Waiting for Godot (Theater for a New Audience)
Ends Dec 17
Waiting for Godot (Theater for a New Audience)
77

Waiting for Godot (Theater for a New Audience) NYC Reviews and Tickets

77%
(32 Ratings)
Positive
78%
Mixed
19%
Negative
3%
Members say
Great acting, Entertaining, Thought-provoking, Absorbing, Quirky

About the Show

Samuel Beckett's iconic characters return in a production featuring Michael Shannon and Paul Sparks.

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Show-Score Member Reviews (32)

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413 Reviews | 189 Followers
95
Quirky, Masterful, Great acting, Great staging, Entertaining

See it if You are a Beckett fan and want to see a great version of this play. Michael Shannon & Paul Sparks are terrific together.

Don't see it if You do not like confusing plays in Beckett’s style. You do not have an open mind.

462 Reviews | 239 Followers
95
Masterful, Great writing, Great staging, Great acting, Exquisite

See it if U can't fake the relationship btw DiDi&GoGo:a joy2watch the real-life friends/actors Shannon&Sparks perf the2absurd characters in ratty*

Don't see it if Either you love or hate this absurdist play. I love it because it is always about now, but if you don't, please stay clear. Read more

270 Reviews | 58 Followers
95
Great acting, Funny, Delightful

See it if This was the best Beckett I have ever seen. Sparks and Shannon had a ball, and were great. They captured the desperation & humor & joy of it

Don't see it if Many will not like Beckett, which is understandable, but you can't knock the production. Read more

466 Reviews | 114 Followers
87
A masterpiece, Bleak, Outstanding leads

See it if you like to revisit (or see for the first time) one of the greatest existential plays, beautifully directed and acted with clarity & nuance.

Don't see it if you're looking for a fun night out, the production is very basic, play is long & ultimately quite depressing, requiring audience patience.

401 Reviews | 50 Followers
86
Thought-provoking, Indulgent, Ambitious, Entertaining

See it if Waiting for Godot! Shannon and Sparks “clown around”.

Don't see it if Borders on “grotesque”.

133 Reviews | 10 Followers
85
Profound, Quirky, Great acting, Funny, Absorbing

See it if you want to see a solid production of a great play.

Don't see it if absurd theatre is not of interest.

51 Reviews | 9 Followers
75
Slow, Thought-provoking, Confusing, Clever

See it if You already know you love the source material, want to see a great staging and great performances

Don't see it if While the material is for sure influential, the level of absurdism and lack of a central plot put many in the audience to sleep

1269 Reviews | 350 Followers
73
Slow, Resonant, Great acting, Ambitious

See it if Great chemistry amongst the actors. Beckett at his best writing period. Decent direction.

Don't see it if Lousy use of the stage. Gets long at times and slow.

Critic Reviews (16)

The New York Times
November 14th, 2023

“This ‘Godot’ comes at a time so fraught that real-world resonances ambush us in the most unexpected shows, so it’s odd that that doesn’t happen here, or didn’t to me. Yet in some ways we are all Didi and Gogo, victims and onlookers — perpetrators, too — in the barbarism of the world.”
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Time Out New York
November 16th, 2023

"4/5 Stars! The genuine friendship between Michael Shannon and Paul Sparks distinguishes the latest major New York staging of Samuel Beckett's absurdist landmark...This 'Godot' isn't commenting on any particular crisis, just the cruelty of existence itself...It's been 70 years since the play premiered, and this production is evidence of its ongoing power. Purposefully ambiguous, this play seems timeless. 'Godot,' like Gogo and Didi, isn't going anywhere."
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New York Magazine / Vulture
November 14th, 2023

“When Sparks and Shannon are playing together, they light up, finding both Beckett’s wit and his humanity. Their ‘Godot’ is a play about getting through the day with the person you love the most, the person you can’t stand for another minute — and in that sense, not being able to go, but having to go on, might not be the end of the world after all.”
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The Observer
November 14th, 2023

“Arbus and her actors achieve a dynamic and even heartfelt production of a classic that can easily grow tedious or mechanical...It’s hard to say anything new about a play as simultaneously open and inscrutable as ‘Godot’. Beckett’s subject is the inner life of . . . life.”
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Theatermania
November 14th, 2023

“Beckett’s meditation on the human condition is chock-full of existential philosophizing, but in the end, he tells us, it’s a good sense of humor and relentless hope that keeps us going when we think we can’t go on. The play needs those things too for us to get through it. In that respect, Arbus’s ‘Godot’ does a decent job.”
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Lighting & Sound America
November 14th, 2023

“Waiting for Godot originally shocked audiences with its portrait of two tramps marooned in an empty landscape where nothing happens; honoring Beckett's vision --"There's no lack of void," one of them cracks -- Shannon and Sparks create characters terrified by the nagging thought that maybe, just maybe, they don't exist. A play wildly mis-advertised in its 1956 Broadway tryout as "The Laugh Sensation of Two Continents" just about lives up to that slogan here, thanks to peerless star performances and inventive direction, but the laughter comes with the hint of a death rattle.”
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New York Stage Review
November 14th, 2023

“Arbus may not be the first to be this true to Beckett, I’ve never seen one so scrupulously realized. And please note that I’ve spent so much time going on about this one aspect of Arbus’ treatment because it’s immediately representative of her entire supervision of Beckett’s comedy and accompanying tragedy...Arbus and expert cast offer as persuasive an argument for the positive attitude of going on as might be craved in our current Beckettian moment.”
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New York Stage Review
November 14th, 2023

“If you’re not a Beckett fan, even the terrific performances on display in this strong production probably won’t be enough to change your mind. And truth to tell, as seminal as the play is, ‘Waiting for Godot’ doesn’t need to be nearly as long as it is, unless the playwright’s goal was to make us fully identify with his characters’ existential frustration.”
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