Previn - A Streetcar Named Desire / Previn, Fleming, Gilfry, San Francisco Opera
by Debbie Palacio, Kirk Browning
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Anthony Dean Griffey, Elizabeth Futral, Judith Forst, Ren?e Fleming, Rodney GilfryDirector: Debbie Palacio, Kirk Browning
Producer: Barbara Bellini Witkowski
Producer: David Horn
Producer: David McCarthy
Writer: John Ardoin
Writer: Karen McLaughlin
Writer: Philip Littell
Writer: Tennessee Williams
DVD: 2 Layers, Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo
Format: Anamorphic, Classical, Color, DVD-Video, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: Anamorphic Widescreen, 1.78:1
Running Time: 166 minutes
DVD Release Date: 1999-11-30
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Image Entertainment
Movie Reviews of Previn - A Streetcar Named Desire / Previn, Fleming, Gilfry, San Francisco Opera
Movie Review: Desire
Summary: 4 Stars
The fact that a life can be ruined by a series of unfortunate events becomes realistic, as Blanche becomes a victim. At first, I despised her because of her promiscuity, but afterwards I noticed that her actions were rooted from her inescapable past.
During the 1940's and after the World War II, many people were in desperation trying to find jobs and create a better life. However, as a result of this mindset, some did not succeed and ended up living in a life of disaster. Such calamity resulted in not only financial misfortune, but also social and mental failure. Everyone seemed to scramble to quickly find a great life, but little did they know, the truth of the reality was that not everyone could succeed at the same time. As a result, many hoped for too much, plunging in a world of delusion. Avoiding reality, several other were just assuming fortunes would find them, creating self-fulfilling prophecies.
In A Streetcar Named Desire, Tennessee Williams wants to depict exactly that tragedy resulted from constant escapades to fantasy by employing Blanche as the typical woman who just lost her grip on reality. Blanche has lost control ever since she found out that her husband was homosexual. Unable to cope with that reality, she just drifted onto another world. She refused to believe that fact and continued to fulfill her desires elsewhere. Everywhere she went, she looked out for ways to satisfy her sexual pleasures. In one instance, she had an affair with a student, as a schoolteacher. Such activity was frowned upon by society, but she did not mind, because she was looking for a way out. After moving to her sister Stella's house, she quickly spots a male named Mitch. In hopes of finding her knight in shining armor, she tried to woo him into getting married. However, Stanley quickly disclosed all Blanche's dirty, stained history in order to stop Blanche and Mitch from going any further. Afterwards, Stanley decides to rape her, and even then, Blanche seems to be lost in world of fantasy. She is unable to stay compose and cope with reality. Everybody seems to think she is crazy, including her sister Stella. At the end of the play, she admits to the doctor she is too gullible and trusting of everyone, assuming everyone would make her life better, creating a false reality that would only make matters worse, revealing the notion that the escape to fantasy would only ruin one's life. Tennessee Williams argues that fantasy is only a false depiction of the world in its most rudimentary image, which causes one to lose control of the complications of reality, inevitably resulting in a disaster.
Despite the mature content, this book should be read, because it exposes an intriguing take on life.
Summary of Previn - A Streetcar Named Desire / Previn, Fleming, Gilfry, San Francisco Opera
Recorded live with the San Francisco Opera, the world premiere production of Andre Previn's A Streetcar Named Desire. For his first-ever opera, Previn turned to one of the most celebrated plays in the history of American theater, Tennessee Williams' Pulitzer Prize-winning A Streetcar Named Desire. He saw the haunting story of lost youth and innocence in the romantic, shadowy world of New Orleans as ideal material. Collaborating with librettist Philip Littell, Previn has captured all the claustrophobic tension, volatile emotion and sexual undertow of Williams' original in his own Streetcar. This world premiere recording took place in September 1998 at the spectacularly renovated War Memorial Opera House, with Previn conducting. The cast includes Renee Fleming as Blanche DuBois, Rodney Gilfry as Stanley Kowalski, Elizabeth Futral as Stella Kowalski, and Anthony Dean Griffey as Mitch. Nominated for a 1999 Emmy Award. English: Stereo. 167 minutes.There are those who believe (whether they admit it or not) that opera is an exclusively European art whose history ended with the death of Puccini. They are, of course, entitled to this delusion, but it creates serious obstacles for a vital form of new music and it deprives opera fans of some memorable theatrical experiences. For most of the 20th century and very intensively in its last half, American composers have been transforming literary masterpieces into operas that deserve and are gradually winning a place in the repertoire with the European classics. With A Streetcar Named Desire (1998), Andr? Previn is the latest addition to the list of these composers, with Gian Carlo Menotti, Dominick Argento, John Corigliano, Carlisle Floyd, John Harbison, William Bolcom, Mark Adamo, and others.
Previn came to classical music from a background as a jazz pianist and soundtrack composer, credentials that may raise a few eyebrows but obviously developed his sense of what works dramatically in music and a knack for regional flavor in an opera set in New Orleans. The libretto preserves the impact of the original Tennessee Williams play about the fragile Blanche DuBois (brilliantly portrayed by Ren?e Fleming) and the loutish Stanley Kowalski (sung with precision and a subtle sense of character by Rodney Gilfry). There are no weaknesses in the supporting cast and there are particularly fine performances by Elizabeth Futral and Anthony Dean Griffey. Previn, a world-class conductor, is of course an expert in his own music, and Kirk Browning has a convincing approach to the opera's visual elements. Highly recommended to anyone not allergic to modern opera. --Joe McLellan
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