Editing Waiting for Godot (section)

====US====
Planning for an American tour for ''Waiting for Godot'' started in 1955. The first American tour was directed by Alan Schneider and produced by Michael Myerberg. [[Bert Lahr]] and [[Tom Ewell]] acted in the initial production.

The first part of the tour was a disaster. The play was originally set to be shown in Washington and Philadelphia. However, low advance sales forced the play to be performed in Miami for two weeks in early January 1956 at the newly opened Coconut Grove Playhouse, where the audience was made up of vacationers.{{sfn|Bradby|2001|page=93}} It had been promoted as "the laugh sensation of two continents" in the notices run by Myerberg in the local newspapers.{{sfn|Bradby|2001|p=93}}

Most audience members were baffled by the play.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/94105614/advertisement-for-american-premiere-of/|title=Advertisement for Coconut Grove Playhouse's American premiere of ''Waiting for Godot''|date=December 18, 1955|work=Miami Herald|access-date=February 3, 2022|page=18-F|via=Newspapers.com|archive-date=21 May 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240521014311/https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-miami-herald-advertisement-for-ameri/94105614/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|first=Jane|last=Wood|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/94105387/coconut-grove-playhouse-opens-with-us/|title=Millionaire's Magic Wand Transforms Grove Theater|date=January 3, 1956|work=Miami News|access-date=February 3, 2022|page=25A|via=Newspapers.com|archive-date=3 February 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220203160408/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/94105387/coconut-grove-playhouse-opens-with-us/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|first=Jack|last=Anderson|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/94104886/miami-herald-review-of-us-premiere-of/|title=Mink-Clad Audience Disappointed in 'Waiting for Godot'|date=January 4, 1956|work=Miami Herald|access-date=February 3, 2022|page=8-A|via=Newspapers.com|archive-date=3 February 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220203160415/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/94104886/miami-herald-review-of-us-premiere-of/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|first=Helen|last=Wells|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/94110041/helen-wells-article-on-american/|title=Grove Playhouse Impressed Audience Even If Play Didn't|date=January 4, 1956|work=Miami Herald|access-date=February 3, 2022|page=1-B|via=Newspapers.com|archive-date=21 May 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240521014349/https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-miami-herald-helen-wells-article-on/94110041/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|first=Mary|last=Axelson|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/94109051/mary-axelson-theaters-actors-were/|title=Theater's 'Actors' Were In Audience|date=January 8, 1956|work=Miami News|access-date=February 3, 2022|page=98A|via=Newspapers.com|archive-date=3 February 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220203163503/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/94109051/mary-axelson-theaters-actors-were/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/94105614/advertisement-for-american-premiere-of/|title=Advertisement for Coconut Grove Playhouse: "Make Up Your Own Mind!"|date=January 10, 1956|work=Miami News|access-date=February 3, 2022|page=6B|via=Newspapers.com|archive-date=3 February 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220203155148/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/94105614/advertisement-for-american-premiere-of/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|first=Walter|last=Locke|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/94105114/walter-locke-on-miami-us-premiere-of/|title=This Waiting for Godot: Our Own Blind Alley?|date=January 27, 1956|work=Miami News|access-date=February 3, 2022|page=18A|via=Newspapers.com|archive-date=3 February 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220203161121/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/94105114/walter-locke-on-miami-us-premiere-of/|url-status=live}}</ref> Theatregoers would leave after the first act, describing it as a play where "nothing happens", and taxi drivers would wait in front of the theatre to take them home.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Graver |first1=Lawrence |title=Samuel Beckett, Waiting for Godot |date=2004 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge |isbn=978-0-521-54938-7 |page=[https://archive.org/details/samuelbeckettwai00grav_0/page/16 16] |edition=2nd |url=https://archive.org/details/samuelbeckettwai00grav_0/page/16 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Schlueter |first1=June |editor1-last=Brunkhorst |editor1-first=M. |editor2-last=Rohmann |editor2-first=G. |editor3-last=Schoell |editor3-first=K. |title=The American Theatre since Waiting for Godot |journal=Brunkhorst |date=1988 |page=218 |url=https://dspace.lafayette.edu/bitstream/handle/10385/1186/Schlueter-BeckettunddieLiteraturderGegenwart-1988.pdf?sequence=1 |access-date=2 December 2018 |publisher=Universitätsverlag Winter |location=Heidelberg |archive-date=14 December 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181214071030/https://dspace.lafayette.edu/bitstream/handle/10385/1186/Schlueter-BeckettunddieLiteraturderGegenwart-1988.pdf?sequence=1 |url-status=live }}</ref> The Miami showing caused the cancellation of the showings in New York.

