A Streetcar Named Desire

“Real? Who wants real?… I want magic!”

The sweltering heat of a New Orleans summer sets the tone for the simmering tensions that crackle and spark between the unforgettable characters of Tennessee Williams’ Pulitzer Prize-winning play, set to André Previn’s luminous score. Magnetic but self-deluded Blanche DuBois leaves her Mississippi hometown and seeks shelter with her sister Stella and her husband Stanley. Clinging to a romanticized image of the past, she quickly finds herself at odds with the domineering Stanley, whose brutal realism clashes ruthlessly with her worldview. Cruelty, desire, illusion, and fear of change are on raw display as the resulting events send everyone involved careening toward destruction.

Daniela Candillari returns to BLO for the first time since conducting 2022’s award-winning cinematic opera Svadba. She joins forces with internationally famous singer, stage director, and arts leader Patricia Racette (BLO’s The Tales of Hoffmann, 1992) to helm this compelling production. Brittany Renee, Angela Yam, Thomas Glass, and Brenton Ryan head the cast of a lyrical, emotionally exposed work that demands honesty and vulnerability from its performers and audiences alike.