ART 2025 Reviews

[EDSOSLO858]

Posted: 9/16/25 at 5:35pm

[MemorableUserName]

Posted: 9/16/25 at 9:14pm

Three stars from TimeOut

https://www.timeout.com/newyork/theater/art-broadway-review-revival-play-james-corden-bobby-cannavale-neil-patrick-harris

"The result is a slender but amusing 90-minute evening of Broadway entertainment. Is it art? Maybe not. But why argue?"

[MemorableUserName]

Posted: 9/16/25 at 9:50pm

AMNY:

Review | ‘Art’ with starry cast is a blank canvas

https://www.amny.com/entertainment/broadway/review-art-starry-cast-blank-canvas

"On paper, the new Broadway revival of Yasmina Reza’s “Art” sounds like a winner: three Tony Award winners — Neil Patrick Harris, Bobby Cannavale, and James Corden — trading barbs in a sleek comedy about male friendship and the value of modern art. The result is hardly terrible, but it is slight. The laughs are modest, the pacing drags, and the play never builds beyond its simple conceit."

[MemorableUserName]

Posted: 9/16/25 at 10:04pm

NY Stage Review

Art: A Comedy of Bad Manners

By Frank Scheck

September 16, 2025

★★★★☆ Bobby Cannavale, James Corden and Neil Patrick Harris star in this revival of Yasmina Reza's Tony Award-winning comedy

 

Art: Male Friends Argue on a Flashy Canvas

By David Finkle

September 16, 2025

★★★★☆ Scott Ellis directs Yasmina Reza's click, with Bobby Cannavale, James Corden and Neil Patrick Harris

[JSquared2]

Posted: 9/16/25 at 10:04pm

MemorableUserName said: "AMNY:

Review | ‘Art’ with starry cast is a blank canvas

https://www.amny.com/entertainment/broadway/review-art-starry-cast-blank-canvas

"On paper, the new Broadway revival of Yasmina Reza’s “Art” sounds like a winner: three Tony Award winners — Neil Patrick Harris, Bobby Cannavale, and James Corden — trading barbs in a sleek comedy about male friendship and the value of modern art. The result is hardly terrible, but it is slight. The laughs are modest, the pacing drags, and the play never builds beyond its simple conceit.""


When did Cannavale win a Tony Award?  Pretty major  error to begin a review! 

[MemorableUserName]

Posted: 9/16/25 at 10:05pm

NY Daily News

BROADWAY REVIEW: James Corden elevates ‘Art’ revival

https://www.nydailynews.com/2025/09/16/broadway-review-art-revival-james-corden-neil-patrick-harris-bobby-cannavale

"If you saw “Art” back in its heyday, you likely forgot the finer points of the plot. It is forgettable. But there is no credible arguing with this level of audience-pleasing success. This very fun revival at least makes the case that forgettability can be an asset and “Art’ enjoyed over and over again."

[MemorableUserName]

Posted: 9/16/25 at 10:06pm

The Guardian

Art review – James Corden is the cheer-worthy standout of Broadway revival

Three stars

Post-late-night, the star makes an exceptional return to the stage in this moderately entertaining comedy of male friendship

https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2025/sep/17/art-review-james-corden-broadway-stars

[MemorableUserName]

Posted: 9/16/25 at 10:07pm

Daily Beast

James Corden Delivers a Masterclass of Comedy in New Play

https://www.thedailybeast.com/obsessed/art-review-james-corden-delivers-a-masterclass-of-broadway-comedy

"The really great thing in this all-star revival (Music Box Theatre, booking to Dec. 21) is those men are played by Bobby Cannavale, Neil Patrick Harris, and James Corden, the latter serving up an early-season comedy masterclass."

