They've dropped the "Kowalski" from Stanley's name in new Streetcar revival
They've dropped the "Kowalski" from Stanley's name in new Streetcar revival
chanel
Broadway Star Joined: 1/28/04
#1They've dropped the "Kowalski" from Stanley's name in new Streetcar revival
Posted: 4/2/12 at 12:27pm
So said Blair Underwood at Drama Desk panel.
http://blogs.villagevoice.com/dailymusto/2012/04/stanley_kowalsk.php
#2They've dropped the
Posted: 4/2/12 at 12:33pmThey've also removed references to the term 'polack'
#3They've dropped the
Posted: 4/2/12 at 12:44pm
Unblacbelievable?
CurtainPullDowner
Broadway Legend Joined: 11/4/04
#5They've dropped the
Posted: 4/2/12 at 12:48pmThese were the changes Williams himself approved for that 1956 all black off Broadway production that never happened, so nothing we should see as blasphemous.
#6They've dropped the
Posted: 4/2/12 at 12:52pmI never heard about that production. Why did it never happen?
dreaming
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/24/09
#7They've dropped the
Posted: 4/2/12 at 12:53pmIs there a way to get a copy of that script? I'm doing scholarly research on Streetcar right now and would love to read it.
#8They've dropped the
Posted: 4/2/12 at 1:06pm
Here is a link to a book excerpt that goes into more detail about the 1958 production that was to have starred Hilda Simms as Blanche. No-one is quite sure why the production didn't happen (probably financing) but the current Broadway staging is adopting the same concept (light skinned French creole DuBois sisters dealing with race/class issues in relationship to dark skinned Stanley/Mitch).
EDIT: Dreaming, I don't think it was ever really a different script; just a few line changes to accommodate the roles being played by actors of color.
STREETCAR 1958
Updated On: 4/2/12 at 01:06 PM
followspot
Broadway Star Joined: 12/27/11
#9They've dropped the
Posted: 4/2/12 at 1:19pm
Thanks for the info, MB. That just made this revival much more interesting. : ) I wonder why the powers behind this production haven't explained this fully, rather than Emily Mann recalling Diane Paulus with half-assed statements like this:
"I've made tiny little shifts and changes to make it accurate and authentic, to New Orleans and to black New Orleans — but I've made fewer than you would think, almost none," director Mann said to Playbill. "And, if we are doing it right, you won't, after a while, notice that at all. What happens is, it's so true to itself that you think Tennessee wrote it for this cast... The landscape of any Tennessee Williams play is the human heart, and I have a cast of people with heart."
WiCkEDrOcKS
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/13/04
#11They've dropped the
Posted: 4/2/12 at 1:36pm
Michael Bennett, can you please remove the information you've added to this thread that's useful for contextualizing the choices of the revival's creative team? I was more comfortable being outraged. Thanks in advance.
#12They've dropped the
Posted: 4/2/12 at 1:42pm
Growl, I'll do one better; here is a different link that has the entire article with a history of black productions of STREETCAR! I do think conceptually its intriguing, especially given that Williams himself approved of it. Hopefully this revival will do well by it.
WILLIAMS IN EBONY
Updated On: 4/2/12 at 01:42 PM
Gothampc
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/20/03
#13They've dropped the
Posted: 4/2/12 at 1:42pm
I believe there is a line when Blanche starts going off on Stella about the loss of Belle Reve that goes "And where were you? In bed with your Pollack!"
So what will it be changed to?
#14They've dropped the
Posted: 4/2/12 at 1:43pmA black derogatory term that begins with N and ends with R?
#15They've dropped the
Posted: 4/2/12 at 1:47pmGoth knows that word very well. He shouts it out to little kids he passes by on the street.
#16They've dropped the
Posted: 4/2/12 at 1:49pm
Little Mexican kids, no less.
iluvtheatertrash
Broadway Legend Joined: 11/9/04
#17They've dropped the
Posted: 4/2/12 at 1:55pmSo, then it's not color-blind casting. It's just casting. Which makes it seem almost as if one must APOLOGIZE for having an all-black cast. I don't see the point, Polish or not.
#18They've dropped the
Posted: 4/2/12 at 2:00pm
Its casting that tweaks the concept of racism in the original script. I agree that while its not entirely necessary to make the changes to have the script still be effective with black actors, the fact that Williams had already authorized changes that he felt made the script work better when played by actors of color makes the implementation of them for this production seem logical.
#19They've dropped the
Posted: 4/2/12 at 2:17pmThanks, MB! Fascinating stuff. And it makes perfect sense that Williams would have been happy about the productions.
#20They've dropped the
Posted: 4/2/12 at 2:31pmAt my drama school they did a multi-racial Streetcar with a black Stanley and Stella, a white Blanche and Mitch, and an Asian Mexican Woman. It was interesting.
henrikegerman
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/29/05
#21They've dropped the
Posted: 4/2/12 at 3:19pm
Hearing Blair Underwood called Stanley Kowalski, a Pole and a Pollack might - rightly or wrongly - seem absurd to many people under any circumstances. All the more so if, in this production, perceived ethnic differences between the characters play no less a role than in any other production of Streetcar.
From what I understand this is not a color-blind Streetcar. For one thing, Stanley, Blanche and Stella are all played by people of color. Rather it is a Streetcar in which the sisters and brother-in-law are African American, and in which Blanche's old Southern family pride-informed disparagement of Stanley's immigrant Polish identity is transposed to a light skinned Blanche's equally prideful disparagement of a dark skinned Stanley.
Whether or not the parallel is evident in any reworked lines, or is something to be read between them, time will tell. But there would not seem to be any reason not to hope that such a transposition might prove very authentic and effective. Color tone as an index of social status has a part in African American life and history, and has not been an insignificant factor in New Orleans society.
#22They've dropped the
Posted: 4/2/12 at 4:40pm
One less thing for you gringos to b*tch about. Williams approved of the changes...it's been done before.
Nothing to see here. Find something else to cry about.
Auggie27
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/13/03
#23A middle aged streetcar
Posted: 4/2/12 at 4:49pmI think a color-blind, or all-African-American version of STREETCAR could be wonderful. What I frankly question is a 48 year-old version of Stanley, the hot-headed young upstart and most likely to succeed among his peers. Stella touts her husband loudly and often, he's the new breed. That very component is one of the things that throws and challenges Blanche, the old school, old world-embracing true believer in a kinder, gentler culture. Even if Underwood looks 40, Stanley just isn't. Stella isn't 42, and her pregnancy is written as the sort of natural occurence in a young woman's life. So this production is far more about older actors wearing these roles than the racial make-up, and I believe that will be part of the discussion about its success or failure.
#24A middle aged streetcar
Posted: 4/2/12 at 4:53pm
I saw a production with a white Blanche, a morbidly obese Eskimo as Stanley, a Golden Retriever as Stella, a hand puppet as Mitch, and RuPaul as the Newspaper Collector.
They all played musical instruments and it was brilliant.
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