Riedel: Streetcar to take the Broadhurst- Page 2

[Gaveston2]

Posted: 1/26/12 at 3:36pm

Eric, Williams is my favorite playwright as well. I've dramaturged several productions and I think they usually go astray precisely because the historical context out of which they arose is misunderstood.

Certainly MENAGERIE, STREETCAR, SUDDENLY LAST SUMMER and even SUMMER AND SMOKE all concern nuclear families. And that focus on the family is why Williams became one of our two great, national playwrights (along with MILLER) and wasn't relegated to the secondary status of a "regional" writer.

But Williams was keenly aware that his families were influenced by the regions in which they lived: his personal, childhood experience of being yanked from rural Mississippi and transported to urban St. Louis taught him that much. To reduce his plays to family psychodramas is to greatly reduce their richness. (And would we say of Loraine Hansberry that her plays were "just" about personal relationships?)

P.S. The next time you're in Southern California, let's read through STREETCAR together. It really is a dramaturgical miracle.

[Gaveston2]

Posted: 1/26/12 at 3:50pm

AC, I think "definitive" (meaning a perfectly realized interpretation of the text) is aa fair synonym for "getting it right."

On the other hand, one might also argue that an idiosyncratic but well done production could "get it right" in a different way, which is why I asked what Eric meant.

I'm on record here that there are important socio-political issues in STREETCAR that will be obscured by multiracial casting. To that extent, this production will not "get it right."

On the other hand, I agree that Emily Mann is an excellent director. I can well imagine that she will produce something that is very "right", but that is at the same time very much the "Emily Mann STREETCAR", not the Tennessee Williams STREETCAR.

For all I know, Mann is using this production to explore racism and class conflict WITHIN the African-American community of the 1940s. And why not?

***

BTW, the original production was NOT seen to hinge on Blanche, but on Stanley. It was Vivien Leigh in the movie (and then countless drag reinterpretations) that gave us our contemporary focus on Blanche. (It probably didn't hurt that we all came to feel American society was getting progressively cruder.)

But after all, it is Stanley's home and family that are invaded. It is Stanley's marriage that an outsider tries to destroy.

[AC126748]

Posted: 1/26/12 at 3:56pm

Yes, but as others on this thread of have said (and you yourself concurred with), a production of STREETCAR can survive a mediocre Stanley, but it doesn't go very far without an excellent performance from the actress playing Blanche. The text may focus the action most directly in the realm of Stanley's world, but in many ways, Blanche is the character at the center of it. A production of this play cannot fly without a great Blanche.

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 1/26/12 at 3:56pm

I've really enjoyed reading again the article I mention above, and am going to linc here for anyone who might like to read about some of the other productions, approved by either Williams or his estate, that used multi-racial actors.

Here is a picture of Hilda Simms who was scheduled to be the 'first' black actress to play Blanche in 1958


Williams in Ebony

[newintown]

Posted: 1/26/12 at 3:58pm

Sorry, Gaveston, but that's just not true - not only has Williams said so explicitly, but a look at his work as a whole will show that the play is about Blanche. Stanley is Blanche's antagonist, and at the play's heart is a tragedy of a sensitive woman's descent into madness, a theme which Williams explored over and over and over.

The misapprehension that the play is about Stanley stems from viewers' sexual attraction to the actor playing the role; much the same as the misapprehension that Equus is about Alan Strang, when it is really about Dr. Dysart's struggle to find passion in a world where passion is dead.



Updated On: 1/26/12 at 03:58 PM

[AC126748]

Posted: 1/26/12 at 3:59pm

Thanks for linking, MB. A Sidney Poitier Stanley would have been something.

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 1/26/12 at 4:01pm

I think its the recent DVD reissue of STREETCAR that features an interview with Kazan in which he mentions that the Marlon Brando myth has been blown out of proportion, and that when one goes back to read the original New York reviews, they actually really do focus on Jessica Tandy's performance and Blanche as the center of the play.

