likkah? why, ah nevah touch the stuff

I'm wondering if there's a name for the sensation you get when a missing piece of your education is suddenly discovered, years after the fact. What's worse is when you never realized that such a gap even existed, and immediately feel foolish for going so long without even knowing your ignorance.
Whether there's a name for that specific feeling or not, tonight I went through it. I saw the Roundabout Theatre's revival of "A Streetcar Named Desire," starring Natasha Richardson and John C. Reilly. Somehow I'd gone 30 years with fairly limited exposure to this particular show. I never saw the Marlon Brando movie, never read the original play. I knew the famous lines, of course, enough to get me through Trivial Pursuit, but I never realized what a masterpiece of modern theater the show is.
John C. Reilly's portrayal of Stanley was full of the appropriate vim and vigor. He's obviously a talented thespian but I actually didn't love him in this role. Natasha Richardson, though, blew me away. To be honest, I'm not sure she was a wonderful fit for Blanche; she had trouble in some scenes maintaining the Mississippi accent and a few of her lines came across as muffled mutters. Still, I fell utterly in love with the wonderfully flawed Blanche — which may be a testimony more to Tennessee Williams than to the actor.
Only a gay man could create a character like Blanche DuBois. She's such a tender lush, fragile yet conniving, an honest liar, a relentless slut. I was reminded of any number of queens I've known during my adult gay life. In fact, I now realize that the Blanche DuBois archetype is one many Southern Fags subconsciously model themselves after — and I don't think even they catch the reference.

Speaking of fags, the show is being staged in the Studio 54 Theater. That's right, the Studio 54. Another missing piece of my pop culture education was filled in when I learned that the notorious '70s disco began its life as an opera house in the 1920s, and was revitalized as a performance space only in 1998.
As Blanche would say, "Ah think ah need a drink ..."