John Neumeier's Adaptation of A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE Makes Canadian Premiere 6/3 - 10

John Neumeier's adaptation of A Streetcar Named Desire makes its Canadian premiere June 3 - 10.

A landmark work in American theatre, Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire premiered on Broadway in 1947 in a production directed by Elia Kazan and starring Jessica Tandy and Marlon Brando. The play's unvarnished realism, sexual explicitness and violence made it both a groundbreaking sensation and an overnight classic.

In 1951, a slightly altered film version of the play, again directed by Elia Kazan, and with many of the original stage cast, opened in theatres. It won four Academy Awards (three in the acting categories, with only Brando missing out for Best Actor) and the film's success only added to the play's stature as a seminal work of modern drama.

Unlike other adaptations of the play, principally those for television and the operatic stage, John Neumeier's 1983 ballet approach to the work does not attempt a literal retelling of the story. It is, rather, Mr. Neumeier's "reaction" to the thematic, emotional, dramatic and psychological realities that the play poses and represents.

The ballet, in fact, begins where the play ends - with the character of Blanche entering an asylum - and subsequent action takes place within her consciousness and memory.

Similarly, and this should be noted by audiences, the rape scene, which happens off stage in the play, takes place onstage in the ballet, which intensifies and foregrounds its importance to the story.

The two acts of the ballet have very different scores, which gives the entire work two very distinct emotional and dramatic climates. The first is set to more conventional ballet music by Prokofiev, in keeping with the comparatively measured quality of Blanche's memories. The second act, however, employs the more aggressively postmodern music of Alfred Schnittke, an unstable, disconcerting and polystylistic soundscape that reflects Blanche's growing mental disintegration.

The National Ballet of Canada dedicates the 2016/17 Season to Sandra and Jim Pitblado in gratitude for their ongoing leadership, extraordinary generosity and enduring friendship.

A Streetcar Named Desire is made possible by the generous support of The Catherine and Maxwell Meighen Foundation and The Producers' Circle.

The Producers' Circle: Gail & Mark Appel, John & Claudine Bailey, Inger Bartlett & Marshal Stearns, David W. Binet, Susanne Boyce & Brendan Mullen, Gail Drummond & Bob Dorrance, The Thor E. and Nicole Eaton Family Charitable Foundation, Sandra Faire & Ivan Fecan, Kevin & Roger Garland, Emmanuelle Gattuso and Allan Slaight, The William & Nona Heaslip Foundation, Rosamond Ivey, Hal Jackman Foundation, Anna McCowan-Johnson & Donald K. Johnson, O.C., Judy Korthals & Peter Irwin, Judith & Robert Lawrie, Mona & Harvey Levenstein, Joan & Jerry Lozinski, The Honourable Margaret Norrie McCain, C.C., Julie Medland, Sandra Pitblado & Jim Pitblado, C.M., Lynda & Jonas Prince, Susan Scace & Arthur Scace, C.M., Q.C., Gerald Sheff & Shanitha Kachan, Sandra Simpson and Noreen Taylor, C.M. & David Staines, C.M., O.Ont.

Guillaume Côté is sponsored through Dancers First by Emmanuelle Gattuso and Allan Slaight.

The National Ballet of Canada gratefully acknowledges the ongoing support of the Canada Council for the Arts; the Ontario Arts Council; the City of Toronto through the Economic Development & Culture Department; the Government of Canada - Department of Canadian Heritage, through the Honourable Mélanie Joly, Minister of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages; and the Government of Ontario through the Honourable Eleanor McMahon, Minister of Tourism, Culture and Sport.

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