‘Streetcar’ ready to roll in New Orleans

It is arguably Tennessee Williams’ most popular work.

“A Streetcar Named Desire” uses the Crescent City as a backdrop for a cache of Southern issues, like sensuality, family and the fragility of sanity when the world becomes a treacherous place.

All this blends in a most dramatic way in the play, centering on a pair of sisters, their relationship and those with others, plus the tenuous hold on reality that seems to keep them from spinning completely apart.

Williams painted this portrait and earned a Pulitzer Prize. Tonys and Oscars followed for the actors who breathed life into Blanche Du Bois, her sister Stella and the others who come in and out of the action in the French Quarter apartment of Mr. and Mrs. Stanley Kowalski.

This summer, local audiences can experience the live production by the Tennessee Williams Theatre Company July 19 through Aug. 4 at Marigny Opera House, located not far from where the mythical action takes place on Elysian Fields Avenue.

The character Blanche, swathed in faded Southern gentility, has come to New Orleans to see her sister Stella but gets more than she bargained for in a larger-than-life brother-in-law, who is intent on finding out all he can about her and the family background and the family’s Belle Reve mansion.

Layered with intricacies and gothic energy, the show is a popular one that has seen more than eight Broadway revivals and several motion pictures.

Helming the production as producers are artistic directors for the company Nick Shackleford and Augustin J. Correro, the latter also directing the cast.

Shackleford said the company has been waiting for a number of elements to align to bring the show to the stage.

“We wanted to be sure we assembled an incredible team of local actors, technicians and designers,” he noted. “There’s so much expectation to live up to doing “Streetcar” in New Orleans. We really feel like we’ve got an incredible group, so we’re ready to nail it.”

“We are excited to bring this fresh production of “Streetcar” to the stage,” Correro noted in press materials. “In it, we’ll be bringing many of Blanche’s interior struggles into the setting around her, which we hope will be a visual feast for our audience, but we also want to carefully honor the material and the history it has in and about the city of New Orleans. This take on the show will have familiar notes but a number of surprises.”

Charlie Carr takes on the role of Blanche, with Elizabeth McCoy as Stella, Sean Richmond as Stanley and Robinson J. Cyprian as Mitch. Additional coast includes Tracey Collins, Bob Mitchell, Miguel Garcia, Benjamin Adams, Quinn Lapeyrouse, Lydia Pena and Adrienne Simmons.

The show which will preview July 18, runs at 7:30 p.m. Thursdays through Sundays, except July 21 at Marigny Opera House, 725 Ferdinand St. Tickets start at $13. Visit twtheatrenola.com

Opening this week June 27-July 3

In production

“ASSASSINS”: 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday; Azienda Theater, 2000 Paris Road, in Chalmette. The Compnay: A St. Bernard Community Theatre, stages Sondheim’s musical “shooting gallery of presidents” with barkers and such, but there are actual presidential assassins or would-be killers about, like John Wilkes Booth. Tickets are $12. showtix4u.com.

“GRAMMAW AND THE MAGIC GOO”: 7:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, 2 p.m. Sundays through June 30. Ricky Graham and Jefferson Turner breath life into the zany characters of local lore in this show about an Irish Channel grandmother who discovers a recipe to fill the potholes in New Orleans. But, after all this is musical comedy, there’s trouble afoot. Tickets start at $20. rivertowntheaters.com.

“THE GREAT AMERICAN TRAILER PARK MUSICAL”: 8 p.m. Thursday to Saturday and 2:30 p.m. Sunday; 30 by Ninety Theatre, 880 Lafayette St., Mandeville. Set in “pastoral” Armadillo Acres, there’s a love triangle, a Greek chorus-esque ensemble of residents who play a variety of characters and an underlying sense of community that shines through in “an All-American musical odyssey through agoraphobia, adultery, hysterical pregnancy, strippers, huffing, electric chairs, flan, roadkill, toll collecting, spray cheese and disco.” Tickets start at $32. 30byninety.com.