B'way Review: Waiting for Godot

Alex Winter and Keanu Reeves in
Waiting for Godot.
Credit: Andy Henderson

The biggest box-office hit of the new, startlingly sparse Broadway fall season is, surprisingly, a revival of Waiting for Godot, Samuel Beckett’s classic comedy-drama of existential despair. Well, maybe, it shouldn’t be such as a surprise since the production marks the reunion of Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter, co-stars of three popular Bill & Ted film comedies, and the Broadway debut of Reeves (Winter appeared as a child actor in The King and I and Peter Pan.) In addition, this weighty work on the question of man’s purpose in the universe has been marketed as a Seinfeld-like comedy about nothing, and the director is white-hot Jamie Lloyd whose Sunset Boulevard, Romeo & Juliet, and A Doll’s House have been innovative and controversial. 

Is this Godot worth the wait and the hype? It depends on your expectations. If you want to see two of your favorite film stars recreating their goofy screen antics, you may be disappointed. If you are familiar with Beckett’s text and are anticipating a deep examination of why we are here with some slapstick thrown in, you will be somewhat satisfied. Lloyd’s production is clever and well-paced, mounting the challenges of Beckett’s difficult script, wherein, yes, very little happens. But his two leads Reeves and Winter fail to fully flesh out the iconic tramps Estragon and Vladimir who seek to find meaning in the futile task of waiting for the enigmatic Godot. Brandon J. Dirden as the pompous wayfarer Pozzo who briefly interrupts their vigil, is much more vibrant, so much so that this revival would be better named Waiting for Pozzo.