[MemorableUserName]

Posted: 9/16/25 at 10:09pm

Variety

‘Art’ Review: James Corden Impresses in Broadway Revival

https://variety.com/2025/legit/reviews/art-review-broadway-play-james-corden-1236519571

[MemorableUserName]

Posted: 9/16/25 at 10:10pm

Deadline

‘Art’ Broadway Review: Bobby Cannavale, Neil Patrick Harris And James Corden Paint A Brutal Portrait Of Friendship

https://deadline.com/2025/09/art-broadway-review-1236544412

"Director Scott Ellis seems to know when to let his talented cast enjoy themselves, and if the pacing in the first half-hour or so feels a bit sluggish, well, that’s mostly on the playwright. The play’s conceits – about modern art, about interpersonal resentments, about something that might nowadays be called toxic masculinity – just don’t seem as novel as they might once have. As Art‘s three buddies set up their impending conflict, we know exactly where they’re heading. This production eventually rewards our patience, even if we sometimes wish for quicker brushstrokes."

[MemorableUserName]

Posted: 9/16/25 at 10:12pm

The Wrap

'Art' Broadway Review: At Least Bobby Cannavale, James Corden and Neil Patrick Harris Are Having Fun

Yasmina Reza's Tony-winning play revival is more kitsch than art, starring Neil Patrick Harris, James Corden and Bobby Cannavalle.

https://www.thewrap.com/art-broadway-review-bobby-cannavale-james-corden-neil-patrick-harris

"In “Art,” Zerge has bought a painting that is basically a white canvas and his friend Marc calls it “****.” Yvan is their sad-sack friend who keeps switching sides on this major discussion. Yvan is also getting married, and halfway through the play he spills his guts on a major problem he has regarding wedding invitations. It goes on and on, and, of course, Corden milks the extended moment for everything he’s got in a performance that screams, “Give me the Tony!”

In this respect, “Art” is a poor man’s “Glengarry Glenross.” Here are plays that are often revived because stars want to appear in them so they can deliver these showy acting-class scenes."

[MemorableUserName]

Posted: 9/16/25 at 10:14pm

NYT: Vincentelli is positive on the play, less so on the production. Not a Critic's Pick

‘Art’ Review: Three Big-Name Actors, One White Canvas

James Corden, Bobby Cannavale and Neil Patrick Harris star in a revival of Yasmina Reza’s comedy about an inscrutable abstract painting.

"Let’s end the suspense right away: All three are fine, and Corden — back on Broadway for the first time since his whirlwind of a performance in “One Man, Two Guvnors” in 2012 — is often a lot more than that.

But for an elegantly vicious play that’s meant to draw pearls of blood, the actors, especially Cannavale and Harris, can come off as guarded, as if they’re fencing with blunted tips. Entire arguments hinge on tone, the way someone pronounces a particular remark — subtle variations that don’t always land here. At times, Scott Ellis’s production, at the Music Box Theater, feels like an extended episode of “Curb Your Enthusiasm.”"

Updated On: 9/16/25 at 10:14 PM

[MemorableUserName]

Posted: 9/16/25 at 10:56pm

Sara Holdren is, as always, the best read.

Yasmina Reza’s Art Returns, Loaded With Blanks

https://www.vulture.com/article/theater-review-yasmina-reza-art-revival-harris-corden-cannavale.html

"Of course the point of these productions is to appeal to — or try to force into being — a different demographic: They’re banking on an audience who’s wistful for the days when men were men and comedies were comedies — also an audience that enjoys giving three separate rounds of entrance applause. As a director, Ellis is happy to put his trio of stars in the terrarium of a bland upscale apartment and let them go for the punch lines. All three are nimble with comedy, and it’s not that there’s nothing funny in Art; it’s that the material makes the atmosphere in the room too thin to work up the breath for a good laugh. A self-own Reza might not have foreseen in 1994 now comes out of the mouth of one of her own characters: “These nostalgia merchants have become quite breathtakingly arrogant.”"

