FLASH FRIDAY: When Robin Williams and BRIGHT STAR's Steve Martin Were Left WAITING FOR GODOT
The multi-talented Steve Martin made his Broadway debut last night, as bookwriter and co-composer (with Edie Brickell) of the new Southern Gothic musical Bright Star.
While the formerly wild and crazy guy has graced Off-Broadway stages as author of PICASSO AT THE LAPIN AGILE, WASP AND OTHER PLAYS and THE UNDERPANTS, he's only made one New York theatre appearance as actor.
And if you think HAMILTON tickets are hard to come by, you've should have been around in October and November of 1988, when Mike Nichols directed Steve Martin as Vladimir opposite Robin Williams as Estragon in Lincoln Center Theater's production of Samuel Beckett's avant-guarde classic, WAITING FOR GODOT.
No, it wasn't performed at the Broadway-sized Vivian Beaumont, though they would have packed the house. Instead, the 56 performance limited run played at the 299 seat Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater.
The rest of the cast wasn't too shabby either, with F. Murray Abraham as Pozzo and Bill Irwin as Lucky. If you weren't one of the 16,744 lucky people with a ticket, here's a bit of what you missed.
With direction by Tony Award winner Walter Bobbie and choreography by Josh Rhodes, Bright Star began performances on Thursday, February 25th, 2016 at the Cort Theatre (138 West 48th Street), and opened just last night, March 24th, 2016.
Carmen Cusack makes her Broadway debut as Alice, a role she originated in Bright Star's world premiere production in San Diego, and is joined by co-stars Paul Alexander Nolan, Tony Award nomineeMichael Mulheren, A.J. Shively, Hannah Elless, Tony Award nominee Stephen Bogardus, three-time Tony Award nominee Dee Hoty, Stephen Lee Anderson, Emily Padgett, Tony Award nominee Jeff Blumenkrantz, along with Maddie Shea Baldwin, Allison Briner-Dardenne, Max Chernin,Patrick Cummings, Sandra DeNise, Richard Gatta, Lizzie Klemperer, Michael X. Martin, William Michals, Tony Roach, Sarah Jane Shanks and William Youmans.
Inspired by a real event, this "unabashedly romantic" (The New York Times) original musical tells a sweeping tale of love and redemption set against the rich backdrop of the American South in the 1920s and '40s. When literary editor Alice Murphy meets a young soldier just home from World War II, he awakens her longing for the child she once lost. Haunted by their unique connection, Alice sets out on a journey to understand her past - and what she finds has the power to transform both of their lives.
