Art

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Yasmina Reza’s Art which is turning 31 this year and won the Tony Award for Best Play in 1998 is being given its first Broadway revival with an all-star cast and proves to be just as entertaining as it was before. This contemporary boulevard comedy (the French variation on the English comedy of manners) gives Bobby Cannavale, James Corden and Neil Patrick Harris juicy roles which they have a field day with as three Parisian friends who have a falling out over a pricy five feet by four feet all-white painting by a trendy modern artist. Scott Ellis’ production is always smooth and polished with no one ever disturbing the tone of the play, though one actor has a temper tantrum as well as a breakdown.

Serge, a successful divorced Parisian dermatologist, has bought a painting he has long desired for $300,000 by trendy artist Antrios. To him, it is not all-white, but has other faint colors plus a series of visible white lines. When he invites Marc, an aeronautical engineer, his friend of 25 years to see it, Marc calls it garbage and thinks it is a big joke. Serge who has recently taken up modernism is not amused; in fact, he is furious with Marc. When their mutual friend Yvan sees the painting he doesn’t like but he doesn’t hate it. However he doesn’t let Serge know his real feelings about it. Ever the peacemaker, Yvan points out that Marc’s taste is classical, and that he doesn’t appreciate modern art.

However, the all-white painting damages their friendship. Marc who has been the arbiter of taste and has guided Serge in the past in art, literature and philosophy feels betrayed by Serge’s new interest in both contemporary art and his new friends who are influencing him. He also feels Serge has lost his sense of humor. Serge finds his reaction to the painting both smug and condescending. This leads to their criticizing other things in each other’s lives. Serge tells Marc what he finds wrong with his partner Paula which infuriates Marc who feels he has been lied to for a long time. Both turn on Yvan for remaining neutral in their argument about the painting and this leads them to criticize Yvan’s controlling fiancée Catherine whom he is marrying in two weeks. Both Marc and Serge think Yvan should probably call off the wedding, even though they have already agreed to be groomsmen. After an act of violence is committed to the painting, the men have to rebuild their friendship or end it.

When Art was first reviewed, it was thought to be about taste in painting. Now it appears that the interaction between the three men is about much more: aesthetics, friendship, relationships, life choices, dominance, one-upmanship. Will the men’s friendship survive, a not so obvious question? Christopher Hampton’s translation, also used for the Broadway premiere in 1998 has been updated a bit, the price of the painting has gone up and the quotes around the title have been dropped, the most obvious changes.

Cannavale as the dominant Marc has the biggest role. As the arbiter of taste, he is assertive and imperious; he holds his aggressiveness as well as his knowledge over their heads. To some extent a know-it-all, he also has blind spots in his makeup. Harris is suave and cool, until he loses his temper towards the end. As the only working class one among them, however, it is Corden’s Yvan who steals the show whenever he is on stage. The varieties of his exasperation are a wonder to behold. He also has a monologue about the devastating phone call he just had with his mother about the wedding invitations that gets an ovation, and the same scene earned Alfred Molina a Tony nomination and the Drama Desk Award for Featured Actor in a Play in the original production. The phrase ‘devouring the scenery’ is apt for his performance whether he is talking about his dysfunctional relatives or an injury he sustains trying to separate Marc and Serge in a physical fight.

The design team is well attuned to Reza’s play. David Rockwell’s minimalist setting in gray, leather, marble and white is both chic and elegant, and stands in for all three apartments, though the pictures on the wall change, defining the men. Linda Cho has dressed the men in equally minimalist style in elegant monochromes of gray and blue. The cool lighting by Jen Schriever occasionally bathes the background in blue or purple light behind the apartment settings giving them an otherworldly feeling.

Yasmina Reza’s Art is both clever and provocative. Even if you have seen the play before the new cast of Bobby Cannavale, James Corden and Neil Patrick Harris is certainly worth your time. They don’t write plays like this anymore and they probably ought to. In any case, it is a tour de force for three actors at the top of their game. FYI, the Museum of Modern Art has an actual all-white painting on display by Kazimir Malevitch created in 1918, as well as several by Robert Ryman who specialized in this genre. MOMA also owns Robert Rauschenberg’s “Instructions for White Paintings” from 1965, a study for his more famous “White Painting” which is in the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.

Art (through December 21, 2025)

The Music Box Theatre, 230 W. 45^th Street, in Manhattan

For tickets, visit http://www.artonbroadway.com

Running time: 95 minutes without an intermission