Art

Playbill: Art

Overall Rating: B-

Art is the revival of Yasmina Reza’s Tony Award–winning play, centered on three longtime friends: Marc (Bobby Cannavale), Serge (Neil Patrick Harris), and Yvan (James Corden). They have known each other for decades, but their friendship is tested when Serge spends $300,000 on a five-foot-by-four-foot painting that looks, to most people, like nothing more than a blank canvas. For Serge, who has recently gotten deep into modern art and begun running in new social circles, the painting means far more. For Marc, it is complete nonsense. And for Yvan, the least affluent and most stressed of the three, being caught in the middle sets up a very eventful evening.

The play is less about art and more about how friendships shift over time. When someone you have known for years suddenly changes direction, especially by spending an unbelievable amount of money on something you do not understand, it is natural to wonder whether you are still the same fit you once were. It might even lead you to rethink the history of your relationship. Maybe you were the one who first introduced your friend to modern art as a casual interest, only to watch them build their whole identity around it. Or maybe the easy joking and fun you used to have has turned formal, and conversations feel stiff or overly serious.

The play asks a very relatable question. When people grow and evolve, how much do you try to grow together, and when do you accept that the relationship might have run its course. That reflection is the real treasure of this piece of Art.

The performances are strong across the board. Bobby Cannavale and Neil Patrick Harris land their roles with confidence, but James Corden deserves special attention. His five-minute monologue explaining why he is almost an hour late to dinner is a standout moment. It raised him, for me, from the late-night host we all know to a genuinely compelling Broadway lead.

If the performances shine, the set design does not. The single set and plain furniture never rise to the same level as the cast. I also felt that the dialogue wandered at the beginning and the end, repeating the central conflict more than it needed to. Even so, the mix of humor, honesty, and tension creates an engaging look at how friendships bend, strain, and sometimes hold together.