[SonofRobbieJ]

Posted: 1/26/12 at 4:12pm

And, after just getting back from New Orleans, it is absolutely true that there were mixed-race Creole plantation owners, going back to the 1700's at the least. Isn't Free Man of Color about that? And yes, I learned that these plantation owners with African blood did indeed own slaves, as well.

I'm really wondering what they're going to use to replace 'dirty polack'. Do you really think they're going to go for 'dirty n*'??

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 1/26/12 at 4:20pm

According to that book I referenced, the 1958 production Williams was supposedly involved in doing some re-writes for was indeed to explore racial tension between 'a mixed race Blanche and a black Stanley, whom she felt racially as well as socially superior to,' so if they are using that production as any precedence for the work being done here, it doesn't seem out of the realm of possibility (at least in that version) for her to use that word...

The big question will be of course if this is just a color blind cast production or if its actually going to use the ethnicity of the casting to focus a directorial angle on the material.

[SonofRobbieJ]

Posted: 1/26/12 at 4:22pm

Well...that will be...explosive. And rather thrilling.

It's the idea that Rubin Vega getting pregnant that I might have to stretch to accomodate.

[Gaveston2]

Posted: 1/26/12 at 6:33pm

Yes, but as others on this thread of have said (and you yourself concurred with), a production of STREETCAR can survive a mediocre Stanley, but it doesn't go very far without an excellent performance from the actress playing Blanche. The text may focus the action most directly in the realm of Stanley's world, but in many ways, Blanche is the character at the center of it. A production of this play cannot fly without a great Blanche.

I agree. I was just pointing out that it was not always so, historically. To me, Blanche is very much the heart of the play. I recognize Brando's skill, but I was never a member of his cult.

And to be fair, Williams could have set the same story on the occasion of Stella and Stanley's first visit to Belle Rive. He could have written about the invasion of Blanche's home, but he chose to make Stanley the one whose personal space was threatened. (Myself, I think this was very smart. If it were Stanley invading Blanche we'd be left with a villain/victim story. As it is and as sympathetic as I find Blanche, I have to admit that Stanley has a genuine beef: his sister-in-law comes into his house and denounces him as an ape. Williams spreads out our sympathy out a bit by setting the play where he does.)

[Gaveston2]

Posted: 1/26/12 at 7:09pm

newintown, I'm well aware what Williams said, but I'm equally aware of how unreliable a reporter he was when it came to his own life and work. Even his MEMOIRS are full of errors.

Yes, as Blanche became an increasingly iconic character in American culture and Williams himself became increasingly fragile, he found it convenient to announce "I am Blance Dubois" and to discuss the play almost entirely in terms of how the fragile Blanche is driven to madness by the cruel Stanley.

But the evidence of the play says otherwise. Look at Scene 2. Stanley is actually quite welcoming to Blanche; his attitude is "family is family"--since Blanche is his wife's sister, she is welcome to stay with them.

Blanche, however, has told Stella that she (Blanche) knows best how to "handle" Stanley and begins her flirtation routine, complete with perfume and a feather boa. All of which strikes Stanley as dishonest. It is then and only then that battle is engaged, because in Stanley's eyes, Blanche isn't "straight" (meaning honest) and isn't to be trusted.

Things snowball from there.

This isn't to say the original production wasn't dominated by Brando's charisma. I'm sure it was. But the two antagonists are actually pretty well balanced for the first half of the play. The edge in the arms race goes to Stanley, however, in the form of the baby.

If Stella hadn't been pregnant when Blanche arrived, Blanche might very well have won that war.

[Gaveston2]

Posted: 1/26/12 at 7:17pm

I think its the recent DVD reissue of STREETCAR that features an interview with Kazan in which he mentions that the Marlon Brando myth has been blown out of proportion, and that when one goes back to read the original New York reviews, they actually really do focus on Jessica Tandy's performance and Blanche as the center of the play.

I believe you, Michael, that Kazan said as much. (And I checked: it was Tandy, not Brando, who was nominated for a Tony; just as it was Leigh, not Brando, who won the Oscar.)

Nonetheless, the myth arose for some reason. At the very least, it says something about how people remembered the production.

