The rumors are true: Paul Mescal is going to reprise his role as Stanley Kowalski in A Streetcar Named Desire. Except, some of the rumors, like the idea that the production would be coming to Broadway, are false. Below, find the whole saga, from initial confusion to the truth coming out.
Huh? What?
November 8, 2024: If you care about the New York theater scene, then you’ve probably heard rumors about Paul Mescal coming to New York in a transfer of the West End production of A Streetcar Named Desire. Still, the production hasn’t been officially confirmed. So it was a bit of a surprise when Deadline half-announced that the production is coming to Broadway, while reporting on entirely separate Ridley Scott news: Mescal will star in Scott’s upcoming The Dog Stars, which will shoot “next spring, after Mescal stars on Broadway in A Streetcar Named Desire. Mescal is reprising his turn as Stanley Kowalski from the lauded London production of the Tennessee Williams play,†per the story. Honestly, the biggest news here is that the production isn’t going to BAM as rumored. We have no further confirmations about the production, including casting, dates, or theater, but we would comfortably assume it’s coming sometime before April to make this Tonys period. That would pit Mescal against his Gladiator II co-star Denzel Washington, who is starring in Othello. And both would lose to Cole Escola. Ha!
Oh! Haha. Okay.
November 11, 2024: Actually, scratch that. The production is going to BAM. On November 11, the Brooklyn Academy of Music confirmed that Mescal will star in Streetcar Off Broadway this spring. The production, as in London, will be directed by Rebecca Frecknall (Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club) and co-star Patsy Ferren as Blanche and Anjana Vasan as Stella. It will run from February 28 to April 6. All is right in the world, though we are sad that Mescal won’t get the chance to be Tony nominated alongside Washington. That was so fun in our heads.