Just yesterday, I was scanning the New York theater listings, hoping to find things worth seeing next time I make it to New York, and "Waiting for Godot" caught my eye, because I've been a big fan of the play ever since I happened to see it on TV — the Zero Mostel/Burgess Meredith production — when I was a teenager. Then I saw this new production had Keanu Reeves, and my real-time reaction was "I’m a little afraid of Keanu Reeves fans ruining the audience."
From the NYT article:
Broadway had been on a remarkable upward trajectory in the years preceding the pandemic, but then tumbled; during the 2023-24 season, total attendance was still 17 percent lower than it had been the last full season before the pandemic.
“These actors do bring brand-new audiences to the theater, and of course, that’s what you always want,” said Jamie Lloyd, who will direct... Reeves in “Godot.”...
ADDED: Since "Waiting for Godot" took inspiration from the old movie comic duo Laurel & Hardy, it makes some sense to tap the movie comic duo Bill & Ted. Will they lean into the Bill & Tedness of it?
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Excellent!
When I was in London I saw Long Day's Journey into Night with Jack Lemmon, Taming of the Shrew with Vanessa Redgrave, and Orphans with Albert Finney. Gotta admit the stars were the draw.
I saw the latest John WIck movie. The body count approached genocide. The killings were all quick and well choreographed, but repetitious. The franchise is getting stale. On the other hand, Tom Cruise's latest Mission Impossible was exciting and inventive........I think Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman would bring a lot more to Waiting for Godot, particularly in the action sequences.
I saw The Music Man on Broadway with Hugh Jackman a couple of years ago. I think it was in the Winter Garden theater. The audience was quite well behaved - gave him a huge round of applause and cheers when he first showed up, but otherwise nothing out of the ordinary.
The huge ticket prices on Broadway help keep out the rifraff. Even if every single person is there to see Keanu, they will have sunk so much money into the effort that they will quiet down and watch/listen to their idol.
Fanatics of a particular star will probably be better-behaved on the whole than tourists who just want the status symbol of seeing a ‘Broadway show,’ or rich grannies who go there so often that they forget it’s not their living room.
JSM
The tears of the world are a constant quantity. Dude.
Vladimir and Estragon's Excellent Adventure
Bill & Ted do Godot is an interesting concept. I'm surprised to say that.
We saw The Producers in 2001. Mathew Broderick and Nathan Lane, minor stars, were great. Best musical comedy I've seen.
I remember our English class being forced to watch the Mostel/Meredith version in high school. Boring as all get-out. The teacher explained why we were supposed to like it. Something to do with Samuel Beckett being smarter than everybody else and nobody appreciating the play until it was performed at a state penitentiary. I fail to see how Reeves and Winter could do it any harm.
This may be an interesting development. Imagine, the post-modernist's most idolized "significant" drama played for laughs. Beckett's had it coming for a long time.
If this were my production, I'd arm Lucky with a stack of cream pies.
Other than New Jersey folks coming over for the night to see a play like Jersey Boys, Broadway used to get it’s main audience from far away visitors coming to town to experience NYC.
Now no one wants to make the trip. It’s too dangerous. And movie stars aren’t going to help with that.
I got to be Pozzo in a high school production. The only participant who went on to a career in theatre was the guy who played Lucky. I'm still defending capitalism. It's good to have a goal.
The play that writes itself: Waiting for Godot, Or Somebody Like Him.
Quaestor will reveal the dirty secret of Waiting for Godot. Ready? Seat belts fastened? Very well, it's this... *ahem* ... The Dirty Secret of "Waiting for Godot by Quaestor (brackets Mister brackets) ... *ahem* ... the next thing I type will be the dirty secret ... *ahem* ... Every production of "Waiting for Godot" is attended by terrified people, terrified by the prospect of NOT GETTING IT and thereby being adjudged a hopeless bourgeois by everyone else in the audience.
If they do it like 'Bill and Ted' then I'm there.
"Dude, when is that Godot dude gonna get here? I guess we just chill for now, dude."
But then Cruise would have to drag a box around the stage.
Keanu has never won an Oscar, so he's settling for a Tony.
can we All Agree? that Cartman and Kyle would be The Most Bestest pairing for Godot?
He'd better settle for a Tony. Much as I like Keanu, that is not Oscar material (such as Oscar material is) and is never going to be. I wouldn't bet on the Tony, either.
I've never seen the play live. I did enjoy the recording with Bert Lahr and EG Marshall.
I read Waiting for Godot in high school and I thought it was pretty good actually. However in our modern digital age most people don't have the patience to sit still for 90 minutes of Beckett's nihilism, movie stars or no. Our over-clocked attention spans are way too short nowadays.
This is one of those productions that will either be brilliant or it will go down in flames.
