they are our all-access guests, blair underwood and nicole ari parker. >> you must be stanley. i'm blanch. >> yes. >> where's little woman? >> in the bathroom. >> here with the stars of the revived hit "a streetcar named desire," blair underwood and nicole ari parker. con gratelationgratulatio congratulations. that's a big deal. >> yes. >> the shows are closing out around us. it's by word of mouth. the word on the street is this is the show to come to. >> this is a huge hit. >> "a," it's a classic american play and "b," blair underwood is in it. >> like nicole said, it's a classic. many people feel as though they know it or think they know it. it's important to have a barometer, point of reference. >> one of the perceptions is that you all have radically changed the play from the original tennessee williams version or even the randall version. >> minor things. >> minor changes. >> people are basing it on the movie. a lot of people haven't read the actual play. they're going off the movie version in 1951 which was made at a time when censorship is very high. most of the stories,

joining me today, nicole arie-parker, leading actress on "streetcar named desire" which i have seen twice butler, professor of religious studies and graduate chair of religion at university of pennsylvania. joan morgan returning to nerdland. author of "when chicken heads come home to roost." and nikki walton, founder of curly niki.com and author of "better than good hair." thank you, all, for being here. and for -- and for being throng have this conversation. for me, black women's hair, the politics of it, seem obvious. but i realize that it may not be obvious to everyone, particularly maybe to our viewers who haven't encountered these questions before. help me make the case for why black hair matters? >> it matters because u.s. a historical way how we look at each other. from slavery, it matters, how you wore your hair or if someone took it away from you, c.j. walker, cools mes up with the process to straighten your hair and black women pentecostal tell you not to straighten your hair, to black power when you want to wear an afro and your mother tells you you can't. hi, mom. when we see

streetcar showcases an extraordinary multicultural cast of characters including former guest nicole arie-parker22nd, but before the final ovation, we have to hear from its star, blair underwood, who interpreés stanley, and the visionary, emily mann. thank you for being here. i have been teasing this whole thing like, blair underwood is here, that's fabulous, but the fact is it really was this performance that i fell in love with. i mean, i live in new orleans, the play is obviously critically about the city, about the cultures, but how did this project come to you? how did you decide to take on a role this intense? >> thank you for having us, first of all. thank you for coming to the play three times. >> three times i have been. >> i'm a tennessee williams fan. and the producer did this four years ago and i wanted to be a part of that, it didn't work out, but i said i have an interest in "streetcar." here we are. to step in the shoes of stanley, even though i don't use that name because i'm not polish, but to step in the shoes because of the marlon brando production. and the 1947 film, it was