Interludes

THE HANGOVER REPORT – Jeremy Pope is utterly magnetic as Basquiat in Anthony McCarten’s otherwise clunky biodrama THE COLLABORATION

• By drediman
• December 21, 2022
• No Comments

Last night, Manhattan Theatre Club’s production of The Collaboration by Anthony McCarten “opened” on Broadway at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre (last night’s opening night performance was actually cancelled at the last minute due to a Covid case in the cast). The work – which captures the circumstances around the mid-1980s collaboration between two iconic artists, Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat – previously enjoyed a run across the pond at London’s Young Vic Theatre. It now arrives in New York, which feels like the play’s natural home (the work is set in the Big Apple during a celebrated part of its history).

McCarten is no stranger to dramatizing biographical material, particularly in films. In fact, he’s made a career out it, having penned a string of movies like The Theory of Everything (Stephen Hawking), Darkest Hour (Winston Churchill), Bohemian Rhapsody (Freddie Mercury), and The Two Popes (Pope Francis and Pope Benedict XVI). In addition to The Collaboration, he recently made a dent in his theatrical resume by penning the book to A Beautiful Noise: The Neil Diamond Musical, which opened on Broadway this fall, as well. Alas, however, both works fall prey to clunky writing that only superficially excavates the lives of its subjects. Given that both Warhol and Basquiat would die shortly after their collaboration depicted in the play, I was hoping to get a wrenching glimpse into the minds of these artists. What we get, however, are heavily telegraphed conflicts and dialogue that invariably comes across in quotation marks. McCarten’s conception of Warhol is especially unfortunate, registering more like a caricature than anything resembling a human being.

The production’s saving grace is the hugely talented and charismatic leading man Jeremy Pope (a two-time Tony-nominee in the same season Tony-nominee for Choir Boy and Ain’t Too Proud), who is utterly magnetic as Basquiat. Over the course of the evening, he prowls the stage with animalistic instinct, saying more with his body language and facial expressions than anything in the text. As Warhol, Paul Bettany (perhaps best known for playing Vision in the WandaVision television series on Disney+) gives a valiant performance and at least looks the part. Rounding out the cast are Krysta Rodriguez and Erik Jensen, who similarly struggle in ill-written roles.

SOMEWHAT RECOMMENDED

THE COLLABORATION
Broadway, Play
Manhattan Theatre Club at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre
2 hours (including an intermission)
Through January 29