Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter Head to Broadway With Waiting for Godot

The Bill and Ted duo will take on Samuel Beckett's celebrated play next summer.

By Russ Burlingame

Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure stars Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter are following in the footsteps of Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen. The pair, after starring together as an unforgettable onscreen duo, are taking their friendship to the stage, where they will appear in Samuel Beckett's beloved play Waiting for Godot. The show, which focuses almost entirely on two men who are waiting for a third party who never comes, was once voted the most significant English-language play of the 20th Century by the British Royal National Theatre. It was first performed in French beginning in 1948, and then in 1953, Beckett translated his own play into English.

The play will debut in August, and will be directed by Jamie Lloyd. According to Playbill, Reeves will play Estragon opposite Winter's Vladimir. You can see the announcement below.

"It is a real honor to be collaborating with the brilliant Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter on Samuel Beckett's sublime masterpiece—one of the greatest plays of all time," Lloyd told Playbill. 

"We're incredibly excited to be on stage together and work with the great Jamie Lloyd in one of our favorite plays," added Reeves and Winter in a statement.

Waiting For Godot represents Reeves' Broadway debut. Winter played John Darling on Broadway as a child, appearing in 1979's Peter Pan (starring Sandy Duncan in the title role).

Winter also shared separate portraits from photographer Lee Jeffries, and encouraged fans to navigate to GodotBroadway.com to be the first to know when tickets go on sale.

While Reeves is more well-known to mainstream audiences, Winter has remained busy as a filmmaker and producer during his time offscreen. He has returned to acting in recent years not just with Bill & Ted Face the Music, but a few other projects as well. He showed up in Blue's Big City Adventure and Destroy All Neighbors, and will act in Adulthood, a movie he directed which stars Josh Gad.

Adulthood isn't Winter's first narrative feature, but it's been a long time since Smosh: The Movie or Bella and the Bulldogs. It feels a little bit like the first narrative feature from the guy who made Zappa, Showbiz Kids, and The YouTube Effect.

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In addition to three Bill and Ted movies, Winter is also known for appearing in cult classics like Freaked, The Lost Boys, and The Borrowers. The actor first started directing in 1985, and made music videos for Ice Cube and Red Hot Chili Peppers before co-directing Freaked in 1993 with Tom Stern. For years, Winter worked more behind the camera than in front of it, although he never fully stopped acting and the long road to theaters for Bill and Ted Face the Music meant he was always being asked about what was next for that franchise.

Details on the exact dates and what theatre will host the show will come soon.

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