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A Streetcar Named Desire
A Streetcar Named Desire
Written by	Tennessee Williams
Characters	Blanche DuBois; Stella Kowalski; Stanley Kowalski; Harold "Mitch" Mitchell;
Date premiered	December 3, 1947
Place premiered	Ethel Barrymore Theatre; New York City, New York
Original language	English
Genre	Southern Gothic
Setting	The French Quarter and Downtown New Orleans

A Streetcar Named Desire is a 1947 play written by American playwright Tennessee Williams^[1] that received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1948. The play opened on Broadway on December 3, 1947, and closed on December 17, 1949, in the Ethel Barrymore Theatre. The Broadway production was directed by Elia Kazan and starred Jessica Tandy, Marlon Brando, Karl Malden, and Kim Hunter.^[2] The London production opened in 1949 with Bonar Colleano, Vivien Leigh, Renee Asherson and Bernard Braden and was directed by Laurence Olivier.^[1] The drama A Streetcar Named Desire is often regarded as among the finest plays of the 20th century, and is considered by many to be Williams' greatest work.

Plot

After the loss of her family home, Belle Reve, to creditors, Blanche DuBois travels from the small town of Laurel, Mississippi, to the New Orleans French Quarter to live with her younger, married sister, Stella, and brother-in-law, Stanley Kowalski. Blanche is in her thirties and, with no money, has nowhere else to go.

Blanche tells Stella that she has taken a leave of absence from her English-teaching position because of her nerves (which is later revealed to be a lie). Blanche laments the shabbiness of her sister’s two-room flat. She finds Stanley loud and rough, eventually referring to him as "common". Stanley, in return, does not care for Blanche's manners and dislikes her presence cont

Stage productions

Original Broadway production

This is where any original production would be described.

The original Broadway production closed, after 855 performances, in 1949.

Original cast

Jessica Tandy as Blanche DuBois
Karl Malden as Harold "Mitch" Mitchell
Marlon Brando as Stanley Kowalski
Kim Hunter as Stella Kowalski
Rudy Bond as Steve Hubbell
Nick Dennis as Pablo Gonzales
Peg Hillias as Eunice Hubbell
Vito Christi as Young Collector
Richard Garrick as Doctor
Ann Dere as Nurse
Gee Gee James as Negro Woman
Edna Thomas as Mexican Woman

Revivals

The first all-black production of Streetcar was likely performed by the Summer Theatre Company at Lincoln University in Jefferson City, Missouri, in August 1953 and directed by one of Williams's former classmates at Iowa, Thomas D. Pawley, as noted in the Streetcar edition of the "Plays in Production" series published by Cambridge University Press. The black and cross-gendered productions of Streetcar since the mid-1950s are too numerous to list here.

In 2018, it headlined the third annual Tennessee Williams Festival St. Louis at the Grandel Theatre. Carrie Houk, the Festival's Executive Artistic Director, and Tim Ocel, the director of the play, chose to cast the play with actors whose ages were close to Tennessee Williams' original intentions. (The birthday party is for Blanche's 30th birthday.) Sophia Brown starred as Blanche, with Nick Narcisi as Stanley, Lana Dvorak as Stella, and Spencer Sickmann as Mitch. Henry Polkes composed the original score, and James Wolk designed the set. The critics were unanimous in their praise. ^[3]^[4]

Adaptations

Film

In 1951, a film adaptation of the play, directed by Elia Kazan, with Malden, Brando, and Hunter reprising their Broadway roles, joined by Vivien Leigh from the London production for the part of Blanche. The movie won four Academy Awards, including three acting awards (Leigh for Best Actress, Malden for Best Supporting Actor and Hunter for Best Supporting Actress), the first time a film won three out of four acting awards (Brando was nominated for Best Actor but lost). Composer Alex North received an Academy Award nomination for this, his first film score. Jessica Tandy was the only lead actor from the original Broadway production not to appear in the 1951 film. References to Allan Grey's sexual orientation are essentially removed, due to Motion Picture Production Code restrictions. Instead, the reason for his suicide is changed to a general "weakness".^[5] The ending itself was also slightly altered. Stella does not remain with Stanley, as she does in the play.

Inspirations

The streetcar took its name from Desire Street in the 9th Ward of New Orleans

The Desire Line ran from 1920 to 1948, at the height of streetcar use in New Orleans. The route ran down Royal, through the Quarter, to Desire Street in the Bywater district, and back up to Canal. Blanche's route in the play—"They told me to take a streetcar named Desire, transfer to one called Cemeteries and ride six blocks and get off at—Elysian Fields!"—is allegorical, taking advantage of New Orleans's colorful street names: the Desire line itself crossed Elysian Fields Avenue on its way to Canal Street. There, one could transfer to the Cemeteries line, which ran along Canal, blocks away from Elysian Fields.

The character of Blanche is thought to be based on Williams' sister, Rose Williams, who struggled with mental health issues and became incapacitated after a lobotomy.^[1]

Awards and nominations

Awards

1948 New York Drama Critics' Circle Best Play
1948 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play – Jessica Tandy
1948 Pulitzer Prize for Drama
1992 Theater World Award for Best Actress in a Play – Jessica Lange
2010 Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Play – Rachel Weisz
2010 Olivier Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Play - Ruth Wilson

Nominations

1988 Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play
1988 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play – Frances McDormand
1988 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play – Blythe Danner
1992 Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play – Alec Baldwin
2005 Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play – Amy Ryan
2005 Tony Award for Best Costume Design of a Play
2005 Tony Award for Best Lighting Design of a Play
2010 Olivier Award for Best Revival of a Play
2015 Olivier Award for Best Revival of a Play
2015 Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Play – Gillian Anderson

References

^ ^a ^b ^c Williams, Tennessee (1995). A Streetcar Named Desire. Introduction and text. Oxford: Heinemann Educational Publishers.
^ Production notes. December 3, 1947—December 17, 1949
^ Fenske, Sarah (May 11, 2018). "A Streetcar Named Desire Triumphs at the Tennessee Williams Festival". Riverfront Times.
^ Newmark, Judith (May 11, 2018). "'A Streetcar Named Desire' sizzles in its own poetry". St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
^ Cohan, Steven (1997). Masked Men: Masculinity and the Movies in the Fifties. Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press. p. 254. ISBN 0-253-21127-1. Retrieved July 11, 2008.

[play-1] Williams, Tennessee (1995). A Streetcar Named Desire. Introduction and text. Oxford: Heinemann Educational Publishers.

[ibdb-2] Production notes. December 3, 1947—December 17, 1949

[3] Fenske, Sarah (May 11, 2018). "A Streetcar Named Desire Triumphs at the Tennessee Williams Festival". Riverfront Times.

[4] Newmark, Judith (May 11, 2018). "'A Streetcar Named Desire' sizzles in its own poetry". St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

[Cohan1997-5] Cohan, Steven (1997). Masked Men: Masculinity and the Movies in the Fifties. Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press. p. 254. ISBN 0-253-21127-1. Retrieved July 11, 2008.

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