By April 1956, new showings were planned. That month, Schneider and most of the cast were replaced. [[Herbert Berghof]] took over as director and [[E. G. Marshall]] replaced Tom Ewell as Vladimir.{{sfn|Graver|2004|p=17}} The play had its [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]] premiere at the [[John Golden Theatre]] on 19 April 1956, with [[Bert Lahr]] as Estragon, [[E. G. Marshall]] as Vladimir, [[Alvin Epstein]] as Lucky, and [[Kurt Kasznar]] as Pozzo.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/97/08/03/reviews/beckett-godot.html?module=inline|title=Beckett's 'Waiting for Godot'|author=[[Brooks Atkinson]]|work=[[The New York Times]]|date=20 April 1956|access-date=23 June 2019|archive-date=28 November 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181128034910/https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/97/08/03/reviews/beckett-godot.html?module=inline|url-status=live}}</ref> The New York showing of the play prompted discussions of the play being an allegory. One reviewer, [[Henry Hewes (critic)|Henry Hewes]] of the ''[[Saturday Review (U.S. magazine)|Saturday Review]]'', identified Godot as God, Pozzo as a capitalist-aristocrat, and Lucky as labour-proletarian.{{sfn|Graver|2004|p=17}} This prompted Beckett to issue a rare statement, stating that the reaction was based on a misconception of the play. To Beckett, the play tries not to be able to be defined.{{sfn|Graver|2004|pp=17-18}} The New York showing of the play was well-received with critics. [[Brooks Atkinson]] of ''The New York Times'' praised Lahr for his performance as Estragon.{{sfn|Bradby|2001|p=94}} The production was recorded as a two-record album by [[Columbia Masterworks Records]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.discogs.com/release/11661702-Bert-Lahr-And-EG-Marshall-Kurt-Kasznar-With-Alvin-Epstein-Luchino-Solito-De-Solis-Waiting-For-Godot |title=Bert Lahr And E.G. Marshall, Kurt Kasznar With Alvin Epstein, Luchino Solito De Solis – Waiting For Godot |website=Discogs.com |access-date=2023-03-03 |archive-date=19 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230219203411/https://www.discogs.com/release/11661702-Bert-Lahr-And-EG-Marshall-Kurt-Kasznar-With-Alvin-Epstein-Luchino-Solito-De-Solis-Waiting-For-Godot |url-status=live }}</ref>

