Review | Waiting for Godot' more excellent than bogus with Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter | amNewYork

"Let's call it Bill & Ted's Existential Adventure. Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter, forever linked as the slacker duo from Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure and its sequels, have reunited not for another time-travel comedy but Waiting for Godot, Samuel Beckett's classic existential drama about time stopping, in a place where nothing happens, nothing changes, and the waiting never ends."

"First staged in 1953, Godot is the cornerstone of absurdist theater: two tramps, Vladimir (Reeves) and Estragon (Winter), spend their days waiting for a mysterious figure named Godot, who never shows up. To pass the time, they argue, clown around, share scraps of memory, and are interrupted by the pompous Pozzo (Brandon Dirden), his servant Lucky (Michael Patrick Thornton), and a Boy who delivers the same message at the end of each act: Godot will not come today, but surely tomorrow."

"The Beckett estate is famously strict over directorial choices that stray away from the written text, but Lloyd clearly won some leeway. Instead of the bare tree called for in the script, the set is a massive cylindrical tunnel resembling the Sarlacc pit from Return of the Jedi. Reeves and Winter climb it, slide down, and perch at its lip. Club music plays before the show begins, ominous chords underscore the Pozzo and Lucky scenes, and each act ends with the snap of a camera."

Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter reunite as Vladimir and Estragon in Jamie Lloyd's revival of Waiting for Godot at the Hudson Theatre. The production stages Beckett's 1953 absurdist drama about two tramps waiting endlessly for the absent Godot. The cast includes Brandon Dirden as Pozzo, Michael Patrick Thornton as Lucky, and a Boy who repeats that Godot will not come today but surely tomorrow. Jamie Lloyd, known for stripped-down starry revivals, secured leeway from the Beckett estate for bold design choices. The set is a massive cylindrical tunnel; club music and ominous chords punctuate scenes, and each act ends with a camera snap.

Read at www.amny.com