“Art” at Music Box Theatre, New York

Glenda Frank in Midtown Manhattan
3 November 2025
★★★★☆

Art by Yasmina Reza is about the delicate balance of friendship between three men who have maintained their bond for 25 years. They have grown in dramatically different directions, and now the relationship is threatening to unravel because Serge, a surgeon, has purchased a piece of modern art for $300,000. The white-on-white painting by a trendy artist is emblematic of Serge’s entry into the world of the Parisian cultural elite. Marc, an engineer who was once Serge’s mentor, feels discarded. Yvan, the clown, is being tugged in several directions at once by plans for his imminent wedding. Unsuccessful, he is grateful to his bride’s uncle for hiring him in his stationery store although he hates the job. This sounds serious but the play is belly-laugh funny, clever, profound and outrageously performative, especially by James Corden (One Man, Two Guvnors – Tony, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle awards) whose arias convulse the house.

Neil Patrick Harris and James Corden.
Photo credit: Matthew Murphy.

It’s a very European work (translated from the French by Christopher Hampton, five Tony, four Olivier awards). And it’s wonderfully dense despite or maybe because of the Mamet-style dialogue where phrases are repeated but with the meaning shifting each time. Beneath the social exchanges and bickering, big questions are elbowing each other. You can ignore them, as many audience members do, and sit back laughing at the men’s absurdities and exaggerations. The comedy balances the men’s pain of watching someone you love become a stranger. “To think we’ve reached these extremes all because of a white square, a piece of white shit,” one of the men observes. The magic marker resolution is something right out of a Yoko Ono playbook.

The play both appreciates and parodies trends in the art world. The painting enables the men to vent their frustrations with each other without over-analyzing the core problems. And it’s fun to satirize contemporary art. The focal object could have been a Patek Philippe watch, an authentic Tiffany window or a Louise Bourgeois sculpture, but the subtle colorations of the painting work also as a metaphor for the men’s relationship. One of them is moved by the patterns in the changing light. One says he sees them but feels nothing. And one neither sees nor cares about them. Of course, the question raised is, “Is this painting art?” Each of the men would offer a different answer. But the real question is, “Is this friendship?” The closing scenes left me deeply moved, as they had at the US premiere in 1998 (Tony Award for Best Play). I appreciated the twist – Serge as a trickster.

The production has problems. Under director Scott Ellis’s guidance, the actors had a uniquely creative time with the dialogue, tossing around nuances and wit along with fleeting glimpses into their lives. Reza makes us a fly on the walls. After a while, every time James Corden entered a scene, I held my breath with anticipation and was amply rewarded.

Neil Patrick Harris brought abundant stage presence and appeal. The performance was a coup. Lindo Cho’s costumes were a gloss on the characters. But Bobby Cannavale, who can sear a stage with his passion, has yet to find Marc which is an unusual role for him. The two other paintings that indicated different living spaces (minimalistic modern set by David Rockwell) are wry comments on taste. Serge does carry the large white painting around too much. The movement is curiously off-putting. But bottom line: would I return to see this production again? In a heartbeat.