Art by Yasmina Reza

“Art,” a smart surreal comedy, skewers French intellectuals and questions male friendship.

Sept 16, 2025- Dec 21, 2025.
“Art.” https://artonbroadway.com/
Written by Yasmina Reza, translated by Christopher Hampton. Directed by Scott Ellis.
The Music Box, 239 West 45th St NYC.

Yasmina Reza’s superb surreal comedy takes aim at her favorite subject, the pretentious French bourgeoisie. (Another fine play of the genre is her “God of Carnage.”) I admit to liking this play’s target, the ridiculous one or two-color paintings that hang in galleries (and museums) with bloated prices and pompous wall labels and the arty “intellectuals” who admire them.

James Corden as Yvan, Neil Patrick Harris as Serge and Bobby Cannavale as Marc. Photo by Matthew Murphy.

This is a revival of the 1998 New York production. Too long in coming.

Serge (Neil Patrick Harris), a dermatologist, has bought some high culture via $300K for a solid white painting and invited his friends Marc (Bobby Cannavale) and Yvan (James Corden) to view it. The best way to describe it is the artistic “Emperor’s New Clothes.”

Bobby Cannavale as Marc. Photo by Matthew Murphy.

Marc, an aeronautical engineer, a man of science, not fantasy, and an enemy of modernism, refuses to see what isn’t there and laughs hysterically at “this shit.” He accuses Serge of trying to buy his way into being a connoisseur. Cannavale is terrific in this role, his outrage at Serge’s stupidity nearly a volcanic eruption.

But Yvan, (Corden as a little quirky, a joker) who works in a stationery store, intervenes, “If it makes him happy.” He is tolerant; actually, he has his own personal problems to worry about.

We get to see what Yvan and Marc have in their apartments. Yvan has a tacky dog photo, Marc an impressionist painting. Seems stacking the deck!

“I didn’t like the painting, but I didn’t actually hate it,” Yvan insists. “Of course not,” says Marc, “You can’t hate what’s invisible.” And, “You find these colors touching? …There are no colors, this is really demeaning.” (Against the white of the painting, the men are all in black, costumes Linda Cho.)

Neil Patrick Harris as Serge and James Corden as Yvan. Photo by Matthew Murphy.

Serge accuses Marc of thinking art has come to an end with the pseudo-Flemish. One can’t help but grin at the pompous nonsense when Serge insists, “You don’t really get the resonance at the moment…you have to come back in the middle of the day.”

And Serge argues that the gallery would have bought it but “it’s important for them to sell to private clients….That’s how market circulates.” Sounds like market manipulation. And that this painter hangs in the Pompidou! Well, I’ve been there. Some great stuff and some pompous “shit”!

The other theme is male friendship. We see three long-time chums test their sensitivity to each other’s lives and feelings, dealing with the power relations, truth and honesty among them.

Bobby Cannavale as Marc and Neil Patrick Harris as Serge. Photo by Matthew Murphy.

Marc is furious because Serge bought the painting without consulting him, and this challenges Marc’s authority in their relationship. Yvan is trying to get along in a life he doesn’t altogether control, but finds the others unsympathetic. Marc complains, “You arrive three-quarters of an hour late, you don’t apologize, you swamp us with your domestic woes.”

How did the three get to be and remain friends? Do they care about each other or is their relationship just a playing field for scoring points? The art talk moves to a brawl. Director Scott Ellis is as spare and direct as the painting, not a missed move. This white canvas has a lot to say. And the real artist of course is Yasmina Reza.

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