Waiting for Godot
Broadway Dramatic Comedy Previews
April 3 2009
Opened April 30 2009
Limited run to July 12 2009
Run 32 previews & 84 performances Producer
Roundabout Theatre Company
Creative
Samuel Beckett author
Anthony Page director
Jane Greenwood costume design
Peter Kaczorowski lighting design
Santo Loquasto scenic design
Dan Moses Schreir sound design
|
Opening Night Cast |
|
|
|
Nathan Lane |
Estragon |
|
|
Bill Irwin |
Vladimir |
|
|
John Goodman |
Pozzo |
|
|
John Glover |
Lucky |
|
Cameron Clifford
Matthew Schechter |
Boy |
|
|
|
|
|
Synopsis
People have been trying to synopsize
Godot for more than half a century. There is no easy way, if
any way at all. The following, though downright boring, is quite
accurate:
Act I Two men wait by the side
of a country road, near a tree, for somebody named Godot. They talk
with a man who passes by with his slave. A boy comes to tell them
that Godot will be there tomorrow
Act II The next day. Two men
wait by the side of a country road, near a tree, for somebody named
Godot. They talk with a man who passes by with his slave. A boy
comes to tell them that Godot will be there tomorrow
Now, Estragon and Vladimir are simply
waiting, and waiting is really doing nothing. So why don't we throw
Jerry Seinfeld and his crew into the mix? After all, Seinfeld
was all about nothing
Take any two characters from the
sitcom and have them wait by the side of a country road, near a
tree, and see what they say and do to pass the time. Have two of the
other characters pass by. Let's se how they interact. Then have a
kid from the neighborhood tell them that the guy they're waiting for
won't be able to make it until the next day. What do they do now?
Yeah, we think it's very Seinfeldian.
(Yes, this is Beckett we're talking about, so just consider this our
simple-headed way of trying to approach the work.)
You can also check out the Wikipedia
page about
Waiting for Godot. We can't vouch for any of the analyses or
interpretations; it's just to show the amount of discussion about
the play
Broadway Show History
Waiting for Godot opened at the John
Golden Theater Thursday evening, April 19, 1956. Michael Myerberg
produced and Herbert Berghof directed. Estragon was played by Bert
Lahr and Vladimir by E G Marshall. Kurt Kasznar appeared as Pozzo,
Alvin Epstein as Lucky and Luchino Solito de Solis as the Boy. The
engagement ran for 60 performances
Six months later, on January 21,
1957, the show opened at the Ethel Barrymore Theater with the same
creative team and this time around an all Black cast. Featured
during the six performances were Mantan Moreland as Estragon, Earle
Hyman as Vladimir, Rex Ingram as Pozzo, Geoffrey Holder as Lucky and
Bert Chamberlain as the Boy
In the Movies
Michael Lindsay-Hogg directed a 2001
theatrical film version of Godot. Johnny Murphy (Estragon),
Barry McGovern (Vladimir), Alan Stanford (Pozzo), Stephen Brennan
(Lucky) and Sam McGovern (the Boy) appeared
On Television
PBS broadcast a filmed version of the
play in 1977. Donald Moffat and Dana Eclar appeared as Estragon and
Vladimir, with Ralph Waite as pozzo, Bruce French as Lucky and (?)
no Boy
|
