Chauffeur Hauteur
The movie Driving Miss Daisy snagged a Best Picture Oscar in 1989, but its tale of an elderly lady and her black chauffeur was originally a Pulitzer Prize-winning play — one of three written by dramaturge Alfred Uhry to portray Jewish culture in the Deep South. Set in 1948 Atlanta, the play concerns a proud 72-year-old white woman whose son insists she hire someone to help her get around safely. Aggrieved by the imposition on her independence, Miss Daisy at first distrusts her new employee, Hoke Colburn, but the pair eventually overcome their considerable differences to form a close friendship amid the era’s seething racial and religious tensions. Motor fast to catch the last week of Northern Stage’s production.

‘Driving Miss Daisy’, Wednesday through Sunday, March 12-16, Briggs Opera House, White River Junction, see calendar listings for various times. $17-48. Info, 296-7000. www.northernstage.org.

Keeping Score
In the European tradition of chamber music performance, instrumentalists strive to communicate the purpose of every aural detail, treating the notes and phrases of a composition like words in a poem. The London-based Florestan Trio epitomizes that style of expression. Violinist Anthony Marwood, cellist Richard Lester and pianist Susan Tomes have been performing together since 1995, to outstanding reviews. Tomes knows a little something about critical analysis — the first woman to read music in the 400-year history of King’s College, Cambridge, she’s also an opinion columnist for The Guardian. Judge the Florestan sound for yourself at a Middlebury program of works by Haydn, Brahms and Charles Ives.

Florestan Trio, Friday, March 14, Concert Hall, Mahaney Center for the Arts, Middlebury College, 8 p.m. $12-15. Info, 443-6433. www.florestantrio.com

All In The Family
The Canadian band Leahy isn’t your average trad-folk outfit: Its eight members are brothers and sisters who grew up on an Ontario farm. (The Leahys aren’t related to Vermont’s senior U.S. senator, but eldest brother Donnell is married to Cape Breton-based fiddle phenom Natalie MacMaster.) Known for their energetic yet down-home approach to Celtic tunes, the siblings specialize in fiddle-driven instrumental music, augmented by keyboards, vocals and percussion. Concerts typically end with a step-dancing octet finale that, in the words of one Time Out New York reviewer, “makes Riverdance look like Lawrence Welk re-runs.” The group’s St. Patrick’s Day show fits right into a host of Emerald Isle-themed events that compose this week’s Burlington Irish Heritage Festival. Check the calendar listings for ways to “go green” that don’t involve viridescent beer.

Leahy, Monday, March 17, Flynn MainStage, Burlington, 7:30 p.m. $29-39. Info, 863-5966. www.leahymusic.com www.vtirishfestival.org

Folk Tales
Be they ballads, chanteys or introspec-tive personal narratives, folk songs are first and foremost stories. Lucy Kaplansky knows how to write — and sing — super sagas. The crackerjack harmonizer started out crooning in Chicago bars, then connected with a Big Apple community of song scribes — including Suzanne Vega, John Gorka and Shawn Colvin — on her way to launching a solo career. Enigmatic singer-songwriter Richard Shindell (pictured) played guitar in the Razzy Jazzy Spasm Band with a young Gorka; now he’s known as a master builder of songs that veer from the bitterly comic to the profoundly spiritual. The two bards team up for a double bill at the Barre Opera House this weekend.

Lucy Kaplansky & Richard Shindell, Friday, March 14, Barre Opera House, 8 p.m. $10-26. Info, 476-8188. www.barreoperahouse.org