For those of us who love theater, nothing well, almost nothing beats watching an accomplished actor playing a great role, and that excellent combination is what you have with Alissa Millar as Blanche DuBois (pictured) in Oklahoma City Theatre Companys production of Tennessee Williams 1947 classic A Streetcar Named Desire.
Millar modulates perfectly sometimes instantaneously or several times a scene between Blanches vulnerability and what tenuous inner strength she has left. Blanche has become a hustler out of desperation and necessity, but shes still a daughter of Belle Reve, the familys former Mississippi plantation, and putting on airs substitutes for real self-respect. Like most good hustlers, Blanche is a perspicacious reader of other people, and Millar nails the subtleties of the character with a velvet-covered hammer.
Blanches nemesis is her brother-in-law, Stanley Kowalski, played by Tom Huston-Orr in a performance that perfectly balances Millars. Stanley is the quintessential bully, and his vicious bluster masks a vulnerability equal to Blanches. Williams doesnt belabor Stanleys self-doubt, but in one scene, the playwright and actor confirm that Stanley must see himself in a struggle for survival against Blanche. Huston-Orrs Stanley menaces one minute and sweet-talks the next, but hes always a volatile hothead, just as Stanley should be.
The object of their affection is Stella, Stanleys wife, played with success equaling Millar and Huston- Orr by Erin Hicks-Cheek. Where Blanche sees abuse by Stanley, Stella perceives a man making an extra effort to shower attention. Stellas love for Stanley seems as absurd to us as it does to Blanche, but a cursory reading of newspapers confirms that this behavior still occurs today.
The production is OCTCs best of the season, and it benefits from a fine supporting cast and Eric Stehls lighting design of Jason Foremans set design, evocative of New Orleans French Quarter. Brenda Nelsons costumes look period authentic.
Richard Nelson directs the production with a light hand, and one reason may be that while he has been directing Streetcar, hes been playing Trigorin in The Seagull for Oklahoma Shakespeare in the Park. Similarly, D. Lance Marsh directed Seagull for OSP and is playing Mitch in Streetcar. One wonders how these actor-directors accomplished the feat of being in two places at the same time, but theyve done it, and both shows are well staged.
Nelson has been faithful to the script, and the production simmers but
never reaches a full boil. You wont see a new or revealing
interpretation in this Streetcar, but the performances of Millar,
Huston- Orr and Hicks-Cheek keep the audiences eyes focused on the
stage at all times. You dont want to blink for fear of missing
something.
Its
interesting that 2011 is the 100th anniversary of Williams birth, but
this is the only production of any of his plays in the city this year.
Why no coordinated effort to stage some of his less frequently done
plays? Alas, an opportunity missed.