‘ART’: Bobby Cannavale & Neil Patrick Harris. Photo: Matthew Murphy.

ART
By Yasmina Reza
Translated by Christopher Hampton
Directed by Scott Ellis
The Music Box
239 West 45^th Street
https://artonbroadway.com/
 

By Scott Harrah

Star power, dynamic performances and dark humor are the main reasons to see this winning Broadway revival of Art. The show won the Tony Award for Best Play back in 1998. Is a 27-year-old show featuring an overpriced painting still relevant? Of course. And with a stellar cast including Neil Patrick Harris, James Corden and Bobby Cannavale, the classic Yazmina Reza play is one of the hottest tickets in town.

Pricey painting

Successful dermatologist Serge (Mr. Harris) spends 200,000 francs on an all-white painting by a famous artist that purportedly has several white lines somewhere in the middle. When he invites his two best friends over to show it off, they are not amused.

Marc (Mr. Cannavale) is outraged when he sees the painting and hears how much Serge spent. He crudely dismisses the artwork as a “white piece of s**t” and accuses Serge of becoming pretentious.

The high-strung Yvan (Mr. Corden) at first tries to be neutral. He’s all worked up about his upcoming wedding and attempts to diffused the tension between the Marc and Serge to no avail.

Subtext more relevant in 2025

The title and setup of Art suggests the play is simply about the subjective nature of what is or is not considered “art.” However, the subtext of playwright Yasmina Reza’s story is far more relevant nearly 30 years later: The precarious and fragile nature of longtime friendships, particularly among men.

Marc is horrified that Serge would spend so much money on such a gimmicky painting. He is so contemptuous toward Serge that it puts their 25-year friendship in jeopardy.

Yvan tries in vain to make peace between the two old pals but he ends up simply annoying them instead of improving matters.

The one-act play starts out as an argument about art but quickly becomes a nasty emotional meltdown for all three friends. They wonder if they can all remain friends after such a vitriolic evening.

Great direction & performances

Director Scott Ellis extracts fine performances from the cast.

Neil Patrick Harris is magnificent as Serge, the wealthy doctor who finds it odd that anyone wouldn’t think the painting he bought was great art.

Bobby Cannavale is superb as the angry, argumentative aeronautical engineer Marc.

One of the nicest surprises is just how good James Corden is as the insecure Yvan. Mr. Corden often steals the show with his many neurotic outbursts and temper tantrums. He’s a bit too slapstick at times, but the audience seemed to enjoy his over-the-top antics at the performance this reviewer attended.

Art, like art itself, won’t please everyone but this revival is a lot of fun regardless. There is no question as to why it’s a must-see this fall.

Published October 2, 2025
Reviewed at press performance on September 25, 2025

‘ART’: Bobby Cannavale. Photo: Matthew Murphy.

‘ART’: James Corden. Photo: Matthew Murphy.

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SOAPY, DATED DRAMA: Marin Ireland (left) & Bobby Cannavale in ‘The Big Knife’. Photo: Joan Marcus

THE BIG KNIFE
Written by Clifford Odets
Directed by Doug Hughes

American Airlines Theatre

227 West 42nd Street

(212-719-1300), www.RoundaboutTheatre.org

By David NouNou

Platitudes are bandied around at a dizzying pace in this first revival of Clifford Odets’ 1949 play, The Big Knife. Having lived in Hollywood and written screenplays out there, I’m sure Odets got wind of a lot of the cover-ups that existed in Tinsel Town and the major studios. In the heyday of the studio system, moguls like Louis B. Mayer, Jack Warner, Darryl F. Zanuck, etc., had enough publicity henchmen to protect their most valuable assets, “the movie star.” Be it abortions, accidents, drunken binges, extramarital affairs, divorce, dare I say homosexuality in Hollywood, and yes, even murder, they had the PR departments working overtime, concealing all the dirty laundry. They could even get a flunky to take a murder rap if the star was big enough

Such a star is Charlie Castle (Bobby Cannavale), for he is his studio’s biggest moneymaker; and in a drunken binger one night, he ran over a child. In order to protect his image, the studio boss Marcus Huff (Richard Kind) and his publicity man Smiley Coy (Reg Rogers) manage to pin the charges on Charlie’s friend, Buddy Bliss (Joey Slotnick), who went to jail and kept Charlie’s image perfectly clean. Yes, studios had the power and the means to do such cover-ups. Forget about today’s “hot mess” starlets and their tabloid-addled lives; these are small potatoes compared to murder.

To further complicate Charlie’s life, his estranged wife Marion (Marin Ireland), whom Charlie claims he loves very much, despite his drinking and womanizing, will only come back to him if he doesn’t sign his new $3.5 million-dollar contract with options because she wants to leave Hollywood and move back to New York and the “theater” to get away from all the muck and mire. However, the catch here is that Charlie is bound to the studio for the cover-up they did for him and the new contract stipulates another 14 years of servitude. Oh, the dilemma.

Of course such events/cover-ups were real, just read Hollywood Babylon and you’ll see the dirty laundry of some of your favorite stars. The set-up of The Big Knife is certainly interesting. After all, it deals with Hollywood and its tawdry goings-on. However, the dialogue is so stilted that it would confound the most ardent of Odets fans. Could he really have written such unconvincing, banal lines? At times, it seems like homilies being strewn from the stage.

The highest point of this production is the gorgeous set designed by John Lee Beatty. My God, I would have loved to live in it. Now to the assets of the show: Bobby Cannavale, who usually explodes on stage; was electric in The Motherf***ker with the Hat a couple of seasons ago and great in last fall’s revival of Glengarry, Glen Ross, seems ill at ease here. Must be those silted lines he has to spout and the fact that he lacks any chemistry with the woman he loves, Marin Ireland. You see no connection between them. There is no passion or love in her delivery, and she performs her role in a one-dimensional manner.

I am glad to report that there are four wonderful supporting performances: Richard Kind, who is usually in comedies, is absolutely great as the hell-bent, venomous studio mogul explaining his motives and the savagery that takes place in the third act with Charlie, and finally gets the play to crackle, but what ensues soon turns to the mawkish. Reg Rogers as the studio publicity man is wonderfully reptilian; two other affecting performances are from Chip Zien as Charlie’s agent; and Joey Slotnick as his friend who took the rap.

It’s not that the show doesn’t have interesting moments, it does, but the dialogue is so hackneyed and preachy that it turns the proceedings into one big, melodramatic soap opera. It’s not up to par to the earlier revival of Odets’ Golden Boy, with the same type of tortured characters. but with much better lines.

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published April 19, 2013

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