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Stage productions

Original Broadway production

The original Broadway production was produced by Irene Mayer Selznick.^[12] It opened at the Shubert in New Haven shortly before moving to the Ethel Barrymore Theatre on December 3, 1947.^[13] Selznick originally wanted to cast Margaret Sullavan and John Garfield, but settled on Marlon Brando and Jessica Tandy, who were virtual unknowns at the time. Brando was given car fare to Tennessee Williams' home in Provincetown, Massachusetts, where he not only gave a sensational reading, but did some house repairs as well. Tandy was cast after Williams saw her performance in a West Coast production of his one-act play Portrait of a Madonna. The opening night cast also included Kim Hunter as Stella and Karl Malden as Mitch.^[14] Later in the run, Uta Hagen replaced Tandy, and Anthony Quinn replaced Brando. Hagen and Quinn took the show on a national tour and then returned back to Broadway for additional performances. Early on, when Brando broke his nose, Jack Palance took over his role. Ralph Meeker also took on the part of Stanley both in the Broadway and touring companies. Tandy received a Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play in 1948, sharing the honor with Judith Anderson's portrayal of Medea and with Katharine Cornell. Brando portrayed Stanley with an overt sexuality combined with a boyish vulnerability that made his portrait of Stanley and especially the moment where he howls "Stellllllla!" for his wife, into cultural touchstones.

Uta Hagen's Blanche on the national tour was directed not by Elia Kazan, who had directed the Broadway production, but by Harold Clurman, and it has been reported, both in interviews by Miss Hagen and observations by contemporary critics, that the Clurman-directed interpretation shifted the focus of audience sympathy back to Blanche and away from Stanley (where the Kazan/Brando/Tandy version had located it).

Original London production

The London production, directed by Laurence Oliver, opened in October 12, 1949 and starred American-born Bonar Colleano, Vivien Leigh, and Renee Asherton.^[15]

Revivals

Tallulah Bankhead, whom Williams had in mind when writing the play, starred in a 1956 New York City Center Company production directed by Herbert Machiz. The production, which was staged at the Coconut Grove Playhouse in Miami, was not well received and only ran 300 performances.

The first Broadway revival of the play was in 1973. It was produced by the Lincoln Center, at the Vivian Beaumont Theatre, and starred Rosemary Harris as Blanche and James Farentino as Stanley.

There was a spring 1988 revival at the Circle in the Square Theatre that starred Aidan Quinn opposite Blythe Danner as Blanche and Blood Simple star Frances McDormand as Stella^[16], for which the latter won a Tony.

A highly publicized 1992 revival starred Alec Baldwin as Stanley and Jessica Lange as Blanche and was staged at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre, the same theatre the original production was staged in.^[17] This production proved so successful that it was filmed for television. It featured Timothy Carhart as Mitch and Amy Madigan as Stella, as well as future Sopranos stars James Gandolfini and Aida Turturro.^[18] Gandolfini was Carhart's understudy. Baldwin received a Tony Award nomination for Best Actor in a Play, and Lange won the 1992 Theatre World Award.^[19] In 2009, the Walnut Street Theatre in Philadelphia, where the original pre-Broadway tryout occurred, began a production of the play for its 200th anniversary season.

The most recent Broadway revival was directed by Edward Hall and starred John C. Reilly opposite Natasha Richardson and future Gone Baby Gone star and ensemble cast member Amy Ryan of HBO's critically-acclaimed The Wire^[20]

In January 2009, the first African-American production of A Streetcar Named Desire premiered at Pace University, directed by Steven McCasland. The production starred Lisa Lamothe as Blanche, Stephon O'Neal Pettway as Stanley, and Jasmine Clayton as Stella, and featured Sully Lennon as Allan Gray, the ghost of Blanche's dead husband. Benvolio Tomaiuolo assistant directed and stage managed the production.

The Sydney Theatre Company production of A Streetcar Named Desire premiered on 5 September and ran until 17 October 2009. This production, directed by Liv Ullmann, starred Cate Blanchett as Blanche, Joel Edgerton as Stanley, Robin McLeavy as Stella and Tim Richards as Mitch.^[21] It is playing at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.^[22] and is set to play at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York City.^[23]