A Street Car Named Desire

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars (Read why below)

A new take on the classic musical is taking on a whole new rhythm as the greatest southern gothic melodrama from America’s most celebrated playwright sizzles onto the stage at The Broadhurst Theatre.

Synopsis

A Streetcar Named Desire was written in 1947 by Tennessee Williams and is considered to be on the most important plays of the 20th century. One of the reasons for the play’s startling success was Marlon Brando’s portrayal of the brutal lead character Stanley Kowalski, both on Broadway and in the 1951 film version which was directed by Elia Kazan and won 4 Academy Awards. The play has been revived multiple times over the last decade including stage versions starring Tallulah Bankhead (1956), Alec Baldwin and Jessica Lange (1992), John C. Reilly and Amy Ryan (2005), Rachel Weisz (2010) where she won an Olivier Award for Best Actress and a TV version of the Baldwin/Lange production (1995). A Street Car Named Desire has also been attempted as an Opera and Ballet. The play has a number of famous quotes including Stanley Kowalski’s screaming of his wife’s name: “Stelllaaaaa!” and Blanche DuBois’s dreamy pontifications “Some things are not forgivable. Deliberate cruelty is not forgivable! It is the one unforgivable thing, in my opinion, and the one thing of which I have never, never been guilty.” and her final line of the play “Whoever you are, I have always depended on the kindness of strangers.”

More about the musical

Blanche DuBois, an escapist Southern beauty under the delusion that she is cultured, classy and virtuous arrives at her sister Stella Kowalski’s apartment in the French Quarter of New Orleans after taking a streetcar (the local transportation system) along the “Desire” route. She is taken aback by the raw and dirty feeling this part of the city seems to have.
Stella is uneasy about Blanche’s arrival, mainly due to fears of how her husband Stanley will react but relents when she hears that the family plantation has been ‘lost’ and that Blanche was given leave from her work as a teacher to recover from her ‘nerves.’ In reality, Blanche was fired for having an affair with a 17-year-old student (one of many) and after discovering her husband was having a homosexual affair followed by his suicide she has lost herself into a cosy world of fantasy. Stanley Kowalski returns home from his job as a factory parts salesman and despises Blanche almost on sight. His rough, unkempt, brutal and straightforward ways grate against Blanche’s airy, pretentious dallying and the friction begins. Blanche’s presence tips the balance of Stella and Stanley’s relationship and war begins; Blanche likening Stanley to an ape behind his back and Stanley approaching Blanche in an increasingly aggressive manner. His attitude grows crueler once he discovers the truth about Blanche’s past and the hypocrisy of the pretense she is putting on. Eventually Stella has Blanche committed to a mental asylum and their lives return to normal.

The film of ‘A Street Car Named Desire’ vs musical

• Marlon Brando starred in both the original play and the 1951 film but Jessica Tandy (who starred in the theatre version) was not brought into the film version. Vivien Leigh played Blanche in the film.

• References to homosexuality were removed for the film version due to the Hays Code (moral censorship guidelines), but they are still present in the musical.

• The current 2012 Broadway version of the play is the first all black version. The characters in previous productions have always been white.

Review of the show

Melancholic drama musical with only black actors and actresses, now in a new version. Very interesting story and excellent music.

Where to see A Street Car Named Desire?

The play can be seens at Broadhurst Theatre, 235 W. 44th Street, NY, NY 10036

Cheap Tickets to A Street Car Named Desire in New York

Tickets can be bought from a few different secure websites online, such as the official site, TicketMaster or TicketNetwork.

Other theatre shows worth visiting in New York

There are plenty of other spectacular shows to see on Broadway. Read our reviews of Memphis, Jersey Boys, Wicked, Mary Poppins and Ghost to name a few.