Tennessee Williams', "A Streetcar Named Desire" occupies a unique position in American Theatre. It is without question one of the greatest plays by one of our greatest playwrights, a masterpiece that deserves to be revived and performed again and again, a play that challenges actors and directors, a play that has electrified audiences in countless productions in America and around the world. But, to paraphrase another pretty good playwright, "There’s a rub".

There have been many worthy professional productions of the play (and the current Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey production is certainly on that level) and countless actors playing Stanley Kowalski and Blanche DuBois, but there has been the one definitive production and it's been preserved on film. So here’s that rub, the audience watching any production of "A Streetcar Named Desire" can’t help comparing what’s on stage in front of them with Elia Kazan’s movie version of his original Broadway production. That movie is embedded in our cultural consciousness. I’m sure that when most people hear "A Streetcar Named Desire," the first thing that pops into their mind isn’t Tennessee Williams but Marlon Brando.

It isn’t fair, but actors are going up against the images of the brilliant original Broadway performances of Brando, Karl Malden and Kim Hunter, that are readily available on DVD.

To use those three talented, but, at the time, unknown actors, in the film, Kazan had to jettison Broadway’s Blanche, Jessica Tandy, for Hollywood’s Scarlet O’Hara, Vivian Leigh. That casting turned out to be more than fortuitous. Kazan, when working in theater, cast the most talented actor in the role; in films, he cast to type. He hired the actor closest to the character’s physical, personal, and, psychological makeup. In Vivian Leigh, he found a woman teetering on the edge, her marriage to Laurence Oliver falling apart, her glamour and beauty just starting to fade, a fragile, extremely vulnerable human being. He soon discovered she was an insecure but an intense actress who "would crawl through broken glass" to get it right and that she was "authentically crazy." The result was a performance that is arguably the touchstone for actresses playing Tennessee William’s heroines.

At Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey, Gregory Derelian as Stanley and Laila Robins as Blanch DuBois, do not try to imitate Brando or Leigh but put their own stamps on the near iconic figures. Director Bonnie J. Monte does, however, seem to be echoing the more realistic style of the film, not the poetic, sometime surreal style of William’s original script. For instance set designer, Harry Feiner gives us a drab, rundown impoverished corner of New Orleans, not a set that captures "the raffish charm and "a kind of lyricism" that the author asks for in his set description. Hugh Hanxon’s costumes, for the most part, have an almost monochromatic, toned-down pallete, although Williams, in his stage directions, call for "shirts of solid blues, purples, red and white checks worn by men coarse, direct and powerful as the primary colors." William’s also, for much of the play, has Stanley wearing a "vivid green silk bowling shirt." In this production, the only break in the dreary atmosphere, are the dresses and robes Blanche unpacks from her trunk.

Gregory Derelian is believable, playing Stanley as a kind Joe six-pack with a standard tough guy swagger, a lot of anger, and an occasional uneasy actor’s self consciousness. But he doesn’t make Stanley’s language, with its folk-poetry, his own. He doesn’t capture, what William’s calls the "animal joy…implicit in all his movements and attitudes…the power and pride of a richly feathered bird male bird among hens."

Laila Robins, who I think is one of the most talented, fearless actors around, is so strong a personality and a presence that she overwhelms Blanche. When Blanche tells a story, Miss Robin’s instinct is to "act it out". She hasn’t found the stillness and fragility in the character. She doesn’t seem to trust the voice of Blanche DuBois, a voice ringing with the poetry of Tennessee Williams. The actress isn’t comfortable yet with the language Blanche uses to connect with the hostile world outside, while she huddles inside the thin, fragile shell, that stands between her and insanity.

Nisi Sturgis as Stella and Robert Clohessy as Mitch, are attractive performers and give solid performances but the drab costumes and, too often, dim lighting, keeps them from registering as strongly as they might.

Interestingly, the "realistic" approach that’s been adopted has found more laughs in this production of " A Streetcar Named Desire" than in any I’ve seen. It’s a win/lose situation. Laughs found; poetry lost.