RIALTO CHATTER: Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith to Lead STREETCAR on Broadway?

According to Michael Riedel this morning, Will Smith and wife Jada Pinkett Smith may be leading a production of Streetcar Named Desire on Broadway next year as Stanley and Stella, respectively.  Reportedly, the pair have been approached by producers and are considering the possibility.  Emily Mann will direct the production, which will be produced by Stephen Byrd.  Click here for the full report.

The Smiths are currently represented on Broadway by FELA!, which they produced.

Tennessee Williams famous piece is a southern love story that centers on the Culture Clash between two iconic characters, Blanche DuBois, a fading relic of the Old South, and Stanley Kowalski, a rising member of the industrial, urban working class and his wife (and Blanche's sister) Stella.

A Streetcar Named Desire originally opened on Broadway on December 3, 1947, and closed on December 17, 1949, in the Ethel Barrymore Theatre. The Broadway production was famously directed by Elia Kazan and starred Marlon Brando, Jessica Tandy, Kim Hunter, and Karl Malden. It has been revived on Broadway multiple times since, most recently in 2005 at Sudio 54. The London production opened in 1949 with Bonar Colleano, Vivien Leigh, and Renee Asherson and was directed by Laurence Olivier.  Tennessee Williams won the 1948 Pulitzer Prize for the piece.

Photo Credit: Monica Simoes