In one telling scene in the Broadway show Patriots, Jewish actor Michael Stuhlbarg, who plays oligarch Boris Berezovsky, thinks Vladimir Putin would be a good choice to be the next Russian leader because he is a “nobody” who once drove a taxi. In addition, when he offered Putin a bribe in the form of a Mercedes, Putin refused.

So how do we explain that Putin later demanded the oligarchs pay him extravagant sums of money? We know, of course, that people change once they are given power, and there is no certain way to know how anyone will react.

Stuhlbarg should win the Tony Award for Best Actor for his incredible performance. We even see him as a child studying math with his Jewish teacher, played with great flare by Jewish actor Ronald Guttman. The professor warns him not to go away from academia, but Berezovsky doesn’t listen; in one scene, they wish each other a “Shana Tova” marking the Jewish New Year.

Stuhlbarg is fantastic as a man who thinks he is in control, even after surviving an assassination attempt. There is also the fascinating relationship between another Jewish oligarch, Roman Abramovich, played by an excellent Luke Thallon, who has some care for Berezovsky, but realizes his bread is better buttered by being loyal to Putin.

As the notorious Russian leader, the first few moments we see Will Keen play Putin are off-putting, because he has a strong British accent. Still, he looks a bit like Putin and his body language is so strong that halfway into the show, you believe his performance.

I asked a Russian audience member what she thought of this, and she said: “we prefer no accent to a bad accent.”

In seeing Putin as dangerous, Berezovsky eventually instructs the anchor at his television station to blast Putin, but as a result, he has to flee to England. The situation becomes more tenuous when his chief ally, Alexander Litvinenko, played by Alex Hurt, is killed by a strange poison.

Stuhlbarg’s performance is astoundingly good, depicting the complex contradictions of a man that could have the wisdom to become greatly affluent, but also could underestimate Putin and assume he would only do as the oligarchs wanted.

Putin was in the KGB and might have played Berezovsky, but either way, it’s fascinating to realize that we never know how a few decisions will alter the world and make someone a leader of a country. The play shows an often-drunk Boris Yeltsin (Paul Kynman) saying goodbye in a TV address as he leaves office, and the reigns are handed to Putin.

Stuhlbarg and Keen are a dynamic duo, and Stuhlbarg’s scenes with Thallon are also compelling, showing the financial battle between Berezovsky and Abramovich. A British court ruled against Berezovsky, who sued Abramovich, and some say he may have committed suicide in depression while others believe he was murdered.

Written by Peter Morgan and directed by Rupert Goold, there is a chilling effect while watching the show, even though we know what will happen.

The second half is more intense than the first, and it is an interesting journey in which Berezovsky starts at the top and ends up at the bottom. Should he be blamed for ushering Putin in and recommending him to Yeltsin? Should he be praised for fighting against Putin when he saw who he became? It’s hard to say. But the play does well to show that people work under certain beliefs, and it takes a lot for them to do an about face.

The play runs a few more weeks until June 23, and I highly recommend it. It is a cautionary tale about the nature of ambition and sacrifice. Without Berezovsky, would Putin have risen to power? Possibly not but again, things are hard to know. Could there have been an even worse leader if someone else was selected? It seems hard to imagine with the Russia invasion of Ukraine and fears of a nuclear war, but things can often be worse than we know.

The author is a writer based in New York.

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