In 1957, four years after its world premiere, ''Waiting for Godot'' was staged for one night only at the [[San Quentin State Prison]] in California. [[Herbert Blau]] with the San Francisco [[Actor's Workshop]] directed the production. Some 1,400 inmates encountered the performance.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/manuscript-annotations-by-samuel-beckett-in-a-copy-of-waiting-for-godot-for-a-production-by-the-san-quentin-drama-workshop|title=Manuscript annotations by Samuel Beckett in a copy of ''Waiting for Godot'' for a production by the San Quentin Drama Workshop|website=The British Library|access-date=2020-02-15|archive-date=26 January 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210126034212/https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/manuscript-annotations-by-samuel-beckett-in-a-copy-of-waiting-for-godot-for-a-production-by-the-san-quentin-drama-workshop|url-status=dead}}</ref> Beckett later gave [[Rick Cluchey]], a former prisoner from San Quentin, financial and moral support over a period of many years.<ref name=Knowlson>Knowlson, James, ''Damned to Fame: The Life of Samuel Beckett'' (London: Bloomsbury, 1996), pp. 410, 411</ref> Cluchey played Vladimir in two productions in the former [[Gallows]] room of the San Quentin California State Prison, which had been converted into a 65-seat theatre and, like the German prisoner before him, went on to work on a variety of Beckett's plays after his release. Cluchey said, "The thing that everyone in San Quentin understood about Beckett, while the rest of the world had trouble catching up, was what it meant to be in the face of it."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://rhystranter.com/2015/05/15/rick-cluchey-san-quentin-drama-workshop-beckett-interview/|title=San Quentin and Samuel Beckett: An Interview with Rick Cluchey|last=Tranter|first=Rhys|date=2015-05-15|website=RhysTranter.com|access-date=2020-02-15|archive-date=15 February 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200215121638/https://rhystranter.com/2015/05/15/rick-cluchey-san-quentin-drama-workshop-beckett-interview/|url-status=live}}</ref> The attitude of this troupe was to move it away from a commercial attitude to an ''[[avant garde]]'' attitude.{{sfn|Bradby|2001|p=96}} As well, the play did not have competition between the actors playing Vladimir and Estragon for being the star of the show.{{sfn|Bradby|2001|p=101}} The most successful showing was in November 1957 at the San Quentin prison, where the play had a profound impact on the inmates and spurred them to start a drama group in the prison. They would go on to produce seven of Beckett's works.{{sfn|Bradby|2001|p=104}} In 1958, the play, produced by the San Francisco Actor's Workshop, would be chosen to go to Brussels for the [[1958 World's Fair]].{{sfn|Ackerley|Gontarski|2004|page=622}}

The first Broadway revival was produced in 1957 at the [[Ethel Barrymore Theatre]] directed by [[Herbert Berghof]], but only ran for six performances (January 21–26).<ref>{{cite web|url= https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-production/waiting-for-godot-2604|title= Waiting for Godot, 1957|website= Internet Broadway Database|access-date= 2023-02-10|archive-date= 29 December 2021|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20211229173853/https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-production/waiting-for-godot-2604|url-status= live}}</ref> It had an all-Black cast, including [[Earle Hyman]] as Vladimir, [[Mantan Moreland]] as Estragon, [[Rex Ingram (actor)|Rex Ingram]] as Pozzo and [[Geoffrey Holder]] as Lucky. This rendition of ''Waiting for Godot'' played on themes of the [[Afro-Surrealism|Africana absurd]] as opposed to the [[Theatre of the absurd|European absurd]]. For example, Hyman's career as a classical actor and Moreland's as a vaudeville actor were used to juxtapose the different facets of African American theatre in the mind of the audience.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Vogel |first=Shane |date=January 2022 |title=Waiting for Godot and the Racial Theater of the Absurd |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/pmla/article/abs/waiting-for-godot-and-the-racial-theater-of-the-absurd/E9E0DFABE78D9DF858AA12F1CA471961 |journal=Publications of the Modern Language Association of America |language=en |volume=137 |issue=1 |pages=19–35 |doi=10.1632/S0030812921000766 |issn=0030-8129 |access-date=28 February 2024 |archive-date=28 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240228175433/https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/pmla/article/abs/waiting-for-godot-and-the-racial-theater-of-the-absurd/E9E0DFABE78D9DF858AA12F1CA471961 |url-status=live |url-access=subscription }}</ref>

Also in May 1957, a production directed by Walter Biakel was staged at the [[Fine Arts Building (Chicago)|Studebaker Theatre in Chicago]] with [[Harvey Korman]] as Vladimir, [[Louis Zorich]] as Estragon, [[Moultrie Patten]] as Pozzo and [[Mike Nichols]] as Lucky.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.abouttheartists.com/productions/139284-waiting-for-godot-at-studebaker-theatre-1957 | title=Playwrights Theatre Club presents Waiting for Godot | website=About the Artists | access-date=2023-02-10}}</ref>

In 1965, a production at the [[Olney Theatre Center|Olney Theatre]] in [[Olney, Maryland]] starred [[Dana Elcar]] as "Vladimir" and [[Stefan Gierasch]] as "Estragon" as part of ''A Festival of the Absurd''.