I like musicals. I saw "Cats, Evita and Starlight Express" in London. They were very well done and did not travel well. "Phantom" was well done in LA.
I saw it first in HS. Literally. One of the few HS plays I went to, Different strokes for different folks. Found it fascinating, not boring, as did my friends. Would you like to play at questions?
There was a well-received 1956 Broadway staging of Waiting for Godot with Bert Lahr as Estragon, E.G. Marshall as Vladimir.
Hear me out: Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter in "Waiting for Godot", but it's a musical!
I hope you saw "Cats", "Evita", and "Starlight Express" in London. With only two quotation marks, it looks like you saw a single show that was a mashup of all three: my idea of Hell! (Though "Cats" all by itself is my idea of Purgatory.)
Michael K
I like musicals.
I loved Paint Your Wagon..
I only saw the movie version; but it was UNQUESTIONABLY Clint Eastwood's Best Musical..
it was one of Lee Marvin's better musicals too!
Sorry about the ". We saw Cats with 6 teenagers in the original theater, which was quite small. One of the Cats sat in the lap of one of the girls. They loved it. "Starlight Express" was terrific. The version I saw in LA later was nothing like it. The skating ring in London went all around the theater.
Godot with Zero Mostel and Burgess Meredith sounds promising, but not with Reeves and Winter or Steve Martin and Robin Williams. It's a tragicomedy, not a comedy.
Saw Evita in New York. It travelled very well. LuPone and Patinkin. Not bad. Saw original Les Miz cast in London. Spectacular.
The hell scenes from Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey augur an excellent production of Waiting for God(ot). Those scenes where they play against death surpass Bergmann. The absurdity trounces the play, which staled long ago
Waiting for God(ot) is overwrought bullshit. Keanu will expose it as the farce it is.
Waiting for God(ot) is overwrought bullshit. Keanu will expose it as the farce it is.
I'm glad you didn't give away the surprise ending!
Robert Preston is and forever will be the perfect Music Man.
The John Wick movie had decent classical music that evil people always have playing in their lairs. Chopin Nocturne 20
I tried to watch it once, on Broadway, with the guy who plays Jean Luc Picard in Star Trek, and it bored me to tears. Can anybody tell me what I was missing?
I also saw "A Long Play's Journey Into Night" with some famous movie star. Jessica Lange, maybe? Anyway, it at least held my attention.
Keanu Reeves at least doesn't do anger. It's the downfall of movie assassins. Pierce Brosnan is particularly bad at anger, complete overacting.
Some other movie suffered from gross overacting, I'll think of it ... Suspect (1987) starring Cher was great except Liam Neeson overacted his part very badly. An anger thing again. I think guys who are not naturally angry can't do it.
I can't comment about that particular production, but as for the play, read about "the theatre of the absurd." You still may not care for it, but at least you won't be faulting it for lacking something it is not trying to provide.
I'd Wait for Gadot as long as she likes!!!
"It's a tragicomedy, not a comedy."
Oooh. Grimsom finally got to use one of those Increase Your Word-Power words.
"I’m a little afraid of Keanu Reeves fans ruining the audience."
Would the average age of those fans be 50 or closer to 60?
The one time I saw waiting for Godot, at intermission, I had a strong desire to steal Estragon’s shoes.
I really meant that "Cats"and "Starlight" did not travel well as I saw them later in LA. I don't think I saw "Evita" again. Only London.
keanu does the slow burn, except when he is being tortured by the bratva chief,
Mia Farrow? Really?
I think Gilbar is onto something.
Watch, "The Instigaters". You won't regret it.
Slaps forehead.
Why didn't I think of that?
Tragicomedy is generally understood. Post-modernism is not, but you thought it fine to use.
I saw Bill Irwin and Nathan Lane in 'Waiting For Godot' on Broadway in 2009 (Also starred John Goodman as Pozzo). Awesome. I missed the 2013 vevival w/Patrick Stweart and Ian McKellen, but I will try to see this one.
Oh, I know what it *doesn't* provide, my question was more to the effect of "what *does* it provide?
So far it seems more to me like an "Emperor's New Clothes" type of deal.
Godot has had a good life on stage in NYC -- it's on-stage here quite a bit. I didn't get to the production with Nathan Lane/Bill Irwin but did see the version with Ian McKellan and Patrick Stewart about 10 years ago. Terrific evening, very entertaining. Been back on stage several times since then, both Broadway and TFANA. It's a bit harder to picture Keanu R in a new production, but maybe he can pull it off and give it a new twist or two. I'll try to see it too. For Beckett fans, even better was the less often produced Happy Days -- it was at TFANA with Dianne Wiest, and for a character who never moves (she's stuck in the sand -- basically, just her torso sticking out), she was mesmerizing.
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