EXCLUSIVE: Michael Patrick Thornton, last on the New York stage opposite Jessica Chastain in 2023’s A Doll’s House, will return to Broadway in this fall’s much anticipated staging of Waiting For Godot starring Keanu Reeves, in his Broadway debut, and Alex Winter.
Thornton will play Lucky to Reeves’ Estragon and Winter’s Vladimir. Thornton’s casting reunites him with director Jamie Lloyd, who directed A Doll’s House. The actor played Dr. Rank in that Tony-nominated production.
Waiting For Godot will play Broadway’s Hudson Theatre with preview performances beginning Saturday, September 13, ahead of a Sunday, September 28 opening night. The strictly limited engagement will play through Sunday, January 4, 2026 only.
Complete casting and design team for Waiting For Godot will be announced soon.
Thornton is an actor, improviser, writer, director, and co-founder of Chicago’s acclaimed The Gift Theatre. Currently, he stars in Obliteration, written by frequent collaborator Andrew Hinderaker and featuring Cyd Blakewell, now running at Chicago’s Revival Theater after a sold-out run at Steppenwolf. Thornton made his Broadway debut in Macbeth with Daniel Craig and Ruth Negga, directed by Sam Gold.
On screen, he has acted opposite J.K. Simmons, Hilary Swank, Alicia Vikander, Jude Law, and Demián Bichir. Notable recent credits include The Savant, Black Rabbit, NCIS, Away, The Good Doctor, 61st Street and Let The Right One In. For two seasons, Thornton starred on Private Practice opposite Audra McDonald.
His long-running improv show You & Me debuted at Second City, and has had residencies at iO and Steppenwolf, and recently celebrated its 10th anniversary by making its New York debut at Lincoln Center. Thornton, who uses a wheelchair because, as he says, “walking is dumb,” is the author of two novels: A Low Hum, and Janitor.
Samuel Beckett’s Waiting For Godot, widely acknowledged as one of the greatest plays of the 20th Century, originally premiered in 1953 in French with a subsequent English-language production premiering in 1955 in London.
The upcoming Godot will be Broadway’s fifth since the original in 1956 with Bert Lahr and E.G. Marshall. The most recent Broadway revival was a 2013-2014 production starring Ian McKellen as Estrogen, Patrick Stewart as Vladimir and Billy Crudup as Lucky.
Waiting for Godot will be produced by The Jamie Lloyd Company, ATG Productions, Bad Robot Live, and Gavin Kalin Productions.
