WAITING FOR GODOT 2025 Reviews

[EDSOSLO858]

Posted: 9/28/25 at 7:04pm

8 PM embargo lift per Feldman

Updated On: 9/28/25 at 07:04 PM

[MemorableUserName]

Posted: 9/28/25 at 7:48pm

The Wrap

‘Waiting for Godot’ Broadway Review: Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter’s Half-Excellent Adventure With Samuel Beckett

Reeves disappears but Winter delivers in Jamie Lloyd’s flashing production of the absurdist classic

https://www.thewrap.com/waiting-for-godot-broadway-review-keanu-reeves-alex-winters-samuel-beckett

"Jamie Lloyd attempts to make up for the lack of a dynamism between the two leads by overusing the tunnel set to decreasing comic effect. Over and over again, he sends Reeves and Winter, as well as Dirden, running up the sides of the tunnel only to slide back down. Never have I felt so sorry for hamsters."

[MemorableUserName]

Posted: 9/28/25 at 7:59pm

Three stars/Recommended from TimeOut

https://www.timeout.com/newyork/theater/waiting-for-godot-revival-broadway-review-keanu-reeves-alex-winter-jamie-lloyd

"although Reeves and Winter are the main reason most people will go to this Godot, it is this revival’s other assets—the direction, the set and above all Dirden and Thornton—that keep it from being an exercise in meta stasis. For me, those elements make the production worth seeing"

[KevinKlawitter]

Posted: 9/28/25 at 8:25pm

EDSOSLO858 said: "8 PM embargo lift per Feldman"

Now Adam Feldman is saying his review will drop at 9pm

[MemorableUserName]

Posted: 9/28/25 at 8:33pm

It already dropped and is posted at #3.

[MemorableUserName]

Posted: 9/28/25 at 9:44pm

NYP: 2 stars

‘Waiting for Godot’ review: ‘Rough’ Keanu Reeves struggles in mediocre production of stage classic

https://nypost.com/2025/09/28/entertainment/waiting-for-godot-review-rough-keanu-reeves-struggles-in-mediocre-production-of-stage-classic

"Reeves, on the other hand, is rough. He doesn’t imbue any of Gogo’s lines with meaning — only speed and breathiness. They’re just memorized words that are read with the investment of stating one’s Social Security Number. The actor relies on a vacant stare that’s money when he’s playing an assassin on the big screen. Not so much in live theater."

 

[MemorableUserName]

Posted: 9/28/25 at 10:03pm

NYT:

Collins-Hughes is mixed. Not a Critic's Pick

‘Waiting for Godot’ Review: Cue the Air Guitar

Jamie Lloyd’s pristinely chic Broadway revival of the existential tragicomedy casts the “Bill & Ted” stars Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter as Samuel Beckett’s clowns.

"What’s curious in “Waiting for Godot” is that the textual distillation we have come to expect from Lloyd is largely missing. So is his interpretive stamp. For the most part here, he doesn’t seem to have anything to say. That’s disappointing on its own, because the play needs strong directorial focus to land with any force, but particularly so at a time when surely a good chunk of the populace could identify with Didi and Gogo’s sense of exhaustion, futility and despair in the face of a relentlessly brutal world.

“Nothing to be done,” each of them says, repeatedly.

Lloyd’s skill as something of a star whisperer isn’t much in evidence, either. For Reeves, who initiated this production, and Winter, the stage is not a usual habitat. These feel like performances that are still taking shape, Winter’s in particular, with Didi grim-visaged almost throughout. Reeves has a tentativeness, too, but his Gogo is endearing in a familiar way, with a puppyish vulnerability."

[MemorableUserName]

Posted: 9/28/25 at 10:04pm

NY Stage Review

Waiting for Godot: Beckett’s Tramps, Partying On

By Frank Scheck

★★★☆☆ Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter star in Jamie Lloyd's production of Samuel Beckett's masterpiece

 

Waiting for Godot: Didi & Gogo’s Not-So-Excellent Adventure

By Elysa Gardner

★★★☆☆ Keanu Reeves, in his Broadway bow, and Alex Winter reunite in Jamie Lloyd's latest, a predictably flashy take on the Beckett classic

[walnutoraroach]

Posted: 9/28/25 at 10:04pm

Slant Magazine

‘Waiting for Godot’ Review: Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter Face the Music in Beckett Revival

https://www.slantmagazine.com/theater/waiting-for-godot-review-keanu-reeves-alex-winter/

"In Lloyd’s hands, with minimal movement and maximal attention to language, Waiting for Godot becomes all about Beckett’s rhythms, with the meaning of each line secondary to the repeating patterns of words and phrases and actions. This is Beckett as jazz. Or it would be if Lloyd’s stars consistently played, so to speak, in tune."

