Production History
December 4, 1947
Ethel Barrymore Theatre
New York City, NY
Produced by: Irene M. Seiznick Staged by: Elia Kazan Scenery & Lights: Jo Mielziner Costumes: Lucinda Ballard The rest of the acting is also of very hight quality indeed. Marlon Brando as the quick-tempered, scornful, violent mechanic; Karl Malden as a stupid but wondering suitor; Kim Hunter as the patient though troubled sister--all act not only with color and style but with insight. Brooks Atkinson, New York Times
New York Times (1923-Current file); Dec 4, 1947
ProQuest Historical Newspapers The New York Times (1851-2006) pg. 42
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September-October, 2007
New Repertory Theatre
Watertown, MA
Director: Rick Lombardo
Scenic Design: Janie E. Howland
Lighting Design: John Malinowski
Costumes: Frances Nelson McSherry
Properties: Erik D. Diaz
Outwardly shy, a little bumbling, Wilder's Mitch contains hidden depts of longing, fury, and fear. Just watch his face as Mitch tells Blanche that his mother is ill: Wordlessly, with no gesture bigger than a blink and a compression of his lips, Wilder shows us Mitch's dread of her and his need to keep that dread in check. It's devastating - and it gives humanity and shading to Mitch's more famous moment later on, when he forces Blanche into the light so he can see how old she is.
Louise Kennedy, Boston Globe
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/living/articles/2007/09/18/this_streetcar_is_true_to_williams_and_to_itself
Everyone knows the film, and everyone's heard someone yell "Stella" in his or her best Marlon Brando voice. As Stanley, Todd Alan Johnson tries a bit too hard not to be Brando, and the result is an oddly South Jersey-sounding Stanley whose apish, aggressive walk belies the soft qualities Johnson brings to the role. Brute is better, at least in the Kowalski household.
Nick Dussault, Metro Boston News
http://www.metrobostonnews.com/us/article/2007/09/20/02/4611-72/index.xml
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April, 2009
McLennan College
Waco, TX
Director: Jim Rambo
Scenic & Lighting Design: Kelly Parker
Costumes: Kathleen Cochran
Stella, the play's pivotal character in that she has to make both Stanley and Blanche believable and sympathetic, does so with a solid, honest performance that makes credible her forgiveness of her husband's violence.
Carl Hoover, Waco Tribune
http://www.wacotrib.com/blogs/staff/sound_sight/pierce-a-compelling-stanley-in-mcc_streetcar
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November-December 2009
Sydney Theatre Company's Revival
Director: Liv Ullmann
Scenic Designer: Ralph Myers
Costumes: Tess Schofield
Lighting: Nick Schlieper
I confess that in the final scene of the 3-hour 15-minute production -- when Blanchett's spectral Blanche is stripped so entirely of the sustaining illusions of life that she looks as if all her blood's been drained away --I lost it.
Peter Marks, The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/01/AR2009110101906.html
Ever since Brando set Broadway abuzz in the original stage production in 1947, Stanley--the young, ruthless, sexual animal who is married to Blanche's sister, Stella--has usually been presented as Blanche's equal, in terms of both thematic import and star presence. But Ms. Ullmann's production makes it clear that in "Streetcar" it is Blanche who evolves, struggles and falls as heroes classically have.
Ben Brantley, The New York Times
http://theater.nytimes.com/2009/12/03/theatre/reviews/03streetcar.html
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May-August 2010
Writers' Theatre
Glencoe, IL
Director: David Cromer
Scenic Design: Collette Pollard
Lighting Design: Heather Gilbert
Costumes: Janice Pytel
Properties: Meredith Miller
Sound Design: Josh Schmidt
Cromer's version of "A Streetcar Named Desire" makes some unconventional choices. Cromer stages the shadows that dance in Blanche's head--her unfortunate affair with a fellow who turned out to be a "degenerate," the lost young man who was her malancholy love. And yet Natasha Lowe's uptight Blanche has little in the way of faded Southern gentility; she's more of a full-on talky, prissy neurotic, messing up her long-suffering sister's messy but otherwise viable marriage.
Chris Jones, Chicago Tribune
www.writerstheatre.org/tools/assets/files/05.14_CT_Review.pdf
Hawkin's Stanley strikes us as less macho, more posturing than the standard Brando-Xerox. The actor brings out the juvenile and the insecure in his Polish-accented Stanley Kowalski, for whom his sister-in-law's arrival is a vivid reminder that his wife married below her station. Stoltz brings her usual unadulterated, aching honesty to her role, making Stella seem more substantial than she often does.
