By Laura LaVelle, Wonder Shuffle Culture Editor:

Play On, Dudes

Bill and Ted (well, Alex Winter and Keanu Reeves, anyway) are on Broadway--and they're worth seeing.

Waiting for Godot has been a much-loved and much-reviled classic since it premiered in 1953. It doesn't have much of a plot: Vladimir and Estragon await the titular Godot, who never comes. (Clearly, this is not a show for everyone.) But if you appreciate modernist theater, the dramatization of absurdity, and both the humor and despair inherent in the human condition---this may be something you'd like to see.

Credit where credit is due: although the leads were strong (particularly Alex Winter, more thoughtful and expressive on the stage than I would have guessed), the supporting cast was stronger. Brandon J. Dirden as Pozzo and Michael Patrick Thornton as Lucky stole their brief scenes with a jolt of energy. But the actors (and their characters) are all relatable: stuck, confused, contradictory, clinging to their friends.

It is really quite touching to see Bill and Ted, now much older, but keeping their goofy charm, still friends, dazed (as we all are) by the passage of time. In one brief moment, they break the fourth wall and play air guitar, to the crowd's delight. It's not in Beckett's stage directions, but somehow it works quite beautifully, as a flash of nostalgia, a fuzzy memory of better times.

Don't wait too long--the show's only open until January 4th, 2026.

Contact

Website: https://godotbroadway.com/

Address: 141 West 44th Street, New York

Telephone: (855) 801-5876

About Me

Laura LaVelle is Wonder Shuffle's Culture Editor. A fan of the great indoors, you can find her in her native NYC, her home in Connecticut, or at a concert, play, library, bookstore, or museum just about anywhere in the world.