🍿 Bill & Ted reunite on Broadway!
Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter, Fitz & The Tantrums, Henry Cavill, Matt Damon, and Kelsey Grammer
Strange things are afoot at the Circle K ~ Ted "Theodore" Logan
Before I tell you what Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter are up to, let’s flash back to their time as Bill & Ted, and their most excellent adventure.
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In 1989, a most excellent comedy hit theaters, introducing the world to two lovable slackers with a time-traveling mission. "Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure" follows Bill S. Preston, Esq. (Alex Winter) and Ted "Theodore" Logan (Keanu Reeves), two high school students from San Dimas, California, who embark on a wild journey through history to pass their final history exam and save their band, Wyld Stallyns.
Let me just stop there for a moment and express to you jus how totally awesome the premise is already… I wish I were there when this concept was pitched! I want to give the person who green-lit this film a friggin’ high-five!!
Directed by Stephen Herek, the film's blend of humor, heart, and historical figures resonated with audiences, grossing over $40 million at the box office and spawning two sequels.
This is how I feel about the sequel…
The movie's premise is delightfully absurd: Rufus (George Carlin), a visitor from the future, provides the duo with a time-traveling phone booth. Why? Because Bill and Ted's music will someday create a utopian society, but only if they can graduate high school. This sets up a series of hilarious encounters with historical figures like Napoleon, Socrates, and Abraham Lincoln, all brought to modern-day San Dimas for a crash course in contemporary culture.
RAD TRIVIA:
1. The original script featured Bill and Ted traveling through time in a 1969 Chevrolet van. The phone booth was a last-minute change to avoid comparisons to "Back to the Future's" DeLorean.
2. Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter underwent a unique bonding experience before filming. They spent time together in an "acting zoo," improvising and developing their characters' friendship, which contributed to their on-screen chemistry.
3. The film's writers, Chris Matheson and Ed Solomon, based Bill and Ted on exaggerated versions of themselves in college. They would improv as these characters, eventually leading to the movie's concept.
4. George Carlin wasn't the first choice for Rufus. The role was initially offered to Eddie Van Halen, but he turned it down.
I’m just going to put it out there… "Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure" is so much fun to watch I rank it as a must-watch 80s movie. It launched the careers of Winter and Reeves, with the latter going on to become one of Hollywood's biggest stars. Most importantly, it taught us all to "be excellent to each other" – a lesson that's still totally relevant today, dude!
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Alright, so what’s all this about Bill & Ted reuniting? So Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter are set to tread the boards together in a new production of Samuel Beckett's classic "Waiting for Godot." Directed by Jamie Lloyd, the production will mark Reeves' Broadway debut when it opens in fall 2025. Reeves and Winter will tackle the lead roles of Vladimir and Estragon in this existential play.
Here’s what I think about this…
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I’m adding this section to What’s Poppin’ because I enjoy discovering new music while listening to my curated playlists. So I thought you might enjoy some recommendations from my queue, and hopefully you will discover something you really enjoy here…. also, take the audience poll below—
This one is in my top 5 from the 80s… so it’s pretty much in my queue all the time.
Here’s one I’ve been loving a lot lately… there are sprinkles of genius here…
This one takes me back for sure!
This one doesn’t get enough love…
Fitz and The Tantrums are coming to San Diego… so I’ve been revisiting their discography… enjoy!
This Nostalgic Life Issue #10 (Love Pizza Hut back in the day? Than you will enjoy this post very much!) by
In Conversation: Sammy Siegler of Rival Schools, Youth of Today, and Judge by
(Anti-Matter)The History of Ghostbusters Cereal by
‘My Cousin Vinny’ Is Innocent of Any Charge by
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Love your newsletter. Always a joy to read and I can tell you put a lot of effort into it. Thanks for the Bill and Ted trivia!
Having older Bill and Ted reunite to perform in Waiting for Godot is about the most relevant thing they could possibly have done. And this is most excellent news! It was most righteous of you to share it with us, John!