You know what I've had enough of? People getting all smug and superior when other people accidentally call it "A Streetcar Called Desire." Firstly, there are a whole lot of titles that take the form of An X Called Y, so it's only natural (as for me, I always think of the Ultravox song "A Friend I Call Desire"). And secondly, "called" just sounds more natural. "Named" was the wrong choice. Fight me.
Not to brag, but I have seen the Streetcar movie with Vivian Leigh and Marlon Brando. I also saw Cat on a Hot Tin Roof with Elizabeth Taylor and Paul Newman, and GOOD LORD is that an unreasonably beautiful pair of leads. That has nothing to do with anything, except to note that my knowledge of Tennessee Williams doesn't end with Streetcar. It does end with Cat, however. So not that impressive. WHATEVER.
You probably know the story, right? 'Cause It's a famous story? Blanche DuBois comes to New Orleans to visit her sister Stella Kowalski and his husband Stanley. She's kind of a wreck. She starts seeing this friend of Stanley's, Mitch, but then Stanley digs up dirt on her, that she used to work as a prostitute and that she was fired from her high-school teaching job for being involved with a student, and Mitch rejects her, so that's bad for her mental state, but what's worse for it is when Stanley rapes her, and she loses her mind. And that's about that.
I'm not a big expert on American theater, or any theater; that much is obvious. But I can't help but find this story...not super-compelling? And I think that's because of Blanche: what's her deal and why should I care? I feel like we get to the end of the movie and I still have no idea what she wants or who she is, and to the extent that I do, it's very banal and uninteresting. Stella seems like a much more human character, but...it's not her story. So, hmm.
The music here: Previn was better-known, maybe, as a conductor, but he actually had a lot of history as a composer, so it's not a Maazel-type thing where you wonder, is this really a good idea? I found some of the music here a little bland, but especially in the back half, I got into it. Very accessible; some dramatic moments. It does occasionally feint at including some jazzy elements to create that New Orleans atmosphere, but it doesn't really commit to them, which seems like a loss; like you could have had something really unique here, but you don't. Still, it's fine.
The version on DVD is the world premier from the San Fransisco Opera, and they got a killer cast, for sure: it stars Renée Fleming as Blanche, and while I don't think she can quite save the character from being a bit of a black hole, she does the best she's able, and I do think that her persona and acting style are appropriate for the role--even if Elizabeth Futral is more compelling as Stella (acting the hell out of the part). There's also Anthony Dean Griffey as Mitch, very good as a sympathetic character until he's not--he has a very bad virgin/whore complex. Oh well! He's as much a victim of The Patriarchy as anybody. The show is stolen, however, by Rod Gilfry (credited as "Rodney") as Stanley. I last saw him being saintly in Saint François d'Assise; he is somewhat less so here. But in Saint François, I remember thinking that, although he ultimately successfully inhabited the role, he didn't seem like a natural physical match. Whereas he just perfectly embodies Stanley's savage, thuggish charisma. A perfect match of character and singer.
One thing about this DVD: it includes no subtitles whatsoever. You can more or less understand most of it if you're a native English speaker, but there is inevitably a fair bit that's indecipherable (or maybe it would be decipherable if you rewound and listened to it multiple times, but that would sort of break the flow, you know? (also, isn't it interesting that I still use the word "rewound" even though the actual, physical rewinding process that you get with VHS tapes is a thing of the past? I think the word is commonplace enough that kids today know it, but do they know what it refers to?)). REALLY, what excuse is there for this? And not just for my benefit: shouldn't non-English-speakers be able to follow this? Okay okay, it would no doubt be impractical to include subtitles in every written language in the world, but in general, you should definitely be erring on the side of more rather than less.
Well, that notwithstanding, I thought it was an interesting and more or less compelling opera, even if I have issues with the story.
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