After its beginning in 1998 at the San Francisco Opera, the classic Tennessee Williams’ 1947 Pulitzer Prize winning play and film of the same name, "A Streetcar Named Desire" – a new opera, will finally arrive in Grand Rapids after a rapturous run in New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago.
When it arrives at DeVos Performance Hall it will be celebrating its Michigan premiere as it bypasses Detroit for a Grand Rapids debut. For many years folks have been clamoring for a modern opera to make its way here. After a run of the classics, Streetcar in this new format is true to the prose but is kicked up to true operatic heights through the powerful assistance of Andre Previn’s New Orleans Jazz hot and steamy score.
And if your brain is already full of preconceived images and ideas about this beloved story, don't believe for a second that anything gets lost in translation from the classic literature to the musical adaptation.
“The sexual tensions of the story are preserved. There is not a line of the play omitted,” says Opera Grand Rapids’ Director of Marketing Sarah Mieras. “And from what I have seen at rehearsals the sexual tensions that have made this story an American classic are not only preserved, but heightened by the addition of the music. We have assembled the best cast, artistic team, lighting designer, costumes and set possible to pull out all the stops on a thrilling Michigan debut.”
The cast includes these principals: O’Regan Thiele as Blanche DuBois, Philip Cutlip as Stanley Kowalski, Kiera Duffy as Stella Kowalski and Casey Candebat as Mitch.
Please refrain from yelling the popular line “Stella” in the crowded theatre until after the curtain’s closing.
Admission: Starting at $21.
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