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Samuel Beckett's Happy Days (Broadway Theatre Archive)x$12.99
  (6 reviews)
Best Price: $24.99 $12.99
Suffused with tenderness, lucidity, and humor, Samuel Beckett's Happy Days is a comedy in pure, music-hall style. Legendary three-time Tony Award-winning actress Irene Worth (Lost in Yonkers) stars as Winnie, an optimist who--deep down--senses she has little to feel "happy" about, though she never allows a day to pass without looking her best and hoping for better. Worth gives a tour-de-force performance as she chatters incessantly and cheerily on a variety of subjects, portraying Winnie as the embodiment of humankind's nobler virtues: wise, just, majestic, and committed to her conviction that "this will have been a happy day."
UPC: 032031263093
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Customer Reviews
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Essential and timeless: a perfect marriage of two artists
By A1ZEYSQHB98F4F on 2003-10-04
One of Beckett's most profound and moving plays is also one of his funniest. Irene Worth, one of the world's greatest stage actresses, embodies one of theater's greatest female roles with both a lyrical tenderness and a deep sensuality.There is, in fact, nothing overblown or stagy about her performance: Worth is the quintessential Winnie. Famous for her deeply intelligent interpretations and blessed with a marvelously resonant voice, she is the ideal actress for a part that requires so little physicality and so much vocal depth. She understands every word of Beckett's text, and conveys her understanding with every breath she takes. To say she is too "theatrical" and to ridicule the pronunciation of her name are pitifully inaccurate and pitifully beside the point. The recording of her performance in this great play is a marvelous document to possess.
The brilliance of Beckett and Worth
By A3BRGKSIUZRN06 on 2003-07-01
Irene Worth was a great actress. When teamed with Samuel Beckett's words, it is an experience to be treaured. True, Beckett is not for everyone. But for anyone with a brain, a heart, a soul, and a sense of humanity, Beckett connects. Those who don't "get" Beckett tend to hate Beckett and that's too bad. For the rest of us, Beckett hits a chord, creates a visceral reaction, illuminates the abyss. And Miss Worth (whose name was pronounced Irene-y, just as it is in England, where she spent a great deal of her career) is simply delightful to watch, as she always was. She combines the sadness, optimism, coyness, despair, beauty, and humour that is Winnie, in a way that few actresses could hope to do.
Well...
By A12PH9GNB26T47 on 2003-06-18
... I saw this production at the Public many years ago and the "great" Miss Worth (Irene-y, as she was pretentiously called) didn't seem to understand a single word of what she was saying. Even the simplest lines were delivered in a bloated actorese. Broadway acting at its most self-important and awful. How could the dvd possibly be any good?
A great introduction to beckett's theatrical work
By A25FEVU7JP5SN2 on 2006-05-26
This is a wonderful production of Happy Days, as far as I know faithful to Beckett's specific directions (he considered his stage directions as important as the dialog). Irene Worth is magnificent, as is the actor who played Willy. By all means, buy this DVD and enjoy it. If you're new to Beckett, this will whet your appetite for more. For the big Beckett fan (like me), I highly recommend Beckett on Film, the 4-DVD set of all 19 of Beckett's theatrical works, with a fine documentary and commentary, done by 19 contemporary directors. It's pricey but well worth the money.
There is an interesting controversy about filming Beckett's work and the 'interpretation' that that implies. Make your own decision -- and enjoy.
One of the finest issues in this series
By A1OB6GMPE9WQT2 on 2006-06-07
Terrific production of this Beckett play. Worth gives a brilliant performance. Glad it was documented.
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