At 'Streetcar' Performance, the Howls Weren't Just 'Stella!' April 11, 2012, 4:09 pm Casting Hollywood stars may improve ticket sales to Broadway plays, but it can also bring out the unwelcome fan within some audience members. Consider Tuesday night's performance of the new revival of "A Streetcar Named Desire." Stanley Kowalski, a role made famous by Marlon Brando in the 1947 Broadway premiere and in the 1951 film, is being played this time around by the television actor Blair Underwood ("In Treatment," "L.A. Law"). His first entrance as Stanley has been welcomed with coos and whistles from women in the audience since preview performances began this month. Tuesday night was no different, yet a jarring reprise came later. In the final showdown between Stanley and his sister-in-law, Blanche DuBois (played by Nicole Ari Parker), a drunken Stanley is celebrating the imminent birth of his first child while at the same time ruthlessly cutting down Blanche. He is on such a high that he declares he's going to wear his special pajamas to bed, and a moment later Mr. Underwood appears in sharply tailored silk. The sight of him on Tuesday was enough to cause one female audience to proclaim, "Oh baby!," which was followed by a good 15 seconds of laughter. Looking poised, and perhaps prepared for fan outbursts, Mr. Underwood and Ms. Parker held position until the laughter ended. And then they did their best to restore a level of tension and menace to the scene, which ends with Stanley's infamous rape of Blanche.