Art

Art by Yasmina Reza is a revival play back on Broadway and directed by Scott Ellis. This production features major stars Bobby Cannavale, James Corden, and Neil Patrick Harris.

For me, I quickly scheduled this show in order to see Neil Patrick Harris, as I was so upset I missed him in his last show, Shit. Meet. Fan. at MCC Theater in 2024.

While all three actors are just outstanding in this play, it is the performance of the character Yvan that is going to get James Corden a Tony Award nomination. This Wednesday matinee was the first performance back since Sunday for Corden, as he had a scheduled absence for the Tuesday show. I was close enough to see in Corden’s eyes that he appeared to be exhausted after his weekend break, and yet he still came out and delivered a show stopping monologue that finally woke up our sleepy audience.

Audience energy and cast energy can feed off of each other, and this audience was initially worrisome. This was my 55th show of the year yet maybe only the second or third time I had to start the applause, and I was sometimes the only one laughing. I bring this up, because this is where it is a treat to have someone with the skill level of Neil Patrick Harris. His character, Serge, was explaining how his all-white painting actually had other colors in it, and for some reason, I was the only patron who laughed when Serge pointed out it even had red in it. Harris, without missing a beat, broke the fourth wall and had his character give me a stern glare for laughing at the thought there was red in the painting. This finally got the audience to laugh and wake up a bit, and this was all due to Serge very briefly breaking the fourth wall and using nothing more than a facial expression. Genius. I imagine he may do this every performance, and this was the warm-up that primed the audience for Corden’s intense monologue, which finally got the audience to get into the show. From that moment on, the audience was engaged, and the energy was fantastic.

Art is a comedy about the complexity of friendship. While the story is not deep, it is a very good time where you can experience three incredible actors doing their magic live on stage. This show would not be as good without this cast, so I do recommend seeing this show with this original cast. It is very funny.

See more show reviews from 2025.