James Earl Jones Joins Mayor Bloomberg for MLK Program, 1/17

Tony Award-winner James Earl Jones, currently starring on Broadway in the hit revival of Driving Miss Daisy, will appear with Mayor Michael Bloomberg at a breakfast commemorating Martin Luther King Day on Monday, January 17, 2011.  Jones will make remarks about Dr. King at the program, which will also include City Council Speaker Christine Quinn.  The event will take place at Martin Luther King Jr. High School (122 Amsterdam Avenue) at 8:00 AM.
 
Driving Miss Daisy will also celebrate Martin Luther King Day later that evening, with a special talkback following the 8:00 PM performance on Monday, January 17.  The discussion will include Driving Miss Daisy's Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Alfred Uhry, its director David Esbjornson, and Dr. Vivaldi Jean-Marie, a Columbia University professor specializing in African American Philosophy.
 
Driving Miss Daisy 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 (Redgrave), a widowed, 72-year-old Jewish woman living in midcentury Atlanta, is deemed too old to drive, her son, Boolie (Gaines), hires Hoke Coleburn (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. 
 
Dr. King is an off stage presence in Driving Miss Daisy, and his impact on race relations in mid-century America serves as a catalyst for the evolution of Hoke and Daisy's relationship.  
The current smash hit revival of Driving Miss Daisy is now playing at the Golden Theatre (252 West 45 Street), where it opened to rave reviews on October 25, 2010 and was recently extended through Saturday, April 9, 2011.

Photo Credit: Walter McBride/WM Photos