Driving Miss Daisy extends with original cast

Alfred Uhry's Pulitzer Prize-winning play, Driving Miss Daisy, extends its Broadway premiere engagement by 10 weeks, through to 9 Apr 2011.

The play's original cast, Tony Award-winners James Earl Jones, Vanessa Redgrave and Boyd Gaines, will all remain with the production.

Playwright Uhry said, "It's so wonderful that Driving Miss Daisy, which I wrote almost 25 years ago, continues to resonate with audiences today. It's a dream to see it staged with such a wonderful cast."

In a joint statement from the actors, Jones, Redgrave and Gaines said "We're all having such a wonderful time with each other and with Alfred's play. We are delighted to be continuing."

Directed by David Esbjornson ('The Goat, Or Who Is Sylvia?'), Driving Miss Daisy opened at the John Golden Theatre on 25 Oct 2010, following previews from 7 Oct 2010, and was originally scheduled to play a sixteen-week limited engagement through to 29 Jan 2011.

The show opened to mixed, but mostly excellent reviews: The whole point here is the leads, and they bask in the spotlight without ever appearing to hog it (NY Post); Enchanting revival of "Driving Miss Daisy" is the best theater can be (Bloomberg); This ride is owned by the players. They don't drive all that far but the human journey is infinite. (NY1)

Driving Miss Daisy: When 'Daisy Werthan' (Redgrave), a widowed, 72-year-old Jewish woman living in midcentury Atlanta, is deemed too old to drive, her son (Gaines) hires 'Hoke Colburn' (Jones), 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.

Driving Miss Daisy is produced on Broadway by Jed Bernstein and Adam Zotovich.

The play was produced Off-Broadway by Playwright Horizons, where it played 1,195 performances at the John Houseman Theatre from 15 Apr 1987 - 3 Jun 1990. The production was directed by Ron Lagomarsino, and starred Dana Ivey as 'Daisy Werthan' and Morgan Freeman as 'Hoke Coleburn.'

Driving Miss Daisy was adapted into a screenplay, and released as a movie in 1989. Directed by Bruce Beresford, Morgan Freeman reprised his role as 'Hoke Coleburn' and was joined by actress Jessica Tandy, who played 'Daisy Werthan.' The movie was nominated for nine Academy Awards, and won four. It is the only film based on an off-Broadway production ever to win an Academy Award for Best Picture.