A Broadway revival of Yasmina Reza’s 1998 comedy "Art" opened Tuesday night at the Music Box Theatre, starring Neil Patrick Harris, James Corden and Bobby Cannavale in a 90-minute production with no intermission. The Scott Ellis-directed staging and David Rockwell’s minimalist set present Reza’s comic study of friendship and aesthetic taste, but a New York Post review described the production as thin on development and heavy on pseudo-intellectual banter.
Reza’s play centers on three longtime friends — Serge, Yvan and Marc — whose relationship is tested when Serge buys an all-white painting for $300,000. Early laughter greeted the revelation of the price, but the Post critic wrote that the plot quickly devolves into what the reviewer called "shapeless academic squawking," with the characters droning about modernism, Seneca, Paul Valéry, deconstruction, therapy and other highbrow concerns.
The review praised Harris as the most naturally cast of the three leads, noting his familiarity with playing urbane comic figures and suggesting he believably inhabits the role of Serge. The critic found Corden highly watchable but said his performance as Yvan at times traded connection for sheer entertainment; a lengthy, rambling monologue about wedding-invitation verbiage drew applause despite being described as increasingly indecipherable. Cannavale’s portrayal of Marc was characterized in the review as less convincing, with the actor’s manner and costume choices read as stiff or inauthentic.
Criticism in the review extended to the production’s tone and rhythm: the translation by Christopher Hampton preserves the play’s French precision and mannered speech, and the reviewer argued that those qualities — combined with a direction the critic called "physically rigid and narratively unruly" — made much of the second half feel inconsequential. The reviewer compared Reza’s approach to the one in her play "God of Carnage," calling that earlier work "much funnier," and suggested that "Art" is at heart a limited, one-joke satire about cultural snobbery.
The Post review acknowledged that the play’s sting often lands: by curtain call, audience members appeared to agree, without explicit comment, that the trio’s pretensions are ridiculous. Still, the critic wrote, it is difficult to accept the emotional stakes of a 25-year friendship falling apart when the performers do not consistently register the depth of that history onstage.
Reza’s play has an established track record of popularity and revivals despite recurring critical reservations about its thinness and affected style. The work’s compact plotting and argument-driven dialogue make it a frequent choice for English-language revivals; for this production, the translator’s arch voice and the actors’ differing approaches to comic timing shaped much of the critical response.
Public reaction Tuesday night mixed with the critical take: the audience responded with early laughter and a sustained round of applause after Corden’s central speech, even as the reviewer reported periods in which the stage action felt inert. The production’s minimalist design and brisk running time appear intended to sharpen the play’s focus on dialogue and manners; whether that approach succeeds depends on viewers’ appetite for Reza’s brand of polite cruelty and conversational put-downs.
The Music Box engagement marks another Broadway renewal of a frequently mounted contemporary French play. As in previous productions, the success of the piece in this revival will likely rest on individual audience tastes regarding satirical abrasiveness, linguistic affectation and the chemistry among its lead actors. Reviews published after opening night raise questions about whether this staging adds new depth to Reza’s text or mainly reiterates the play’s central conceit about the ridiculousness of cultural snobbery.