"Enter the King" marks the Broadway debut of one Oscar winner — Geoffrey Rush ("Shine") — and the return to the rialto after a 37-year absence for another — Susan Sarandon ("Dead Man Walking"). The two first met in 1997 when Sarandon presented Rush with his Oscar and they costarred in the 2002 comedy "The Banger Sisters." Now, with their rave reviews for this absurdist play by Eugene Ionesco, both have a real chance of contending at the upcoming Tony Awards.

Geoffrey Rush not only stars in this acclaimed production but translated the text with director Neil Armfield. He could face off against a quartet of actors, all of whom have won at least two Tonys — the already-seen Frank Langella ("A Man for All Seasons") and John Lithgow ("All My Sons") and the upcoming Matthew Broderick ("The Philosopher") and Brian Dennehy ("Desire Under the Elms").

Susan Sarandon's competition could include a pair of double Oscar winners — Jane Fonda ("33 Variations") and Dianne Wiest ("All My Sons") — and two Tony winners — Angela Lansbury ("Blithe Spirit") and Janet McTeer ("Mary Stuart").

Says Elysa Gardner of USA Today, "Rush has a grand time surveying the depths of comedy and pathos offered by Berenger. It's a flamboyant, hilariously physical performance that becomes profoundly moving as the king struggles to come to terms with his fate, and reveals the childlike fear and uncertainty underlying his narcissism. As Berenger's coldly pragmatic first wife, Sarandon is his foil and his antagonist, chiding him in a flat, acidic voice; later, her earthy delivery becomes more soothing, suggesting a possibility for redemption. Lauren Ambrose makes a wonderfully warped ingénue as the hyper-emotional Marie, who represents Berenger's need for sensual gratification, while Andrea Martin brings her own sure-footed wackiness to the nurse/servant Juliette."

To Ben Brantley of the New York Times, "Ms. Ambrose’s overripe emotionalism as the young queen who still loves her husband is the perfect counterpoint to the acerbic pragmatism in Ms. Sarandon’s sustained coolness (an approach that pays off in Marguerite’s overlong concluding monologue). Mr. Rush’s ecstatically mannered performance, which uses every old trouper trick in the trunk, at first makes you think of the venerable actor-managers of yore, like Donald Wolfit. But as he struts and frets his two hours on the stage, which include a hilariously spastic promenade, he seems to shed his skin along with the king’s accouterments."

Michael Kuchwara of the Associated Press says, "The actor is a total chameleon, part vaudeville comic, part circus clown, part overwrought tragedian, in his larger-than-life portrayal of a monarch who's dying while his kingdom collapses around him, dying, but refusing to go quietly. Ionesco's play, written in the early 1960s, is a meditation on death, from the cynical to the sentimental and all points in between. The cynical is represented by Marguerite, whose sardonic wit is nicely captured by Sarandon. She's the voice of unadulterated realism, as she literally ticks off the hours and minutes until the king's death."