{"id":1588331,"date":"2025-09-29T09:54:52","date_gmt":"2025-09-29T13:54:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/observer.com\/?p=1588331"},"modified":"2025-09-29T10:38:51","modified_gmt":"2025-09-29T14:38:51","slug":"review-keanu-reeves-alex-winter-waiting-for-godot-on-broadway","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/observer.com\/2025\/09\/review-keanu-reeves-alex-winter-waiting-for-godot-on-broadway\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter\u2019s \u2018Waiting for Godot\u2019 Is Excellent"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Alex Winter and Keanu Reeves deliver a tender, rhythmically precise take on Didi and Gogo. Photo by Andy Henderson<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After the final bow of Waiting for Godot<\/i>, I rushed home to my library\u2014specifically, the 2006 Grove Centenary Edition of Samuel Beckett, Volume III. Nothing. What about the PDF of the script sent by the publicist, with \u201cJAMIE LLOYD CO.\u201d (the director\u2019s company) splashed proprietarily across the cover page in 72-pt Impact? Nope, the stage direction wasn\u2019t there, either. Try as I might, I couldn\u2019t find the spot in Waiting for Godot<\/i> where Beckett has Lucky flip Estragon the bird. Estragon (Keanu Reeves) has pooh-poohed Lucky\u2019s dancing, and the unpredictable servant (Michael Patrick Thornton) responds with a quick middle finger. After half a dozen Godots<\/i>, this was new to me. As was Estragon and Vladimir (Alex Winter), their backs to each other, executing a triumphal air-guitar riff. Fans of Bill & Ted\u2019s Excellent Adventure<\/i> registered delight throughout the Hudson Theatre. Bogus? Not a jot.<\/p>\n

Jamie Lloyd\u2019s staging of the 1955 avant-garde classic feels daringly fresh yet simpatico with Beckett\u2019s shabby tramps, mysteriously trapped by a country road and a dying tree, in expectation of a Mr. Godot who never shows up. Our existential clowns while away interminable days in crotchety, circular banter that segues into suicidal despair or resigned camaraderie. Over two acts, a diptych of stasis shading into panic, the men encounter roisterous aristo Pozzo (Brandon J. Dirden) and his enigmatic slave, Lucky. A wary Boy (Eric Williams) creeps in at the end of each act to announce that Mr. G will appear the next day. So \u201cDidi\u201d and \u201cGogo\u201d (as they\u2019ve nicknamed each other) languish hopelessly, helpless to do anything else. In a particularly private moment, Vladimir listens to the air \u201cfull of our cries,\u201d only to conclude, \u201chabit is a great deadener.\u201d He doesn\u2019t elaborate on what exactly it deadens. Joy? Or misery, which can lead to self-slaughter? Habit may deaden happiness, but it also keeps us alive. Our two protagonists resolve to leave, but remain rooted to the spot.<\/p>\n

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