietly between them, like when Daisy passes Hoke a workbook she once used to teach 10-year-olds to read.
Tying things together nicely is the accomplished and much missed Chris Reid as Daisy’s complicated grown son, Boolie. Reid hasn’t been seen much on area stages since the Aurora Fox’s “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” in 2007, and his return to the stage is, in itself, evidence of why he’s been missed.
Reid avoids all the traps in presenting a decent businessman who is both exasperated and utterly charmed by his mischievous mother. His own character and world view evolve for the better in the longtime company of his mother’s caretaker — just not enough for him to risk his own place in Atlanta’s business community.
And that display of weakness is just the kind of thing that makes this very human character study so genuine. There is much truth in Uhry’s words. There is much truth in these performances.
The story plays out on the stage with not much more than two chairs, some nice lighting and sound enhancements, and detailed performances that fill in all the blank spaces. You notice it in the small moments, like when Boolie tells old blind Hoke something he already knows. Hoke takes the news calmly, but is the twitch in his hand a nervous tic – or the onset of a palsy? All three performances are filled with such subtleties, and the joy of seeing it all in such a small theater space is that we don’t miss any of them.
One compelling visual aspect of this staging is the original, modernist painting that covers the back wall of the stage and bleeds onto the stage floor. Over the painting, actors hang coats and props they will use throughout the performance.
The painting, by Jared Grohs, is inspired by an American modernist of the era named Arthur B. Carles. It tries, in its own surreal way, to depict different seasons and locations in the play, simply and evocatively.
“Driving Miss Daisy” is not an earth-shattering play. It has no bombastic exhortations; no heart-in-your-mouth lines (well, maybe one). It’s a play filled with small moments of quiet dignity between two most unlikely allies living together in a most undignified time.
It’s not a fantasy, but rather one playwright’s suggestion of how better off we might be as a country if only there were more Daisies and more Hokes who allowed themselves to really get to know each other over 25 years.
Definitely worth the drive.
“Driving Miss Daisy” ticket information *** (out of four stars)
Drama. Presented by the Lake Dillon Theatre Company, 176 Lake Dillon Dr., Dillon. Written by By Alfred Uhry. Directed by Mare Trevathan. Through Oct. 16. 90 minutes with no intermission. 6:30 p.m. Wednesdays, Thursdays and Sundays; 7:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays.
$21-$29. 970-513-9386 or lakedillontheatre.org
This week’s theater openings
Opening Tuesday, Oct. 4, through Oct. 16: National touring production of “Hair,” at the Buell Theatre
Opening Tuesday, Oct. 4, through Oct. 25: 73rd Avenue Theatre Company’s “The Vagina Monologues” (Tuesdays only) Westminster
Opening Thursday, Oct. 6, through Oct. 30: Denver Center Theatre Company’s “To Kill a Mockingbird,” at the Stage Theatre
Opening Thursday, Oct. 6, through Oct. 16: Arvada Center’s “Ragtime,” at the Lone Tree Arts Center
Opening Friday, Oct. 7, through Oct. 16: Performance Now’s “Meet Me in St. Louis” Lakewood
Opening Friday, Oct. 7, through Oct. 22: Naropa’s “The Tempest” Boulder
Opening Friday, Oct. 7, through Oct. 9: Stage Left’s “I Am My Own Wife” Salida
Opening Friday, Oct. 7, through Oct. 29: The Bug’s “Night of the Living Dead” (with PaperCat Films)
Opening Friday, Oct. 7, through Oct. 30: Cherry Creek Theatre’s “The Unexpected Guest”
Opening Friday, Oct. 7, through Oct. 16: Steel City Theatre Company’s “Nunsense,” at Central High School Pueblo
Opening Friday, Oct. 7, through Oct. 31: Mercury Cafe Motley Players’ “Making a Killing”
This week’s theater closings
Sunday, Oct. 2: Arvada Center’s “Ragtime”
Sunday, Oct. 2: Curtains Up’s “Carousel” Wheat Ridge
