At least one streetcar will open in D.C. this week when the Glasgow-based Scottish Ballet brings Nancy Meckler and Annabelle Lopez Ochoa’s interpretation of A Streetcar Named Desire to the Kennedy Center. The pairing of Meckler, a film and theater director, and choreographer Ochoa shines as the ballet blends a variety of dance forms with theatrical staging and costuming, plus a jazz-inspired score evocative of the sweltering New Orleans setting. In this reformulation of Tennessee Williams’ Pulitzer-winning work, movement takes the place of words, but swapping dialogue for gesture does nothing to diminish the play’s dramatic social realism. Blanche, the troubled and newly estate-less Southern belle, is the central tragic figure, a moth hopelessly drawn to flame. The tension and desperation underpinning her journey to her sister Stella’s apartment culminate in her clashes with Stella’s brutal, working-class husband Stanley, who hates Blanche’s airs and her illusions of grandeur. The ballet brings the passion, violence, and crumbled fantasy of the play and its lesson about the perils of desire to the stage in a visually stunning form that should impress fans of both Brando and Balanchine. Scottish Ballet performs May 28 to 30 at the Kennedy Center Opera House, 2700 F St. NW. $30–$108. (202) 467-4600. kennedy-center.org.