Blair Underwood Version of A Street Car Named Desire, How’d He Do?
On Sunday Blair Underwood made his debut in the Broadway adaptation of a Street Car Named Desire. Perhaps the most popular version of the Tennessee Williams play was the film starring Marlon Brando in the lead role. You may not know the play, but you’ve probably heard pop-culture references to the  Tennesee Williams play, or at least to Brando’s famous delivery of  the shrewd cry, “Stella, Steeella!”
Blair Underwood’s debut was the first time a black man has starred as Stanley in a production of the play. The Broadway version has been adapted to include a mostly black cast, but the gist of the story remains the same.
So how did Blair do? Â Bloomberg writes:
“Underwood adds an unexpected vulnerability that makes Stanley’s violence as explosive and, oddly, as believable, as any I’ve seen.”
“It’s not as though Brando himself didn’t distinguish Stanley as an icon of brute sexual charisma, and on that score Underwood certainly delivers the goods. Just listen to the gasps and sighs emanating from the audience when he strips to an undershirt or less.”
The show will complete it’s Broadway run after 16 weeks.
