A Streetcar Named Desire

Having played Blanche duBois myself, I'm hypercritical of all other actresses who tackle A Streetcar Named Desire. I've only given compliments to two other actresses: Cate Blanchett (in the modern remake Blue Jasmine) and Jessica Lange in the tv version. Jessica is a very attractive woman and can handle Southern belle in her sleep, but she didn't rest on her laurels for Blanche. She truly studied the script and the character - it showed.

John Goodman reunited with his Everybody's All-American costar and played Mitch. Although Mitch isn't the hardest role to play, Goodman was a good casting choice and delivered a solid performance. A surprising pick was Diane Lane as Stella. Stella is usually portrayed as a frumpy woman, a contrast to her sister's elegance. Audiences are almost supposed to think she sunk to where she belonged when she chose Stanley for a husband. But you can see the good breeding in Diane. When Jessica continually says she thinks her sister could have done better, we agree with her. For although Stanley is played by a good-looking man, we don't understand why she sunk down in the mud. Diane also doesn't play Stella as "mealy-mouthed". She's been beaten down, but once upon a time, she had as much energy as her sister. It's an interesting take on the role, and I appreciated it.

Alec Baldwin played Stanley Kowalski, and although he ticked all the boxes of acting as an uncouth slob, he didn't really delve any deeper into the character. A dirty shirt and a swagger helps with an initial impression, but a good actor knows not to rely on them. It felt like he was "acting", and it didn't feel like Jessica Lange was. She truly was Blanche. She used her femininity: giggling, trying to appear smaller than her frame, moving her hands with grace, and trying to soothe everything with a smile. Smiling is very ladylike, and underneath all her fluff was a simmering fear - fear that she'll be found out, fear that she'll crack, and fear that her coping mechanisms won't work. Jessica used the script, filled in the cracks, and gave a multi-dimensional performance that makes you say, "Vivien who?"

Tennessee Williams is a legend. This play is a true masterpiece. So it's worth watching it no matter how the actors do. And they do pretty well. Alec Baldwin gives us possibly his best acting, but possibly Jessica Lange doesn't reach this level, while having a role most actresses would beg for years to have. John Goodman is fine and gives a perspective of Mitch I hadn't in mind but he's a bit characterized as a comedy type and possibly that creates problems. Diane Lane is ok but nothing special (it's the less demanding role anyway). The scenery is better than the original film but the film has been PC transformed. Too mild for what Williams wanted to show.

If you are a major fan of Jessica Lange then I would rent this, otherwise stay away! While Ms. Lange's portrayal is interesting, I'm not sure it is the Blanche, that Tennessee Williams envisioned. At times her slyness distorts the character of Blanche's and gives her the appearance of being nothing more than a manipulative, self-centered woman. Blanche is a woman holding onto her sanity by the skin of her delicate fingernails. Her lies and illusions are her retreat from the cold reality of life and the bad hands of cards she has been dealt. "Streetcar" is a series of encounters between the Kowalski world and the Blanche DuBois world. Each of these encounters will intensify with each subsequent meeting. The conflict is between the oversensitive aristocratic world of Blanche and the brutal, realistic, present-day world represented by Stanley. But as an afternote, it should be added that Stanley is the type of person who likes his "cards on the table." He doesn't go in for subtleties and deception that Blanche has created to survive. As for the rest of the cast, ugh. Diane Lane is adequate at best, she can read lines but she's nothing to telegram home about. John Goodman is all wrong with to start with and he only gets worse as the film goes on. At times I felt like I was watching one of the "dramatic" episodes of Roseanne, which were always self-serving and preachy. I've seen better acting in high schools. This leaves Alec Baldwin who can be summed up with one word - why? His acting is so pedestrian; it's amazing he even works. He is horrible in this production; I now can understand why his performance in this role on Broadway elicited belly laughs. The audience wasn't laughing with him they were laughing at him. He preens and over-emotes, uses an accent (? Strange yet geographically untraceable) then changes it mid-sentnce. One of the most challenging roles in the theater due to its predecessor and the demand of acting with the fullness and variety of a brash jazz band, Baldwin's register is that of a kazoo. He prisses about and poses then delivers lines as though he's reading them for the first time. At times it seemed as though Blanche wasn't physically afraid of him, but more afraid that he was going to go into her trunk and start parading around the apartment in her wardrobe and "tributes from an admirer". If anyone doubts his abilities, this performance will confirm all your suspicions. Save for Ms. Lange's performance this "Streetcar" belongs on Mystery Science Theater 3000. It is almost like a work of science fiction. It is that jaw-droppingly bad. While the 1951 version certainly has superior actors, the Ann-Margaret-Treat William's "Streetcar" is a true ensemble production in which all four principals shine. This production is truer to the theme of the play of the artist (Blanche) ultimately being destroyed by realism and the harsh realities of a world that does not understand her (represented by Stanley).

This is mostly a fine production of the venerable Tennessee Williams classic. Baldwin relies a bit too heavily on Brando portrayal but Lange finds her own way. She gives the doomed, fragile Blanche an inner strength that most other interpretors do not. Lane and Goodman are fine, as well.

Wow. Still reeling from this one several hours later. What a true and deep and affecting performance from Jessica Lange plus the usual intelligent and imaginative choices from Alec Baldwin. I've seen a few productions of this, plus the Brando movie. I have never before been left with such depth of feeling for ALL of those characters trying to find their feet again in the conflicts and complexities of that post World War 2 society.