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Demetrius Grosse, a gargantuan column of muscle definition and sweat-licked skin, dominates Portland Center Stage's A Streetcar Named Desire as theater's most well-known abuser, Stanley Kowalski. He slumps against an oxidizing street pole, strikes a match on the metal and blows cigarette smoke in two bullish jets from his nostrils before flicking the used match into the audience in one of the play's best moments. Blink and you'll miss it, though.
The entire production is a perfectly cast and detail-oriented take on Tennessee Williams' classic, but for all its spilled beer and broken glass, PCS's posh Pearl theater can't achieve true grit.
As one of our wealthiest theaters, PCS can afford Equity talent, extras, a warehouse of costumes, and sets by award winners like New York's G.W. Mercier. Streetcar brings it all. But too many theatrical tricks distract from the show's biggest asset—the cast.
Alongside Grosse's monolith of masculinity, Kristen Adele is the ideal Stella—a wide-eyed young wife frosting cakes and tidying. She looks at home in lace-collared pinafores, bare feet and a hairstyle like Dorothy's in Oz. The addled Blanche, on the other hand, is an explosion of manic energy as played by NAACP award-winner Deidrie Henry, who tromps after Stella in towering heels and a red dressing gown. Blanche rarely sits still, scouring cabinets for liquor, fussing with her crimped hair and word-vomiting melodramatic monologues.
Like sardines, the characters pack into the two-room set, a dilapidated French Quarter apartment with crumbling plaster. That filth was costly. Mercier commissioned a New Orleans metalworker for the authentic second-story balcony. He hung a glittering chandelier in the drab kitchen, and the translucent walls let you glimpse neighbors passing or a woman hawking flowers in the background.
The upside to a decadent production is the audience never gets bored. There's always an extra to watch, a costume change to judge, a jazz riff punctuating dialogue or a prostitute lighting up in the wings. Restraint wouldn't hurt here. Jazz blasts, lights strobe and extras swarm onstage during what should be a subtle scene change. Eunice and Steve making out on the balcony distract from Blanche's nuanced meltdown, and it's hard to appreciate Stanley when he's constantly changing shirts or dodging props.
Streetcar closes the PCS season with light tricks and star power, in a fussy version of a play about destitution, insanity and rape. Watch for the quiet moments, which deliver the most.
see it: Streetcar Named Desire is at Portland Center Stage, 128 NW 11th Ave., 503-445-3700. 7:30 pm Tuesday-Wednesday and Friday; noon and 7:30 pm Thursday; 2 and 7:30 pm Saturday-Sunday. Through June 19. $25-$75.
The balcony arrives — A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE at Portland Center Stage from Portland Center Stage on Vimeo.
Willamette Week