Chistopher Lloyd, the mad-eyed actor best known as burned-out cabbie Reverend Jim from TV's "Taxi," will be the third banana in the Classic Stage Company's upcoming production of Waiting for Godot, already starring film actor John Turturro and Tony Shalhoub.
Lloyd, whose films include the "Back to the Future" series, will play Pozzo in the 50th anniversary staging of Samuel Beckett's existential comedy. It begins the Classic Stage Company's 31st year with previews Nov. 10 and an opening Nov. 18. Ginny Bull, of CSC audience services, told Playbill On Line (Oct. 2) the Dec. 20 close date could potentially be extended.
This is the first CSC season under the guidance of artistic director Barry Edelstein and producing director Beth Emelson.
Director Andrei Belgrader will stage Godot at CSC, where he mounted Scapin with Stanley Tucci and Rameau's Nephew with Shalhoub. CSC's outgoing artistic director David Esbjornson will supervise this production and stay with the theatre through the show's opening.
Turturro told the New York Times (Sept. 11), "I've never actually seen the play, but I've been reading it to my 8 year-old and he's been laughing so I think that's a good sign." Turturro's film credits include: "Rounders", "He Got Game", "The Big Lebowski," "Quiz Show" and "Jungle Fever."
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Edelstein will take charge officially with the second offering of the CSC season: the American premiere of Martin Crimp's new translation of Moliere's comic masterpiece, The Misanthrope and will direct Tony winner Roger Rees in the title role. This production runs Jan. 26-Feb. 28, 1999.
Concluding the season, Mar. 16-Apr. 11, 1999, will be a dance-theatre adaptation of Gustave Flaubert's A Simple Heart, created and co directed by Paul Lazar and choreographer Annie-B. Parson.
Augmenting these offerings will be readings, roundtable forums, discussions with scholars and theatre practitioners. A look at Beckett in the context of 1940's Europe, along with a consideration of his antecedents and his influences, will surround Godot. And a "Moliere Festival," comprised of readings of other Moliere translations and adaptations, will accompany The Misanthrope.
CSC will also continue its tradition of Tuesday night post-performance discussions with the company and artistic staff and Saturday afternoon symposia with academic experts on the season's plays.
Other works by Beckett include Krapp's Last Tape and Endgame; other Moliere works include School For Wives and Tartuffe.
New artistic director Edelstein, a Rhodes scholar, trained as a dramaturg and assistant director on the NY Shakespeare Festival's "Shakespeare Marathon." He went on to stage The Merchant of Venice and Steve Martin's Wasp and Other Plays at the Public Theatre. Other credits include How I Learned To Drive at MD's Center Stage and shows at RI's Trinity Rep and the NJ Shakespeare Festival.
-- By Kenneth Jones
and Sean McGrath and Harry Haun
