Wild ride aboard ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’ in Paramount’s Copley venue in Aurora

“A Streetcar Named Desire” is categorized as Tennessee Williams’ most popular work. Written and published in 1947, the play first was produced on Broadway with Jessica Tandy, Kim Hunter and an unknown Marlon Brando. It won the 1948 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, and was made into the 1951 film that launched Brando’s career, fortified Vivien Leigh’s, established Elia Kazan’s future as a preeminent American director, and verified Tennessee Williams as one of the most critically acclaimed and important young writers of his generation.

But “Streetcar” is not one of my favorite plays – perhaps because I’m a member of the uniform justice, resolved happy endings club. I did, however, greatly admire this production, and once again was fascinated with the quality and brilliance of another Paramount/Copley production in downtown Aurora.

“A Streetcar Named Desire” relays the tragedy of Blanche DuBois, a fading, disgraced high school English teacher from Laurel, Mississippi, who has come to live for an unspecified time with her sister, Stella, and her husband, Stanley Kowalski, in a crowded, cramped, two-room apartment in the French Quarter of New Orleans. (And that apartment is acutely and accurately designed by Angela Weber Miller: a hot, sticky, shabby, sweltering place or, as Blanche says, “Sit down and explain this place to me. Only Mr. Edgar Allan Poe could do it justice.” Props by Aimee Plant are perfect for the set.)

The Paramount’s BOLD Series finale is directed by Artistic Director Jim Corti and Elizabeth Swanson. Swanson, in particular, believes in a dedication to complicating, questioning and celebrating classic works, and Corti is consistently superb at any production he is involved with. Their “Streetcar” is intimate, honest and emotionally intoxicated – assisted in that achievement by Cat Wilson’s lighting design, Susan Gosdick’s dialect coaching, and the tailored dresses and sweaty tank top costume designs of Mara Blumenfeld.

The three leads, all making their Paramount debuts, are exquisite. Amanda Drinkall’s Blanche DuBois is a radiant stunner, a Southern belle at a very vulnerable and ready-to-break stage. She is reluctant to be seen in the light; she’s jittery, nervous and permeable with her delusions. As played by Drinkall, her Blanche is destitute, a curiosity, a sympathetic character to be understood and misunderstood, and ultimately disregarded. Drinkall is a powerful and mesmerizing actress.

Casey Hoekstra is a handsome, virile Stanley, and plays him as the proud, toxic and common brother-in-law Blanche says he is. “I haven’t noticed the stamp of genius on his forehead … He’s simple, straightforward and on the primitive side. You cannot suppose any part of a gentleman is in his nature.” Hoekstra delivers the infamous “Stella” line, not campily, but with heart-rending despair and true anguish. His Stanley is big on the Napoleonic Code of ownership, which drives a wedge between the sisters and forces the knowledge of what happened with the prosperous ancestral home, Belle Reve. He is loyal to his friends, he’s as hard a drinker as Blanche is; he is suspicious and hedonistic. Hoekstra is a passionate actor.

Alina Taber is a young, attractive Stella, who will do anything for her husband, even grant forgiveness after a beating. She becomes ensnared between Stanley and her sister, but her flashes of strength and independence do progress. Taber plays Stella’s denial of reality sadly and subtly, but it’s there. Both she and Drinkall have characters that show women’s postwar dependence on men.

In their roles, the three are credible, and have an interactive raw chemistry that helps this production ebb and flow.

There are two standouts in the supporting cast. Andrea Uppling is marvelous as the upstairs landlady Eunice. Almost nosy, she’s down to earth, loving, and a comfort to Stella.

Ben Page’s character Mitch is Stanley’s best friend, a sweet man, almost meek, who falls for Blanche and her refinements. Living with his ailing mother, he proclaims he’s never met a girl like Blanche. His Mitch is courteous and easily charmed. Page’s reaction after learning of Blanche’s promiscuous past is quite the tour de force. “You’re not clean enough to bring in the house with my mother.” Your heart breaks for him.

The ensemble members, Joshua L. Green, Roberto Antonio Mantica, Adriel Irizarry and Desiree Gonzalez, add color and plot extension as poker players, a bill collector, flower vendor and the finale’s doctor and nurse. Trent Stork is to be congratulated on his casting for this production.

It is said there are autobiographical elements in “Streetcar.” Tennessee Williams lived in the French Quarter when he wrote “Streetcar.” There was a streetcar line named Desire that ran from 1920 to 1948 a half block away from his apartment; that Blanche was based on his sister, Rose, who had mental health issues; and his father was reflected in Stanley and his friends with their drinking and poker games. Stanley’s loathing for Blanche’s prim and proper attitude was inspired by the playwright’s father’s aversion to his own wife’s Southern belle airs. Theater critic and actress Blanche Marvin, a friend of Williams, says the playwright used her name for the lead character, and took the famous line, “I’ve always depended on the kindness of strangers,” from something she said.

Melodrama? Southern Gothic? Greek tragedy? Is a ride on Copley Theatre’s “A Streetcar Named Desire” worth it? Oh, yes – if only for the deep, abundant human insight you’ll experience. A fantastic finale for the Paramount BOLD series!

(Play has mature language and domestic violence, alcohol abuse and mental health topics. An American Sign Language-interpreted performance starts at 8 p.m. April 19.)

• Regina Belt-Daniels is celebrating her 10th year of writing theater reviews – with “Streetcar” as her 500th. She has directed and acted in shows for Raue Center For The Arts, RCLPC, The Black Box, Elgin Theatre Company, Independent Players, TownSquare Players and Woodstock Musical Theatre Company. She most recently directed “Love Letters” for Steel Beam Theatre.

IF YOU GO

• WHAT: “A Streetcar Named Desire”

• WHERE: Copley Theatre, across from Paramount Theatre, 8 E. Galena Blvd., Aurora

• WHEN: Wednesday through Sunday until April 21

• INFORMATION: 630-896-6666, paramountaurora.com