Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter go on a new excellent adventure: ‘Waiting for Godot’

Let’s go back in time — to 1989 — when movie-goers first met the dopey but adorable time-traveling headbangers in “Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure.”

The film put actors Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter on the map — and began a friendship.

Around three and a half years ago, Reeves had an idea. “I was in a hotel room,” he told Morning Edition host Michel Martin. “I was thinking about what Alex and I could work on again. And then it just struck me: Waiting for Godot.”

Whether a stroke of madness or brilliance, their pitch found an enthusiastic partner in director Jamie Lloyd. On September 13, Reeves and Winter began preview performances at New York’s Hudson Theater.

In case you weren’t a theater kid in school, “Waiting for Godot” is a more-than-70 year old surrealist play by Samuel Beckett about faith, patience and the mysteries of existence — as two friends, Vladimir (played by Winter) and Estragon (Reeves) wait for Godot, who may never show up.

Winter has some Broadway experience under his belt, but for Reeves, this is his first time appearing on The Great White Way. Reeves admitted to feeling “terror, anxiety, hope” before generating a little forced bravado as he bellowed, “Looking forward to it… said the person who has no idea what he’s talking about!”

Winter says the two actors are approaching the themes of “Godot” very differently in their 60’s than they would have as younger men.

“Having experienced a lot of highs and lows and loss, the play is a lot more personal to me now,” he said. “That’s what the play is about in some ways, running away from that pain. The whole joke of ‘Waiting for Godot’ is this constant distraction, distraction, distraction from the immediate present.”

Waiting for Godot is scheduled to run through Jan. 4, 2026.

The audio version of this story was produced by Mansee Khurana.