Waiting for Godot - An Opera by Pierre Boulez? It might happen.

The Berkshire Theatre Festival's 2008 production of Waiting for Godot had an almost-operatic set. Kevin Sprague photo.
Normally you don't find insider gossip here, but this rumor has a fine provenance, and is being printed by some mainstream UK sites, so it is worth passing along.

It is being reported that Pierre Boulez, the French composer and conductor, is planning to make an opera from Samuel Beckett's most famous play, Waiting for Godot. According to Charles T. Downey at Ion Arts, Beckett is not only planning to write a Godot opera, it is going to be presented by La Scala in Milan in 2015. Peter Gelb (General Manager of the Metropolitan Opera), where are you in this? It's going to be the hottest opera of the 21st Century!

"… the sound thus obtained had a 'spatialised' richness, which, without requiring any electronic aid, could be of interest to Pierre Boulez for the opera that, according to our sources, he will adapt from Beckett's Waiting for Godot, planned for La Scala in Milan in 2015. - Ion Arts"

His source is, in turn a review in the June 15 Le Monde.

Pierre Boulez, composer and conductor.
It's certainly true that Boulez has wanted to write an opera for a while. Talking to the U.K.'s Telegraph in 1996, he confirmed that he corresponded with the playwright Jean Genet about working together in the 1960s, as well as the German writer Heiner Müller in 1995, and that a year later he was thinking about adapting Edward Bond's plays for the opera house. None of these plans ever came to fruition.

Whether the legendary composer and historic opera house have bothered to check in with the notoriously sniffy Godot estate, I have no idea. Based on the rigid and dust-preserving tendencies of the estate, (read this tale of Endgame in the current Berkshire On Stage) I seriously doubt it. It would be news if they allowed an adaptation. They fight fiercely to preserve every word, every pause and gesture of Beckett's infamous and inscrutable play.

Yet if the composer used the play's script as its libretto, word for word, and followed the prescribed action to the letter, I don't see how they could object. And it might be easier in French than English, since Beckett wrote it first in French before doing his own translation back into English. Odd man that Beckett.

This one is worth watching.

Waiting for Godot with Nathan Lane, John Goodman, Bill Irwin, John Glover

Be still my heart. Nathan Lane, John Goodman and Bill Irwin star in Roundabout's Waiting for Godot. Photo Joan Marcus.
For many, this is the ultimate cast for Beckett's classic Waiting for Godot. They have given this classic enigma of a play a new lease on life, one we have been awaiting since last summer's incredible Godot at the Berkshire Theatre Festival in Stockbridge, MA which featured Randy Harrison as Lucky. In the Roundabout Theatre's version, Lucky is played by John Glover, who we all know from his dual roles in Love, Valour, Compassion (Broadway and the film version) and of course, the series Smallville where he gets to play next to Tom Welling and Michal Rosenbaum.

Nathan Lane as Estragon and John Goodman as Pozzo in this stunning photo by Sara Krulwich of the New York Times.
As we always try to do, we have found a special deal on tickets for our frugal friends, so that you can see this great cast - the incredible Nathan Lane, the incomparable Bill Irwin, the sensational John Goodwin (who blew the critics away) and the always surprising John Glover.

Carrot or radish? Nathan Lane and Bill Irwin. Photo Joan Marcus.
We have also raided the Roundabout Theatre's website and press resources for some pretty stunning pictures of the production which we include here. Who can't resist seeing this classic play in which nothing happens. Twice. If you've been waiting for a great ticket deal wait no longer.

The discount ticket offer is valid through the end of this month only. The regular tickets, priced from $36.50 to $116.50 are available at $24.25 to $79.50 depending on the day of the week and the location at the Studio 54 Theatre, located at 254 W. 54th Street.

John Glover, Bill Irwin, Nathan Lane. and John Goodman in Waiting for Godot. Photo Joan Marcus.
To get this discount, you can call 212-719-1300 and use code WGTKW. Or go to the Roundabout Theatre ticket order page and enter code WGTKW. Limit 8 tickets per order, subject to availability and can not be combined with other discounts. Valid for perforamnces 4/7 to 4/29/09.

P.S. Waiting for Godot has received 5 Outer Critics Circle Award Nominations including Best Play Revival.


"Mr. Godot will not be coming today."

Guthrie Planning for Beckett's "Happy Days"

"Wait for the happy day to come when flesh melts at so many degrees and the night of the moon has so many hundred hours." - Winnie, Happy Days

Sally Wingert will take on the character of Winnie while Richard Ooms transforms himself into Willie. Photos by Mike Habermann.

From Minneapolis comes news of a fresh production of Samuel Beckett's two-character drama Happy Days to be directed by Rob Melrose. Undertaking the complex roles of Winnie and Willie are Guthrie veterans Sally Wingert and Richard Ooms.

Preview performances begin February 14; Opening February 18 and slated to run through March 8, 2009 at the Dowling Studio of the Guthrie.



Productions of Happy Days always create a lot of buzz, and this print interview with Fiona Shaw is enormously insightful as is the video (above) which I discovered through Douglas McLennan and his Arts Journal video feature.

Beckett's intense and concentrated two-character drama features an eternally optimistic Winnie inexplicably buried waist-deep in a mound of earth, clinging to her life of arbitrary routines and rituals. Her husband, Willie, appears from time to time and replies only occasionally to her cheerful chatter, a source of comfort as she remains ever hopeful that "this is going to be a happy day." With its vivid sense of the bizarre and a blend of humor and compassion, Happy Days represents one of the Nobel Prize-winning writer's finest works.

The Guthrie's Dowling Studio is a state of the art black box theatre, seen here before it is configured for "Happy Days". Michal Daniel photo.

As with most of Samuel Beckett's works, the play is minimalist, concentrated to the bare elements needed to make Winnie's resilience apparent in the stream of her thoughts and emotions, allowing the Irish playwright, poet and novelist an opportunity to offer a penetrating and uncompromising exploration of the human condition. As is the case with all of Beckett's work for the stage, Happy Days is an utterly spare and precise play, with every detail carrying the exact weight and degree of importance determined by the author.

Sally Wingert in the 2008 Guthrie Theater production of Wendy Wasserstein’s THIRD. Seen here with Tony Clarno. Directed by Casey Stangl, set design by John Arnone, costume design by David Kay Mickelsen, lighting design by Marcus Dilliard. Photo by Michal Daniel.

Another view of Sally Wingert in the Guthrie's THIRD, Photo by Michal Daniel.

Co-founder and artistic director of San Francisco's The Cutting Ball Theater, Melrose previously directed Pen (2007) in the Dowling Studio, and served as assistant director for the Guthrie's 2003 production of Othello. He leads an artistic team that includes Michael Locher (Set Designer), Christine Richardson (Costume Designer), Frank Butler (Lighting Designer), Michael Lupu (Dramaturgy), Martha Kulig (Stage Manager) and Meaghan Rosenberger (Assistant Stage Manager).

Single tickets are priced from $18 to $30, with opening night priced at $34. Tickets are now on sale through the Guthrie Box Office at 612.377.2224, and online at at the Guthrie website.