'Waiting for Godot' on Broadway is a tale of two friendships

For director Jamie Lloyd, Samuel Beckett's existentialist masterpiece is all about companionship, and the stars' offstage bonds are key to this revival.

Summary

• Director Jamie Lloyd and actors Keanu Reeves; Alex Winter; Brandon J. Dirden; and Michael Patrick Thornton discuss how their offstage friendships inform the Broadway revival of Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot as one of the play's themes is companionship

Three decades before Seinfeld came on the scene, Waiting for Godot was the original hit show about nothing. Instead of 180 episodes, playwright Samuel Beckett's existentialist masterpiece has spawned hundreds of productions worldwide since its 1953 premiere, including five on Broadway as of this fall. Tongue-in-cheek subway ads for the latest revival even describe it as, "The greatest play ever written about nothing. Nothing and everything. But mostly nothing. Seriously, nothing happens."

So what do you do with a play that literally lacks a certain something? You make it about the someones. Right below the aforementioned tagline, two prominent faces are the first to catch the eyes of commuters: those of Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter.

Known to many fans as the titular buddies in the Bill & Ted film series, Reeves makes his Broadway debut, and Winter returns after 44 years away, as a different pair of friends. Vladimir (aka Didi, played by Winter) and Estragon (aka Gogo; Reeves) are two rudderless men who converse while awaiting the arrival of the unseen Godot. Besides brief appearances by two other men and a young boy, that's the sum of the action. But Vladimir and Estragon's chats, which at first appear to be time-killing small talk, probe deeper ideas about what it means to be alive.

Beckett's enigmatic play has launched countless philosophical interpretations, but for Tony Award-nominated director Jamie Lloyd (Sunset Boulevard), the show boils down to one completely accessible theme: friendship. To him, he told New York Theatre Guide, Waiting for Godot is "about how that connection to another human being can sustain us through great challenges, through great difficulties, through great obstacles."

That's why Reeves and Winter were the right actors to work with, Lloyd added; they've stayed close in real life ever since the first Bill & Ted film came out in 1989. Doing Godot with Winter was Reeves's idea ("Sounded fun to me!" Reeves explained), and the trio have now worked on the show for over three years, doing multiple readings ahead of Broadway.

"It was just like, 'Oh my God, that's the best idea ever. That makes so much sense,'" Lloyd recalled thinking when asked to come aboard. "It's a play that I've been wanting to do for years, and it really relies on finding that central duo [...] and the right kind of chemistry.

"It's so beautiful to see their love for each other, but it's so fun as well: the way they respond to each other, the way they tell jokes together, the way they recall their own memories of shooting Bill & Ted or going on press tours around the world, or shared moments with their families," Lloyd continued. "All of that comes for free, and you get to explore it in the production, and it animates the play in a very particular, very special way."

Winter echoed a similar sentiment, telling Reeves during their joint interview: "You're bringing yourself to [Estragon]. There's so much dimension and honesty and vulnerability to this character, and the text supports that so well. That's been really fun to watch."

"I would have to follow that to you," replied Reeves. "One of the words that hits me is fierce: The fierceness and talent of how you're approaching it, and your grounded approach to the role and to the whole experience, is inspiring."

But theirs isn't the only friendship behind the scenes. Rounding out the main cast are Brandon J. Dirden as Pozzo, a slave-owning traveler, and Michael Patrick Thornton as his subordinate, Lucky. The pair had never worked together before Godot, but they developed a quick rapport born of mutual respect. Dirden had seen Thornton perform in Lloyd's 2023 production of A Doll's House and described him in their joint interview as "silky smooth with a dash of naughty."

"I can't stand him," retorted Thornton with mock seriousness. Added Dirden, not missing a beat: "It's true. I love him, and he cannot stand me, and it works!"

Their characters’ relationship is more contentious than that of Vladimir and Estragon and provides an animated, if bizarre (no spoilers), interlude to the friends' endless waiting. "I see Pozzo as this guy who's — I'm going to repeat this because Michael likes it when I use this phrase — all hat, no cap," Dirden said. "He is the best of who we can be and the worst of who we are. He is as bombastic as he is vulnerable. He didn't ask for all this..." At this point, Dirden trailed off to vocalize with Thornton, who had started singing "Boombastic" by Shaggy.

Besides only becoming friends through Godot, Dirden and Thornton contrast Reeves and Winter in that the former pair are Broadway regulars. Just as Reeves and Winter attested to learning from them and Lloyd, Thornton said he was inspired by the screen stars' openness.

"They're teaching me so much about coming to it with a wide-eyed approach and not being bogged down with [...] the things that have nothing to do with the play itself," he said. "Irrespective of all the trappings, the bright lights, what are we doing? I so appreciate the — and this is not a pejorative term — the naiveté that we get to have in the room every day."

That sentiment of openness and community is just what Lloyd hopes to get across in his production. "In a world that's increasingly divided, to explore human connectedness is so special and so beautiful."

Reeves similarly hopes audiences are game to go along for the ride. "It's a tragicomedy, so it's fun, but it's also tackling [...] some fundamental questions of existence and wants and desires and frustrations," Reeves said. "It's sometimes uplifting and sometimes..." he trailed off, breaking into knowing laughter with Winter.

Leave it to the longtime friends to make a famous play feel like an inside joke they're just waiting to let us in on.

Get Waiting for Godot tickets now.