STAGE REVIEWS : ‘Streetcar’ Stalls; ‘Home’ a Satisfying, Emotional Trip : Casting problem aside, Tennessee Williams’ monumental play about erotic tension is beset by technical problems, lackluster portrayals.

The question of alternative casting in Eastern Boys Productions’ contemporary staging of “A Streetcar Named Desire” was almost irrelevant at Friday’s opening night--various problems were more pressing.

But let’s address that issue at the start. Director Walter Brown’s decision (with input from assistant director Steve Scholl) to have a black Stanley Kowalski (R.A. Blankenship Jr.) did not necessarily add to Tennessee Williams’ estimable drama, but neither did it dilute the play’s integrity.

It was an uncomfortable choice at times--especially with all the references to Kowalski’s Polish origins, without a word about this Stanley’s obvious African heritage--but Williams’ themes of class struggle and erotic tension and vulnerability still peeked through.

However, casting a black actor (Mellow Martin) as Mitch, Stanley’s friend and Blanche’s suitor, was wrong. Considering Blanche’s vast affectations built on a foundation of old-time Southern propriety, it was too large a stretch.

Her vehement speech to sister Stella, when she describes Stanley as “an ape,” reinforced a notion of her barely concealed bigotry. Of course, this was not Williams’ intention--the lines are meant to show a disdain for Stanley’s barbarity and her repressed attraction to it, not his color--but in Brown’s concept, it reads like a bald, racial slur. In this framework, would Blanche’s biases allow her to feel closeness to Mitch?

The troubles were more basic than the casting. Technical problems, stalled pacing and unresounding portrayals all worked to neuter the power of this “Streetcar.”

In the production’s defense, the actors did have to endure the Santa Ana City Hall Police Annex Auditorium’s lousy acoustics. Dialogue was routinely swallowed, and the cast didn’t do much to overcome the predicament.

Of all the performers, only Deirdre West as Blanche approached the pathos of “Streetcar.” West was often self-conscious, but at least she tried to locate the human conflicts and contradictions that can make Blanche and her story so compelling.

‘A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE’

An Eastern Boys Productions staging of Tennessee Williams’ drama. Directed by Walter Brown, with Steve Scholl. With Georgia Baxter Anderson, R.A. Blankenship Jr., Betsy Fernandez, Robert Flyer, Mellow Martin, Deirdre West, Joe Nye, Felix Cisneros III and Rudy Salazar. Set by Walter Brown and R.A. Blankenship Jr. Lighting and sound by Walter Brown and Felix Cisneros III. Plays Friday and Saturday at 7:30 p.m. through March 31 at the Santa Ana City Hall Police Annex Auditorium, 23 Civic Center Plaza, Santa Ana. Tickets: $15, with $5 of each ticket to be donated to the homeless. Information: (714) 998-2199.