[MemorableUserName]

Posted: 9/28/25 at 10:06pm

B- from Entertainment Weekly

Waiting For Godot review: Friendship comes to the rescue as Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter reunite in limbo

The longtime friends put their chemistry to good use in the latest revival of Samuel Beckett's tragicomedy.

https://ew.com/waiting-for-godot-review-keanu-reeves-alex-winter-reunite-11818466

[MemorableUserName]

Posted: 9/28/25 at 10:07pm

USA Today

Keanu Reeves, Alex Winter are most excellent in haunting ‘Waiting for Godot’

https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/music/2025/09/28/keanu-reeves-waiting-godot-broadway-review/86341455007

"But the show's greatest asset is its stars, whose endearing real-life friendship pierces through the play’s inherent despair. It's an ingenious stroke of casting that ultimately pays off, particularly in the more rollicking second act, as they volley good-natured barbs and gallows humor with the verve of seasoned tennis pros. The impish Reeves brings puppy-dog codependence to the scruffy Estragon, who leans on Vladimir as his body and memory fail him."

[MemorableUserName]

Posted: 9/28/25 at 10:08pm

Hollywood Reporter

‘Waiting for Godot’ Theater Review: Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter’s Beckett Spin Nails the Absurdist Tragicomedy but Underserves the Angst

Directed by Jamie Lloyd, the latest Broadway revival of the 1952 play that marries bleak existentialism with broken-down vaudeville also features Brandon J. Dirden and Michael Patrick Thornton.

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/lifestyle/arts/waiting-for-godot-broadway-review-keanu-reeves-alex-winter-1236387450

"Lloyd’s production isn’t an embarrassing misfire but it’s underwhelming. This is a work in which the slapstick clowning and the tricky verbal non sequiturs should be merely the surface for roiling undercurrents of anguish, futility, despair and fear.

Reeves and to a lesser degree Winter mostly favor the frustrating ennui. Sure, there’s melancholy and humiliating loss of dignity beneath their circuitous conversation, which appears to have been going on since as far back as their memories extend, or farther. But Beckett’s masterwork should make us laugh while mercilessly prodding our own sense of hopelessness. That makes it both timely and timeless."

[MemorableUserName]

Posted: 9/28/25 at 10:08pm

amny

Review | ‘Waiting for Godot’ more excellent than bogus with Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter

https://www.amny.com/entertainment/broadway/review-waiting-for-godot-keanu-reeves-alex-winter

 

[MemorableUserName]

Posted: 9/28/25 at 10:12pm

Holdren in Vulture says the production fails the material due to Lloyd's choices, but praises Brandon J. Dirden

Together Again at Last! Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter in Godot

Jamie Lloyd’s production reaches for a whoa.

https://www.vulture.com/article/godot-keanu-reeves-alex-winter-jamie-lloyd-beckett.html

"Neither Winter nor Reeves is doing weak work, but a gray wash has been painted over them. Line to line, they only intermittently find deep connection or vibrant color in the text. Mostly, they dependably speak it clearly and on pace (even, to my ear, a little too fast). But places that earn chuckles could be getting gasps and guffaws; moments that feel generally meditative could be devastating, if Lloyd were more interested in character work and less in mise en scène."

[MemorableUserName]

Posted: 9/28/25 at 10:13pm

The Guardian

Waiting for Godot review – Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter’s unlikely reunion

Three stars

The Bill & Ted stars land on Broadway for Jamie Lloyd’s disorienting and intermittently engaging take on Samuel Beckett’s classic

https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2025/sep/29/waiting-for-godot-keanu-reeves-alex-winter-broadway-review

[MemorableUserName]

Posted: 9/28/25 at 10:15pm

Deadline

‘Waiting For Godot’ Broadway Review: Keanu Reeves & Alex Winter’s Existential Adventure

https://deadline.com/2025/09/waiting-for-godot-broadway-review-keanu-reeves-1236556987

"As for the acting, there’s little doubt that Winter is the most natural (and more experienced) stage actor of the two, more versatile and, when necessary, capable to drawing real pathos from this grim, gorgeous work of art. You believe his every changing mood. Reeves, as they say, is Reeves, an exceedingly charming actor who projects more than he acts but always seems to have full control of an audiences’ attention (and affection). Yes, even when he seems to be trying too hard to be stentorian or angry or carrying out a bit of slapstick tantrum, he has us rooting for him.