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 1/26/12 at 8:18pm

Gaveston--I'll take you up on that invite! Sounds fun :)

I do love Streetcar, and maybe part of me not choosing it as my personal top Williams show comes from when I first got into him as a teenager and often, I now see, would try to stick up for lesser known works. Certainly I know Orpheus Descending (which is at least in my top two) is NOT a favorite for many, and the original production apparently "got it wrong" (Williams of course blamed Elia Kazan who had helped him re-shape the play when he revised it allegorically from Battle of Angels, but then at the last minute opted out of directing it to instead direct Inge's Dark at the Top of the Stairs which started the whole period of Williams' resenting Inge after they had been so close). Although the televised adaptation of Peter Hall's 1980s revival with Vanessa Redgrave is often times rather brilliant--I wish it was on DVD and not just the crappy video I have.

I do think setting and era are very important ot the plays. It's also true that Williams felt that often his plays were handled too realistically--they can't be staged the way Miller was (Glass Menagerie often becomes almost maudlin when directors remove the more stylized stage directions and do it as a sort of TV drama). And it is true that Williams himself was interested in colour blind casting--or at least he wrote about his thoughts on it. (That said he was pretty horrified by Cocteau's original French production of Streetcar which took stylized to new heights what with its african native jungle dancers behind the scrim walls, etc--it does need one foot in reality unlike some of Williams' last plays).

And yeah by "get it right" I didn't mean definitive at all--just one that, well, "works". It seems that a number of recent Williams' revivals simply have not been able to even do that...

As for Brando, if you listen to those early "censored" radio broadcasts of scenes, Brando's performance on stage is more subdued than it was on film--which is I think how most of us imagine him. There's an interesting book on Streetcar and all its versions where they go over all these points and questions by asking people involved int he production, listening to the rare sources, etc. Of course even back then there was a lot of controversy about Tandy particularly compared to Leigh--sadly I think it's probably true, from listening to Tandy's radio version, that she wouldn't have worked in the film--her apparently amazing stage presence in the role wouldn't carry over for this character. (On the radio clips she actually sounds almost TOO much like a cold, strict school teacher--which of course the character to some extent was, but...)

I would love to see someone use Mielzener's set which had so many amazing stylized elemtns again--just the way all the layers could fade into each other, etc, and how it was timed to the score.

[Gaveston2]

Posted: 1/26/12 at 9:35pm

Eric, I'm sure the term "poetic realism" wasn't coined just for Williams' plays, but it might have been. The early plays are firmly rooted in sociopolitical history AND they transcend it. (The later plays become increasingly symbolist, of course.)

Once upon a time, I did a lot of research on Williams for grad school (not recently: I'm not claiming infallibility). All critics talk about the influence on Williams of Chekhov, but almost nobody notes that Williams himself listed Faulkner as his favorite writer. Further, Williams was very closely connected with the Fugitive Poets such as Robert Penn Warren (and borrowed their name for his screenplay, THE FUGITIVE KIND (speaking of ORPHEUS DESCENDING)).

Williams knew full well whence his characters had come and his writing is full of careful detail.

And BTW and IMO, there's nothing wrong with rooting for ORPHEUS DESCENDING. I just happen to love tight dramatic structure and it doesn't get much tighter than STREETCAR.

(And while we're on the subject, other than ALL MY SONS, I'm not sure Miller really wanted his plays done as realistically as some of them were. Realism was simply the dominating American commercial style of the mid-20th century.)

[spike3]

Posted: 1/27/12 at 11:46am

back in 2007 , during the run of the all black CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF, the producer, Stephen Byrd, (who is producing STREETCAR) gave an interview to Ebony or Essence magazine stating that his next project would be STREETCAR w/ Denzel Washington. He also stated that his intention, at the time, was to revive as many famous Williams plays as he could using all black casts.

The recession/collapse came and since Mr Byrd is essentially a hedge fund manager, all plans were put on hold.

As long as this production doesnt receive the same audience response as CAT, I say so what?! Let him do it

[newintown]

Posted: 1/27/12 at 12:07pm

I would like to see all of August Wilson's plays produced with entirely Asian-American casts.

And then all of Neil Simon with entirely Native American casts.

