Angela Lansbury in Driving Miss Daisy on PBS

Sure, it's dated. But I think it's a lovely little look at history and deeply moving. I enjoyed the revival. I thought the simple, stark staging was gorgeous. But I couldn't warm to Vanessa Redgrave, no matter how terrific she is. Lansbury, however, is magnificent.

I loathed this production when it was on Broadway, and I couldn't take more than 20 minutes of the otherwise wonderful Lansbury and Jones lumbering and mugging their way through it on the PBS broadcast. Driving Miss Daisy is a gentle, Pulitzer Prize-winning piece of theatrical magic written for two actors in their 50s (aging before our eyes through acting alone — 25 years in 80 minutes) with set pieces and the passage of time beautifully left to the audience's imagination. I hate to be one of those "You shoulda been there!" guys, but the original 1987 New York production with Dana Ivey (46 at the time) and Morgan Freeman (50) was breathtaking. I have never seen finer, more moving performances, or a story told so simply, so beautifully. The work in its original intended form became an instant classic, and deservedly so. Nearly 30 years later, every director and his dog has had to have his or her "take" on what was originally elegant perfection, and Driving Miss Daisy is now, more often than not, seen in overblown, miscast, magic-free form. As it was last night on PBS.

Updated On: 7/19/15 at 09:50 PM