A Streetcar Named Desire and the Paris Letter

Two plays in one day...A Streetcar Named Desire and the Paris Letter

My husband and I belong to Roundabout Theatre. It is a theatre company that produces 7 plays a year and we get to see all seven. It's unusual that we see two in one day but we had to change one date and decided that we could make it a double-header...after all we'd be in the city anyway.

We've been members for the last 8 years and upgrade our seats each year. We now sit within the first 5 rows, ususally center. I'm addicted and won't quite as long as I can afford to buy tickets. The whole trip into the city is not difficult for us. I drive in and go over the 59th St. (Queensborough) bridge. We park in a garage right on 2nd Ave so we're not driving through the city in traffic. The parking garages are less expensive further away from Broadway and we like to walk anyway. The train into the city would be just as expensive. We walk to the theater district. We do eat in nice restaurants; there are so many of them, but if we don't want to spend too much on food, there are plenty of inexpensive,"pub" type places where we can get sandwiches and salads.

The plays:

Streetcar is a classic story so I won't go into story details. I loved it. The actors were wonderful. The critics did not rave about it but a play like this, that has been done so many times, cannot be compared to previous productions. After all, there will never be another Marlon Brando, so stop comparing already! The cast was wonderful...such raw emotion...and it was all done live, just for me. That's what I love about theater.

The Paris Letter: A new play. Basically this story is about the struggle of a gay man, throughout his life, with being gay. It spans the years from the 1960 to the present time.

I really enjoyed the play. If you are gay, you must see it!

Even though I am "straight" I could relate this to other struggles in life, and so could the theater audience...the struggle to do what is right, what society expects, what makes you happy and the resposibilities to the people around you.

It is about love and repect and desire.

The actors did an excellent job. I did think the play started off slowly and I began to lose interest but by the second act I was involved and wanted more. I quess it is not a play for everyone, especially if you find two men kissing makes you uncomfortable.

I am happy that I got to see this play.

Please write if you have questions about it and I would be happy to answer!