A Streetcar Named Marge

In the episode, Marge wins the role of Blanche DuBois in a community theatre musical version of Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire.

Homer offers little support for his wife's acting pursuits, and Marge begins to see parallels between him and Stanley Kowalski, the play's boorish lead male character.

The director, Llewellyn Sinclair, immediately rejects Marge, explaining that Blanche is supposed to be a "delicate flower being trampled by an uncouth lout".

However, as a dejected Marge calls home and takes Homer's dinner order, Llewellyn realizes that she is perfect for the role.

After the show, Homer tells her that he was saddened by Blanche's plight as a woman in need of compassion but who receives only neglect and mistreatment from men like Stanley.

[4] Jeff Martin first pitched the idea of Homer being in a theatrical production of 1776; producer James L. Brooks then suggested that Marge could play Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire.

The Great Escape had been Martin's favorite film as a child, and he said "it was so exciting and so stirring" to hear the music being performed by the Simpsons' studio orchestra.

The episode contains many long set pieces, especially during the third and final act, which includes the end of the Maggie subplot and the performance of the musical.

[8] All the main Simpsons cast members lent their voices to the episode, along with semi-regulars Maggie Roswell and Phil Hartman.

Lovitz later worked with Al Jean and Mike Reiss in the animated sitcom The Critic, and returned to The Simpsons for the episodes "A Star Is Burns", "Hurricane Neddy", "Half-Decent Proposal", "The Ziff Who Came to Dinner" and "Homerazzi".

However, the song is very cheery in tone, intentionally missing the point of Blanche's line, which is meant by Tennessee Williams to be ironic.

Maggie even bounces a ball against the wall of the playpen, as Steve McQueen's character Virgil Hilts does throughout the film while he is in confinement.

Another wall sign reads "A Is A", the law of identity, which plays a central role in Rand's novel Atlas Shrugged.

[12] In the scene when Homer, Bart and Lisa pick up Maggie from the daycare center, babies are perched all over the building, staring at the family and quietly sucking on pacifiers.

[5] The episode also contains an allusion to Joseph Cotten in the opera scene in Citizen Kane, in which Homer plays with a shredded playbill while he watches his wife in the musical.

Jon Lovitz participated in the DVD's audio commentary, alongside Matt Groening, Al Jean, Mike Reiss, Jeff Martin, and Hank Azaria.

"[21] In a list of his favorite episodes, Kevin Williamson of Canadian Online Explorer added, "As pitch-perfect eviscerations of community theatre go, this tops Waiting for Guffman.

[23] Series creator Matt Groening has listed it as one of his own favorites, calling the subplot "Maggie's finest moment",[24] and future Simpsons guest star Trey Anastasio said the episode "may have been the best TV show ever".

[29] The musical within the episode includes a controversial song depicting the New Orleans which existed during the period in time A Streetcar Named Desire was set in, referring to the city as a "home of pirates, drunks and whores", among other things.

[6] A New Orleans critic viewed "A Streetcar Named Marge" and published the song lyrics in his newspaper before the episode aired.

[34] At the urging of WNOL, Fox president Jamie Kellner released a statement on October 1, 1992: It has come to our attention that a comedic song about New Orleans in tonight's episode of "The Simpsons" has offended some city residents and officials.

Viewers who watch the episode will realize that the song is in fact a parody of the opening numbers of countless Broadway musicals, which are designed to set the stage for the story that follows.

[35]The Simpsons' producers rushed out a chalkboard gag for "Homer the Heretic", which aired a week after "A Streetcar Named Marge".

"[36] The issue passed quickly, and a person in a Bart Simpson costume even served as Krewe of Tucks Grand Marshal at the 1993 New Orleans Mardi Gras.