Edward Hall, son of legendary director Sir Peter Hall, will direct the work set to play Roundabout Theatre Company's Studio 54 beginning March 2005 and opening April 24, 2005, for a limited engagement currently slated through June 19, 2005.
The Academy Award nominee for "Chicago" is expected to star opposite the previously-announced Natasha Richardson as Blanche DuBois. "Ed Hall [the director] is coming in this week and we'll do Stellas and Mitches and hopefully the rest of it," the busy Carnahan said Nov. 14, at the opening night party for 'night, Mother, for which he also gets casting credit (along with the season's The Pillowman). "Then I get a vacation!"
The Roundabout has not officially announced any casting beyond Richardson for the Streetcar run.
Playwright Williams sets A Streetcar Named Desire in the French Quarter of New Orleans. The story follows the woes of faded Southern belle Blanche DuBois and her road to madness aided by her brother-in-law, Stanley Kowalski.
A Broadway vet, Reilly was Tony Award-nominated for his double duty in True West opposite Philip Seymour Hoffman. He also starred in the world premiere of the Broadway-aimed musical Marty based on the 1955 film. Also known for his film work, Reilly portrayed Amos in the Academy Award-winning "Chicago" and left his mark on other screen roles in "Boogie Nights," "The Perfect Storm," "The Anniversary Party," "Magnolia," "The Good Girl," "The Hours" and the recent "Criminal." Director Hall recently staged the acclaimed Chicago and New York productions of Rose Rage (repeating work he originated in England). He made his New York directorial debut with A Midsummer Night's Dream at BAM in March 2004. Other credits include the London National Theatre stagings of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum and David Mamet's Edmond starring Kenneth Branagh.
Streetcar will mark the Roundabout's first non-musical staging at Studio 54 since the not-for-profit purchased the venue. Pacific Overtures is set to play through Jan. 30, 2005 at the space where the Tony Award-winning revival of Assassins took over for Cabaret.
The role in Streetcar reteams Richardson with the Roundabout, which provided her with her Tony Award-nominated role in the play Anna Christie (1993) and Tony Award-winning role in the musical Cabaret (1998).
Streetcar originally opened on Broadway at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre Dec. 3, 1947, starring Marlon Brando and Jessica Tandy under the direction of Elia Kazan. The play won the 1948 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. The Roundabout staging will mark the fifth revival on Broadway (at least once a decade since the 1970s.) Recent Twentieth Century star Alec Baldwin played opposite Jessica Lange in the most recent staging in 1992.
Tickets to A Streetcar Named Desire will be available in early 2005 by calling Roundabout Ticket Services at (212) 719-1300, online at www.roundabouttheatre.org or at the Studio 54 box office at 254 West 54th Street.
