Review of: A Streetcar Named Desire

The Roundabout Theatre Company brings to Broadway a revival of A Streetcar Named Desire, Tennesse Williams' watershed drama, as well as the Hamlet for leading actresses. Natasha Richardson takes on the role of Blanche Dubois with John C. Reilly opposite her as Stanley Kowalski and as one could guess the results are mixed.

On an elaborate set by Robert Brill that spills out into the theatre, dramatically lit by Donald Holder (he gets the ever-shifting changes of New Orleans' luminescence just right), director Edward Hall creates an environment at once enticing, scary and lethargic, not an easy task. When Ms. Richardson's Blanche enters, it's clear that such an environment is going to set off sparks against her tightly wrapped persona. Unfortunately, the sparks aren't flying against her brother-in law.

When it was announced that Mr. Reilly, so obviously perfect for Mitch, was to play Stanley, the cries of doubts soared. One can only praise Mr. Reilly's attempt at the role for bad it isn't. It's simply wrong. The case can be made that Stanley is an animal, an ape as Blanche so calls him, our Darwinian ancestor, an id with no super-ego, uneducated and childish. Watching Mr. Reilly, most of these characteristics are present. What's not is sex, and not just sex appeal (to each his own), but smoldering, manipulative and intelligent sex. If Blanche can't smell it as well as see it, a major component of the conflict is missing. More importantly, what's missing in Mr. Reilly's performance is Stanley's tenderness toward and need for his wife. The actor tries but ultimately skims over these vital elements. Since Blanche is mostly about surfaces - smooth, clean, white surfaces, the human factors of Stanley escape her which therein lies part of her tragedy. If those factors aren't present to begin with, Blanche is correct in her assessment of Stanley, and if Stella can't see what her sister insists is or isn't there, who wouldn't go crazy?

The tragedy of the play would then be Stella's, which oddly enough in this production it is. Ms. Ryan makes Stella the most compelling character on stage, the overlooked family sibling who breaks away from the stifling high Southern society to go slumming in New Orleans and loving it. What Ms. Ryan brings to the play's end is the dawning awareness and regret of the mess she may be in. Her scenes with Ms. Richardson crackle with life, their relationship so clear - the missed opportunities to connect, the blood bond that ties opposites together, the same inherent female desires. Mr. Hall has given these two actresses sure footing here and it shows.

Ms. Richardson also glows in other scenes, at times channeling Vivien Leigh, at others simply doing solid work with unfortunately no surprises. Her scenes with Mitch, played by an occasionally mumbling Chris Bauer who could be Mr. Reilly's fraternal twin, fall into this latter category. It's a shame that she's not given more to play off, because the potential for an electrifying Blanche is straining underneath the cracking surface.

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