A Streetcar Named Desire, with Blanchett, Pulls Into Kennedy Center; Run Is Sold Out

By Adam Hetrick
29 Oct 2009

Cate Blanchett
Cate Blanchett

The Sydney Theatre Company production of A Streetcar Named Desire, starring Academy Award-winning actress Cate Blanchett, makes its U.S. debut at the Kennedy Center Oct. 29.

Oscar nominee Liv Ullman directs the Tennessee Williams classic, presented at the Eisenhower Theatre through Nov. 21. The Kennedy Center engagement, which officially opens Oct. 31, is sold-out.

Following the Washington, DC, run, Streetcar will play the Brooklyn Academy of Music Nov. 27-Dec. 20. (Due to demand, tickets for the New York engagement are only available to BAM patrons, with new memberships currently available. A limited number of partial-view tickets are also available to the general public).

Blanchett ("Benjamin Button," "Elizabeth") stars as Blanche DuBois with Joel Edgerton as Stanley Kowalski and Robin McLeavy as Stella Kowalski. The Australian company also features Michael Denkha, Elaine Hudson, Gertraud Ingeborg, Morgan David Jones, Russell Kiefel, Jason Klarwein, Mandy McElhinney, Tim Richards, Sara Zwangobani and musician Alan John.

Designing the production are Ralph Myers (scenic design), Nick Schlieper (lighting design), Tess Schofield (costume design) and Paul Charlier (sound design).

Sydney Theatre Company, under the artistic direction of Blanchett and her husband Andrew Upton, offered the previous statement: "We're thrilled the production will tour to the United 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."

STC press notes for the play read: "Downtown New Orleans. In blows Blanche DuBois: a Southern Belle, a fading beauty, a passionate, fragile thing. And she really is in the wrong place. All her respectability, politenesses and old-fashioned Southern airs and graces provoke the disdain of her sister Stella's husband. Stanley is a rough, modern man with a coarse sense of humour, no interest in manners and a wild streak. Her flirting, primping and needy behaviour fix Stanley's determination to break Blanche and all she stands for. And then she wins the heart of his poker buddy, Mitch."

A Streetcar Named Desire premiered on Broadway at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre in December 1947, playing 855 performances before closing in December 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, the late 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 Sydney 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.

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