ATW - Downstage Center

Alfred Uhry (#289) - October, 2010


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Playwright Alfred Uhry recalls the original production of "Driving Miss Daisy" in 1987 at Playwrights Horizons, lists the actresses he's had the opportunity to see play the title role - based directly on his own grandmother - and discusses the cast of the play's Broadway premiere. He also talks about his Atlanta upbringing and being the beneficiary of his mother's love of the stage; moving to New York after graduating from Brown University and his apprenticeship under the great Frank Loesser; the Broadway musical he regularly leaves out of his bio and resume, which featured a book by another novice, Terrence McNally; the good fortune that smiled on "The Robber Bridegroom", which featured Raul Julia, Kevin Kline and Barry Bostwick in successive New York incarnations; how the failure of his Al Capone musical "America's Sweetheart" led him to shift away from musicals towards playwriting with "Daisy"; drawing once again on his own family for "The Last Night of Ballyhoo"; collaborating with director Hal Prince and one living composer (Jason Robert Brown) and one deceased (Kurt Weill) for the musicals "Parade" and "LoveMusik"; and how his fact-based drama "Edgardo Mine" has now become "Divine Intervention". Original air date - October 13, 2010.
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ATW - Downstage CenterBy American Theatre Wing

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