Paul Bettany and Jeremy Pope to star in 'The Collaboration' on Broadway

Manhattan Theatre Club will present the play in November.

This winter, Manhattan Theatre Club will present The Collaboration, a new play by four-time Oscar nominee Anthony McCarten, on Broadway, starring Tony Award nominee Jeremy Pope and Emmy nominee Paul Bettany. Performances begin at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre on November 29 ahead of a December 20 opening night.

The Collaboration takes place in 1984, when renowned pop artist Andy Warhol and young Neo-Expressionist upstart Jean-Michel Basquiat worked together on an art exhibition. Over the course of the show, these two opposite men — differing in age, artistic style, and more — develop an unexpected artistic partnership, though not without struggle. Bettany plays Warhol and Pope plays Basquiat, reprising roles they first held in The Collaboration's world-premiere production at London's Young Vic theatre in spring 2022.

A London Theatre review of The Collaboration reads, "Bettany is practically unrecognizable, and everything, from his mannerisms to his voice, helps him become the artist. Pope is also entirely physical in his transformative portrayal of Basquiat, and where Bettany is stiff and straight-laced as Warhol, Pope practically dances around the stage as the young graffiti artist turned pioneer of the Neo-Expressionist movement. Together, the pair are the pinnacle of yin and yang, true opposites who seem to fit together effortlessly."

Pope is best known for his Tony-nominated Broadway performances in Choir Boy (also with MTC at the Friedman) and Ain't Too Proud: The Life and Times of The Temptations, which made him only the sixth actor in history to be nominated in two Tony Award categories in the same year. He is also an Emmy nominee for his performance in the Netflix miniseries Hollywood, and he's also been seen on screen in Pose.

Bettany earned an Emmy nomination for his performance as Vision in WandaVision, a role he held in multiple Marvel movies including Captain America: Civil War, The Avengers: Age of Ultron, and Avengers: Infinity War. Bettany is also a stage veteran who has performed in An Inspector Calls in London's West End and in multiple shows for the Royal Shakespeare Company.

Playwright McCarten is known for writing the Oscar-nominated screenplays of movies like The Two Popes and Bohemian Rhapsody.

Kwame Kwei-Armah, who directed The Collaboration in London, also directs the show's Broadway premiere.

Check back for information on The Collaboration tickets on New York Theatre Guide.

^{Photo credit: Jeremy Pope and Paul Bettany in The Collaboration in London. (Photo by Marc Brenner)}