Tag Archives: Streetcar Named Desire

“Boredom is very important in life. It helps you feel when something is wrong.” — John Strasberg

It’s John Strasberg’s birthday today. I told this story before on here years ago, when I used to write like this on here, on occasion. Figured I’d re-post it. He is very very important to me. Back in the late … Continue reading

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“Make voyages! — Attempt them! — there’s nothing else …” Happy Birthday, Tennessee Williams

Tennessee Williams (Thomas Lanier Williams) was born on this day in Columbus, Mississippi in 1911. I love this early note from Tennessee Williams because it already incorporates his most famous line, from Streetcar Named Desire. Will you do a total … Continue reading

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A Streetcar Named Desire: That’s What Williams Wrote. Deal With It.

A re-post for the anniversary of Streetcar debuting on Broadway. I wrote this essay after seeing a 2011 production of Streetcar at Williamstown. Directed by David Cromer Starring Sam Rockwell as Stanley Kowalski, Jessica Hecht as Blanche DuBois, Ana Reeder … Continue reading

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On This Day: December 3, 1947: A Streetcar Named Desire opened on Broadway

Blanche Dubois, scene 1, in Streetcar Named Desire: “They told me to take a street-car named Desire, and then transfer to one called Cemeteries and ride six blocks and get off at – Elysian Fields!” Tennessee Williams lived in New … Continue reading

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Dynamic Duo #35

Tennessee Williams and Marlon Brando, 1948

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Four Things About Thornton Wilder

“I was an old man when I was 12; and now I am an old man, and it’s splendid.” — Thornton Wilder on his 70th birthday It’s his birthday today. A couple stories: 1. Peter Hunt (once Executive and Artistic … Continue reading

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Stuff I’ve Been Reading

— Finnegans Wake, by James Joyce Lordy be, batten down the hatches. I struggled through it years ago and am now reading it again. It’s going quite well. I read it out loud because so many of the jokes are … Continue reading

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Marlon Brando’s Wardrobe Test for Streetcar

It’s the shoes that make it. Well, and everything else, too.

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The Books: “Vivien: The Life of Vivien Leigh” (Alexander Walker)

A Re-post. For Vivien Leigh’s birthday, which is today. Vivien: The Life of Vivien Leigh, by Alexander Walker I had seen Gone with the Wind as a kid, and while it’s not my favorite movie, it certainly made an impression. … Continue reading

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The Key to Streetcar Named Desire is Stella, and Don’t Let Anyone Tell You Different: A Review of Who Am I This Time? (1982)

A re-post, because I’ve got love and theatre on the brain. Is it not monstrous that this player here, But in a fiction, in a dream of passion, Could force his soul so to his own conceit That from her … Continue reading

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