A Streetcar Named Desire, with Cate Blanchett, to Play Kennedy Center and BAM
By Adam Hetrick
and Andrew Gans
22 Aug 2008
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Cate Blanchett
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The forthcoming Australian production of Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire, starring Academy Award winner Cate Blanchett, will be seen in the United States at both the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and the Brooklyn Academy of Music.
The Sydney Theatre Company production, under the direction of Oscar nominee Liv Ullman, is set to play Sydney Sept. 1-Oct. 10, 2009. The production will then tour to the Kennedy Center Oct. 29-Nov. 21, 2009, prior to making its New York debut Nov. 27-Dec. 20, 2009, at BAM.
Blanchett, who earned an Academy Award for her performance in "The Aviator," will star as Blanche DuBois in Williams' New Orleans-set classic. The BAM staging is a homecoming of sorts for the Oscar-winning actress – Blanchett made her U.S. stage debut at BAM in the Sydney Theatre Company production of Hedda Gabler in 2006.
Additional casting and creative duties for Streetcar have not been announced.
Sydney Theatre Company, under the artistic direction of Blanchett and her husband Andrew Upton, offered the following statement: "We're thrilled the production will tour to theUnited States. Working with director Liv Ullmann is an extraordinary opportunity for the Australian artists and creative team and it will be exhilarating for Sydney Theatre Company to tour a classic American play, as seen through our eyes, back to an American audience."
A Streetcar Named Desire premiered on Broadway at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre in Dec. 1947, playing 855 performances before closing in Dec. 1949. Directed by Elia Kazan, the original company boasted Jessica Tandy as Blanche, Marlon Brando as Stanley and Kim Hunter as Stella. The most recent Broadway revival — in 2005 at Studio 54 — starred John C. Reilly, Natasha Richardson and Amy Ryan.
Cate Blanchett won the Academy Award for her performance in "The Aviator"; she was also Oscar-nominated for her work in "Elizabeth: The Golden Age," "I'm Not There," "Notes on a Scandal" and "Elizabeth." The actress starred in Hedda Gabler at New York's Brooklyn Academy of Music, and her acting credits at the Syndey Theatre Company include productions of Caryl Churchill's Top Girls, Timothy Daly's Kafka Dances and David Mamet's Oleanna. Blanchett also appeared on the London stage in David Hare's Plenty.
For more information visit sydneytheatre.com.au.
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