[Auggie27]

Posted: 9/16/25 at 11:13pm

Seems odd to suggest the actors need more performances under their belt with 19 previews It's always been sitcom thin and one joke; arguably that's why it was so globally successful: it makes few demands, yet has the pretentious patina of a show skewering, um ... pretentiousness.  Of all the starry revivals in the last two season, to me this is the most missable.  

Updated On: 9/16/25 at 11:13 PM

[EDSOSLO858]

Posted: 9/16/25 at 11:36pm

DTLI Consensus: Though far from a masterpiece, all three leads (especially Corden) elevate Reza’s play and make for a worthwhile evening at the theatre.

10 positive (including the NYT), 4 mixed, 4 negative.

https://didtheylikeit.com/shows/art/

[EDSOSLO858]

Posted: 9/16/25 at 11:39pm

If this had been a spring opening, I’d pretty much call a slam-dunk nomination for Corden. Seems to be a very good return to his theatrical roots after giving one of the great comic performances of the century in ONE MAN, TWO GUVNORS.

[Owen22]

Posted: 9/17/25 at 7:38am

It's nice to see Corden getting these reviews. After the hatred that was thrown his way toward the end of his American late night career, one could forget what a marvelous stage performer he is.

Updated On: 9/17/25 at 07:38 AM

[sinister teashop]

Posted: 9/17/25 at 9:39am

EDSOSLO858 said: "DTLI Consensus:Though far from a masterpiece, all three leads (especially Corden) elevate Reza’s play and make for a worthwhile evening at the theatre.

10 positive (including the NYT), 4 mixed, 4 negative.

https://didtheylikeit.com/shows/art/"

I find that aggregator not much better than an AI assisted search. That NYT's review was mixed if anything.

 

[MemorableUserName]

Posted: 9/17/25 at 9:45am

It did help me see that Scheck NY Stage Review pull quote that I missed last night.

"The three performers mesh together beautifully, with Harris providing just the right haughty snobbishness, Cannavale making comic exasperation into an art form, and Corden so lovable and vulnerable you can almost forget how nasty he can be to waiters in real life."

They should stick that on a poster!

[quizking101]

Posted: 9/17/25 at 11:12am

EDSOSLO858 said: "If this had been a spring opening, I’d pretty much call a slam-dunk nomination for Corden. Seems to be a very good return to his theatrical roots after giving one of the great comic performances of the century in ONE MAN, TWO GUVNORS."

If they petition them all down to Featured (which is a smart idea for this type of ensemble comedy), Corden would be a slam dunk, or perhaps a win. However, precedent has Molina (the original) in the Best Actor category. Therefore that puts him up against (so far) - Micah Stock, Don Cheadle, Namir Smallwood, Keanu Reeves, Alex Winter, John Lithgow, Will Harrison, Mark Strong, Bobby Cannavale, NPH, and potentially Jon Bernthal and Ebon-Moss Eberbach.

Basically, it’s fall and that category is already shaping up to be a fight to the death like Actress in a Musical was last year.

[Fordham2015]

Posted: 9/17/25 at 12:07pm

quizking101 said: "EDSOSLO858 said: "If this had been a spring opening, I’d pretty much call a slam-dunk nomination for Corden. Seems to be a very good return to his theatrical roots after giving one of the great comic performances of the century in ONE MAN, TWO GUVNORS."

If they petition them all down to Featured (which is a smart idea for this type of ensemble comedy), Corden would be a slam dunk, or perhaps a win. However, precedent has Molina (the original) in the Best Actor category. Therefore that puts him up against (so far) - Micah Stock, Don Cheadle, Namir Smallwood, Keanu Reeves, Alex Winter, John Lithgow, Will Harrison, Mark Strong, Bobby Cannavale, NPH, and potentially Jon Bernthal and Ebon-Moss Eberbach.

Basically, it’s fall and that category is already shaping up to be a fight to the death like Actress in a Musical was last year."

Also maybe Cedric the Entertainer depending how Joe Turner shakes out