“Patriots,” about the feud between Putin and an oligarch, is bound for Broadway

“Patriots,” a well-received British play about a Russian oligarch's fateful role in the rise of Vladimir V. Putin, moves to Broadway in April, adding a dose of international intrigue to a busy spring season.

The drama, which critic Matt Wolf called “gripping” and “cool and unnerving” in a 2022 review of a London production for The New York Times, was written by Peter Morgan, the creator and principal writer of “The Crown.” Emmy-winning Six-season Netflix show. Morgan has written two other plays that made it to Broadway: “The Audience,” about Queen Elizabeth II, and “Frost/Nixon,” about journalist David Frost's famous interviews with former President Richard M. Nixon.

The Broadway production of “Patriots” stars Michael Stuhlbarg, who last appeared on Broadway in 2005, when he received a Tony nomination for the lead role in Martin McDonagh's “The Pillowman.” Stuhlbarg has numerous stage credits to his name, but most recently he has worked in film (“A Serious Man”) and television (“Boardwalk Empire”). Stuhlbarg plays Boris A. Berezovsky, a Russian business magnate who helped Putin rise to power but then fell out with him and later died in exile. The role was played in London by Tom Hollander.

Stuhlbarg will star opposite Will Keen, who will play Putin, now the president of Russia; Keen also played that role in London and won the Olivier Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Play for that performance last year. Luke Thallon will also reprise the role he played in London, as another Russian oligarch, Roman Abramovich.

The production is scheduled to begin previews on April 1 and open at the Barrymore Theater on April 22.

The play is directed by Rupert Goold, a British director who has been nominated twice for Tony Awards, for “Ink” and “King Charles III,” and who will also direct “The Hunt.” at St. Ann's Warehouse in Brooklyn this spring. “Patriots” was staged in 2022 at the nonprofit Almeida Theater in London, where Goold is artistic director, and last year had a profitable commercial run in London's West End.

The lead producer of the Broadway production will be Sonia Friedman, who is a major force in both the West End and on Broadway.

The play premieres in the final days of a Broadway season that is proving to be quite challenging for producers and investors as production costs are higher and ticket sales lower than before the coronavirus pandemic. Economic conditions have been especially tough for musicals. On Sunday evening, the producers of “How to Dance in Ohio,” a musical about a group of young autistic adults, announced that the show would close on Feb. 11 after 99 performances. And last week, the producers of “Harmony,” a musical about a German singing group that fell foul of the Nazis, announced that the show would close on Feb. 4.