Multiracial Take on Tennessee Williams' "Streetcar" Schedules its Broadway Tram Stop

NEW YORK -- The multiracial Broadway revival of Tennessee Williams' modern classic, A Streetcar Named Desire, has been confirmed for the spring, with Blair Underwood and Nicole Ari Parker set to step into the iconic shoes of Stanley Kowalski and Blanche DuBois.

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Directed by Emily Mann, the production will begin previews April 3 at the Broadhurst Theatre, with opening night set for April 22. The limited engagement is scheduled through July 22. Rounding out the lead cast are Daphne Rubin-Vega (Rent) as Stella and Wood Harris (The Wire) as Mitch. Terence Blanchard will compose an original soundscape for the production.

The revival marks the Broadway debut for both Underwood and Parker, who is best known for her work in the Showtime series, Soul Food.

Stephen Byrd, Alia Jones and Anthony Lacavera are producing the project. Byrd and Jones also were producers on an all-black 2008 revival of Williams' Cat on a Hot Tin Roof that starred Terrence Howard, Phylicia Rashad, Anika Noni Rose and James Earl Jones. That production subsequently played London's West End.

Despite the non-traditional casting, the new Streetcar will retain its original setting of 1950s New Orleans. Premiered on Broadway in 1947, the Pulitzer-wining drama's last major New York staging was a tepidly received 2005 revival, with Natasha Richardson, John C. Reilly and Amy Ryan.