Kris Vire, Time Out Chicago
http://chicago.timeout.com/articles/theater/85782/a-streetcar-named-desire-at-writers-theatre.html
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ethel Barrymore Theatre
New York City, NY
Produced by: Irene M. Seiznick Staged by: Elia Kazan Scenery & Lights: Jo Mielziner Costumes: Lucinda Ballard The rest of the acting is also of very hight quality indeed. Marlon Brando as the quick-tempered, scornful, violent mechanic; Karl Malden as a stupid but wondering suitor; Kim Hunter as the patient though troubled sister--all act not only with color and style but with insight. Brooks Atkinson, New York Times
New York Times (1923-Current file); Dec 4, 1947
ProQuest Historical Newspapers The New York Times (1851-2006) pg. 42
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
September-October, 2007New Repertory Theatre
Watertown, MA
Director: Rick Lombardo
Scenic Design: Janie E. Howland
Lighting Design: John Malinowski
Costumes: Frances Nelson McSherry
Properties: Erik D. Diaz
Outwardly shy, a little bumbling, Wilder's Mitch contains hidden depts of longing, fury, and fear. Just watch his face as Mitch tells Blanche that his mother is ill: Wordlessly, with no gesture bigger than a blink and a compression of his lips, Wilder shows us Mitch's dread of her and his need to keep that dread in check. It's devastating - and it gives humanity and shading to Mitch's more famous moment later on, when he forces Blanche into the light so he can see how old she is.
Louise Kennedy, Boston Globe
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/living/articles/2007/09/18/this_streetcar_is_true_to_williams_and_to_itself
Everyone knows the film, and everyone's heard someone yell "Stella" in his or her best Marlon Brando voice. As Stanley, Todd Alan Johnson tries a bit too hard not to be Brando, and the result is an oddly South Jersey-sounding Stanley whose apish, aggressive walk belies the soft qualities Johnson brings to the role. Brute is better, at least in the Kowalski household.
Nick Dussault, Metro Boston News
http://www.metrobostonnews.com/us/article/2007/09/20/02/4611-72/index.xml
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
April, 2009
McLennan College
Waco, TX
Director: Jim Rambo
Scenic & Lighting Design: Kelly Parker
Costumes: Kathleen Cochran
Stella, the play's pivotal character in that she has to make both Stanley and Blanche believable and sympathetic, does so with a solid, honest performance that makes credible her forgiveness of her husband's violence.
Carl Hoover, Waco Tribune
http://www.wacotrib.com/blogs/staff/sound_sight/pierce-a-compelling-stanley-in-mcc_streetcar
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
November-December 2009
Sydney Theatre Company's Revival
Director: Liv Ullmann
Scenic Designer: Ralph Myers
Costumes: Tess Schofield
Lighting: Nick Schlieper
I confess that in the final scene of the 3-hour 15-minute production -- when Blanchett's spectral Blanche is stripped so entirely of the sustaining illusions of life that she looks as if all her blood's been drained away --I lost it.
Peter Marks, The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/01/AR2009110101906.html
Ever since Brando set Broadway abuzz in the original stage production in 1947, Stanley--the young, ruthless, sexual animal who is married to Blanche's sister, Stella--has usually been presented as Blanche's equal, in terms of both thematic import and star presence. But Ms. Ullmann's production makes it clear that in "Streetcar" it is Blanche who evolves, struggles and falls as heroes classically have.
Ben Brantley, The New York Times
http://theater.nytimes.com/2009/12/03/theatre/reviews/03streetcar.html
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
May-August 2010
Writers' Theatre
Glencoe, IL
Director: David Cromer
Scenic Design: Collette Pollard
Lighting Design: Heather Gilbert
Costumes: Janice Pytel
Properties: Meredith Miller
Sound Design: Josh Schmidt
Cromer's version of "A Streetcar Named Desire" makes some unconventional choices. Cromer stages the shadows that dance in Blanche's head--her unfortunate affair with a fellow who turned out to be a "degenerate," the lost young man who was her malancholy love. And yet Natasha Lowe's uptight Blanche has little in the way of faded Southern gentility; she's more of a full-on talky, prissy neurotic, messing up her long-suffering sister's messy but otherwise viable marriage.
Chris Jones, Chicago Tribune
www.writerstheatre.org/tools/assets/files/05.14_CT_Review.pdf
Hawkin's Stanley strikes us as less macho, more posturing than the standard Brando-Xerox. The actor brings out the juvenile and the insecure in his Polish-accented Stanley Kowalski, for whom his sister-in-law's arrival is a vivid reminder that his wife married below her station. Stoltz brings her usual unadulterated, aching honesty to her role, making Stella seem more substantial than she often does.
Kris Vire, Time Out Chicago
http://chicago.timeout.com/articles/theater/85782/a-streetcar-named-desire-at-writers-theatre.html
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