And why not? He and Winter are limning their decades-old friendship, good times and bad, and melding it with one of the greatest 20th Century modern drama duos ever created. It’s their Godot, and damned if it doesn’t work."

 

[MemorableUserName]

Posted: 9/28/25 at 10:18pm

Variety

‘Waiting For Godot’ Review: Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter Bring a Cooler, Cosmic Take to This Broadway Waiting Game 

https://variety.com/2025/legit/reviews/waiting-for-godot-keanu-reeves-broadway-review-1236533555

"This return match-up (“Together again at last!”) has turned the playwright’s vaudevillian clowns into comics of a cooler sort. If not stoner dudes — they are, after all, both 60ish now — they’re more like go-with-the-flow buds with their own relaxed rhythms, encircling speech patterns and genuine bond. Though the two actors have a kind of slacker ease in the nonsensical volleys, this lower temperature approach too often misses the work’s humor, horror and emotional resonance."

[MemorableUserName]

Posted: 9/28/25 at 10:20pm

Theatrely

A Rather Excellent WAITING FOR GODOT — Review

https://www.theatrely.com/post/a-rather-excellent-waiting-for-godot-review

"Their finely tuned performances are unshowy and completely in service of the production. They’re neither vaudevillians clowning for our enjoyment nor thespians hamming up each ponderous line. Reeves and Winters’ work is quiet and grounded entirely in their genuine chemistry. When they share a quick hug at the top of Act 2, after a whole day of waiting has come and gone fruitlessly, it reveals a profound knowledge that they can find comfort in each other."

[EDSOSLO858]

Posted: 9/28/25 at 10:21pm

Yep, this sounds about right based on early word of mouth. They're all coming for Keanu though, so Lloyd and ATG are laughing all the way to the bank. 

Sounds like something perhaps worth checking out via rush, lottery, or comp (if you're lucky enough).

Updated On: 9/28/25 at 10:21 PM

[EDSOSLO858]

Posted: 9/28/25 at 11:33pm

DTLI Consensus: Pity on, dudes — Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter provide the existential dread in Jamie Lloyd’s latest hit-and-miss revival.

12 mixed (including the NYT), 7 positive.

https://didtheylikeit.com/shows/waiting-for-godot/

 

[RUkiddingme]

Posted: 9/29/25 at 12:46am

I wasn't interested in this at all before.  But after reading these reviews ...

just kidding!   I didn't read any!

[bwayphreak234]

Posted: 9/29/25 at 4:34am

EDSOSLO858 said: "Yep, this sounds about right based on early word of mouth. They're all coming for Keanu though, so Lloyd and ATG are laughing all the way to the bank.

Sounds like something perhaps worth checking out via rush, lottery, or comp (if you're lucky enough)."

Exactly this. The rush price I paid was worth it, but I'm certainly glad I didn't pay more than $50.

[rosscoe(au)]

Posted: 9/29/25 at 4:44am

Mixed is better than negative. 

[sinister teashop]

Posted: 9/29/25 at 8:08am

EDSOSLO858 said: "DTLI Consensus:Pity on, dudes — Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter provide the existential dread in Jamie Lloyd’s latest hit-and-miss revival.

12 mixed (including the NYT), 7 positive.

https://didtheylikeit.com/shows/waiting-for-godot/

"

Holdren’s Vulture review is a pan of Lloyd’s direction, an evisceration. The only thing “mixed” about it is the way it nearly completely ignores reviewing the two stars. 

[Mike66]

Posted: 9/29/25 at 1:05pm

EDSOSLO858 said: "DTLI Consensus:Pity on, dudes — Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter provide the existential dread in Jamie Lloyd’s latest hit-and-miss revival.

12 mixed (including the NYT), 7 positive.

https://didtheylikeit.com/shows/waiting-for-godot/

"

Is it me, or does it seem like Did They Like It is really 'upgrading' reviews -- not just this time, but recently?  I didnt read all of the reviews, (I canot access some of them), but those I read didnt seem nearly as 'thumbs up' as they claim.  (And this was even much worse for Art and Jeff Ross.

Am I being too harsh?