Saturday, Oct. 8: LIDA Project’s “Justin Bieber Meets Al Qaeda,” at Laundry on Lawrence
Sunday, Oct. 9: Denver Center Attractions’ “Love, Sex and the Second City,” at the Galleria Theatre
Sunday, Oct. 9: OpenStage’s “33 Variations” Fort Collins
Sunday, Oct. 9: Aurora Fox’s “Rashomon”
Sunday, Oct. 9: TheatreWorks’ “The 39 Steps” Colorado Springs
Sunday, Oct. 9: 73rd Avenue Theatre’s “Six Characters in Search of an Author” Westminster
Sunday, Oct. 9: Parker Arts Council’s “Steel Magnolias”
Most recent other theater openings
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“Assassins” New Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center artistic director Scott RC Levy debuts with Stephen Sondheim’s groundbreaking musical that gathers nine historical oddballs, from John Wilkes Booth to Lee Harvey Oswald, who assassinated (or tied to) U.S. presidents. Through Oct. 23. 30 W. Dale St., 719-634-5583 or
“God’s Ear” Regional premiere of a surreal new play by Jenny Schwartz that follows one young couple as they struggle to stay afloat after the death of their son — replete with tooth fairies and transvestite flight attendants. Through Oct. 15. Presented by the Catamounts at the Dairy Center, 2590 Walnut St., Boulder, 720-468-0487 or
“The Grapes of Wrath” John Steinbeck’s epic drama follows the Joad family as they journey from Oklahoma to California during the Great Depression. It’s staged here in a 69-seat theater, with three live musicians. Through Oct. 30. Vintage Theatre, 2119 E. 17th Ave., 303-839-1361 or
“Here Be Dragons” In this rumination on the origins of homosexuality, a severe electrical storm seemingly transports a gay man from his bed in a Texas hotel room to the living room of two college friends who wonder whether God is reaching out to him. Through Nov. 12. Dangerous Theatre, 2620 W. Second Ave., 720-233-4703 or . And here’s a
“The House of Blue Leaves”John Guare’s dark and bizarre 1971 pop-culture satire is about a never-was songwriter whose impossible dream is to break into the movies, and the menagerie of oddball characters back at home. Through Oct. 15. Thunder River Theatre, 67 Promenade, Carbondale, 970-963-8200 or
“Parlour Song” Poor Ned. He’s always losing things – like his birdbath. Lucky for him, his best friend, Dale, lives right next door. Then there’s Ned’s loving wife … if only she seemed slightly less sinister. In British playwright Jez Butterworth’s hands, one man’s mid-life crisis quickly becomes a fight for survival that’s fraught with humor, paranoia and the discomforts of home. Directed by Suzanne Favette, “Parlour Song” features Paragon Theatre co-founders Warren Sherrill and Michael Stricker, and ensemble member Emily Paton Davies. Through Oct. 29. 1387 S. Santa Fe Drive, 303-300-2210 or
“Slow Dance with a Hot Pickup” Boulder’s Dinner Theatre debuts this world-premiere musical by John Pielmeier (“Agnes of God”) about a marathon contest of surreal proportions — whoever holds on to a shiny new pick-up truck longest, wins it. Through Nov. 5. 5501 Arapahoe Ave., 303-449-6000 or
“Steel Magnolias” Robert Harding’s enduring comedy about six Southern women who harangue and laugh together through the best and worst of times. Through Oct. 9. Presented by the Parker Arts Council at the Parker Mainstreet Center, 19650 E. Main St., 303-840-5406 or
“The Vampire of Cripple Creek” The Thin Air Theatre Company’s original Halloween mystery about an eerie stranger who moves into the abandoned Collins Hotel. Through Oct. 30. At the Butte Theatre, 139 E. Bennett Ave., Cripple Creek, 719-235-8944 or
“Wait Until Dark” Frederick Knott’s classic 1966 thriller about a blind woman who stands in the way of three dangerous con men and a fortune hidden inside a child’s doll. Through Nov. 5. Presented by the Spotlight Theatre Company at the John Hand Theatre, 7653 E. First Place, 720-880-8727 or
Complete theater listings
Go to our complete list of in Colorado, including summaries, run dates, addresses, phones and links to every company’s home page. Or check out our listings or
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