I mean, if we're going to be delightfully arbitrary...

[spike3]

Posted: 1/27/12 at 12:30pm

newintown, although I stated in the above post "so what", I should have said that I myself have no interest in seeing this particular production. To the people that do ,thats their choice.

I am just not a fan of audience participation.

And to your suggestions,I say why not? Whats good for the goose is good for the gander,lets get it all out in the open.



Updated On: 1/27/12 at 12:30 PM

[SonofRobbieJ]

Posted: 1/27/12 at 1:45pm

But do you really believe they're being delightfully arbitrary? I think an all-black cast of a Williams piece is just the opposite of arbitrary...given the issues of race in the South. I don't know what it could add (though I would be willing to speculate), but I'm certainly willing to give it a chance, and I absolutely don't think it's arbitrary.

And, I know I'm probably alone in this, but I think it could be fascinating to see a Latino cast of either Brighton Beach or Broadway Bound.

[Gaveston2]

Posted: 1/27/12 at 2:00pm

Well, we have the East/West Players in L.A. who do all sorts of works with largely Asian casts. If they haven't done Neil Simon by now, I'm sure they'll get to him eventually.

I don't have their mission statement in front of me, but I don't think the casting at East/West is merely arbitrary. It is at least (a) an effort to open the eyes of the audience to alternative casting possibilities; and (b) an attempt to compensate for the relative paucity of Asian-American roles.

I assume we are all joking about doing August Wilson with non-black casts. Wilson set out deliberately to expose a history of African-Americans that had been consciously and unconsciously hidden by American culture as a whole. I might could be convinced that FENCES has been done so many times that the history is now known and productions can move on, but changing the races of the characters rather flies in the face of the play's intent.

Although a black STREETCAR will never be definitive for me (for reasons I've belabored at this point), I'm not just being politically correct when I say I see no harm in trying it. Given the popularity of GONE WITH THE WIND, Williams, Faulkner, O'Connor, Welty and other Southern writers, it's hard to argue the history of white Southerners has been suppressed.

And who knows? It's entirely possible that a black STREETCAR will reveal things about the play we have failed to notice in the past.

I didn't think Ian McKellan's all-Nazi RICHARD III was "definitive", but it was sure as hell interesting.

(It occurred to me later that I somehow managed to equate African-Americans and Nazis. I trust everyone will realize the equation was entirely accidental; my point was just that there are benefits to nontraditional casting and conceptualization.) Updated On: 1/27/12 at 02:00 PM

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 1/27/12 at 2:13pm

I'm excited for this, but there is virtually no way it will be able to top the BAM production. That show was just absolutely brilliant. Cate Blanchett's performance was beyond stunning. I hope Parker can pull it off.

[RippedMan]

Posted: 1/27/12 at 11:37pm

I'm just more concerned that this is Blanche's show and the actress playing her isn't that well-known. It's her performance that will put butts in the seats. I'm just surprised they couldn't get a "bigger" name for the role. Maybe she'll be a breakout star or something though. It's kind of exciting to think about. But if she's not amazing the production is likely to fail.

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 1/28/12 at 2:14am

I've actually never found all that much similarity between Williams and Chekov--I would love to read his adaptation of The Seagull. I suppose it's about emphasis on character.

I know he seemed way too happy to allow the later movies based on his adaptations to happen--often giving his name.

[Gaveston2]

Posted: 1/28/12 at 3:31pm

Williams grew up going to the movies (see Tom's speeches in MENAGERIE) and loved them. Although he hated his experience writing for a Hollywood studio (as a lot of writers did), I don't think his love of the movies ever waned.

Eric, I don't really see that much connection between Williams and Chekhov either, though you are right that both emphasize character. I suppose all writers of realist drama will be compared to Chekhov or Ibsen or both. But Williams said he admired Chekhov and adapted the Russian at least twice; and both authors chronicle the paralysis of the supposedly "refined" bourgeoisie in the face of historical change.

It would indeed be interesting to compare Williams' THE NOTEBOOK OF TRIGORIN to THE SEA GULL, but I've never run across a copy of the former.