Cannavale, Harris, and Corden to star in ART on Broadway (Fall 2025)

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 5/22/25 at 4:39pm

Music Box Theatre starting 8/28 (ending 12/21)

Tony Award nominee and Emmy Award winner Bobby Cannavale (“The Watcher,” The Motherf**ker with the Hat), Tony Award winner and Emmy Award winner James Corden (“The Late Late Show,” One Man, Two Guvnors) and Tony Award winner and Emmy Award winner Neil Patrick Harris (“How I Met Your Mother,” Hedwig and the Angry Inch) will return to Broadway this fall in the first-ever Broadway revival of the Tony Award-winning ART by Yasmina Reza, translated by Christopher Hampton.

Under the direction of Tony Award nominee Scott Ellis (Pirates! The Penzance Musical, Take Me Out), ART will begin previews on Thursday, August 28th with an official opening night on Tuesday, September 16th at Broadway’s Music Box Theatre (239 West 45th Street), New York City. The production will play a limited 17-week engagement through December 21, 2025. Fan presale begins 5/29. General on sale begins 5/30.

Updated On: 5/22/25 at 04:39 PM

[rburton66]

Posted: 5/22/25 at 4:50pm

What if we ask them not to?

[Kad]

Posted: 5/22/25 at 4:53pm

Oh, it seems Corden is playing Yvan and not Serge as previously reported. Alfred Molina originated the role on Broadway and was the sole Tony acting nomination for it (Alan Alda and Victor Garber were his co-stars). The role is certainly award-baity - it features a memorable, frantic monologue that's a 3-page single run-on sentence.

Scott Ellis is a... meh choice of director for this, though. Throw pillows have more edge.

Updated On: 5/22/25 at 04:53 PM

[Fordham2015]

Posted: 5/22/25 at 4:55pm

Bobby Cannavale deserves better co-stars than those two guys with undeserved Tonys

[MB124]

Posted: 5/22/25 at 5:01pm

Fordham2015 said: "Bobby Cannavale deserves better co-stars than those two guys with undeserved Tonys"

Listen, hate on them all you want, but NPH and James Corden both absolutely deserved their respective Tony Awards.

I can see somewhat of an argument being made for Jefferson Mays and Philip Seymour Hoffman, respectively, but NPH was never not going to win and Corden really had a (well-deserved) star-is-born moment with OMTG.

They won. Move on. 

[quizking101]

Posted: 5/22/25 at 5:01pm

My distaste for Corden aside, this just seems like an extremely odd grouping. I’m wondering what Scott Ellis has in mind that would make these three very different actors coherent together.

Considering the last play Harris was in (Sh!t Meet Fan) didn’t use him effectively as part of an ensemble (as well as being a crappy play), I hope this serves him better.

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 5/22/25 at 5:08pm

Whatever happened to Sh!t Meet Fan? It seemed destined for Broadway (despite middling reviews) and Eva Price was the producer behind it. But now everyone has moved on to other projects. 

[Sutton Ross]

Posted: 5/22/25 at 5:11pm

https://www.popdust.com/james-corden-wga-2638346884

https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-63384455

[Kad]

Posted: 5/22/25 at 5:28pm

quizking101 said: "My distaste for Corden aside, this just seems like an extremely odd grouping. I’m wondering what Scott Ellis has in mind that would make these three very different actors coherent together.

Considering the last play Harris was in (Sh!t Meet Fan) didn’t use him effectively as part of an ensemble (as well as being a crappy play), I hope this serves him better."

Serge is kind of the straight man in the play- he incites the action by buying the painting, but Marc has the hyperbolic reaction to it and Yvan is just a hysterical mess.

[RippedMan]

Posted: 5/22/25 at 5:32pm

I wish we could get some new, interesting directors. I feel like everything is Scott Ellis or Kenny Leon. 

[verywellthensigh]

Posted: 5/22/25 at 5:35pm

I'm gonna go out on a limb and suggest that the play is director-proof.  It's so frequently done in community theaters and what not, it'll be interesting to see if anyone wants to go see it.  

[two ladies tickets]

Posted: 5/22/25 at 5:47pm

I saw the original cast on Broadway, it was very good. Corden and Ellis will keep me from seeing this revival, but hopefully a new generation can discover this very well written play. And it's very short and has no interval so that might make people happy as well.

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 5/22/25 at 6:42pm

RippedMan said: "I wish we could get some new, interesting directors. I feel like everything is Scott Ellis or Kenny Leon."

This.

To me, this is a much bigger “problem” than the NPH and James Corden of it all. Why are the same directors hired to mount multiple productions, season after season? 

[SteveSanders]

Posted: 5/22/25 at 6:48pm

Hmm. I won't pass up a chance to see Cannavale on stage even though this trio doesn't really excite me.

Updated On: 5/22/25 at 06:48 PM

[inception]

Posted: 5/22/25 at 7:27pm

Does Jim Parsons have anything rumored for this fall? 

When were the last revivals of Tobacco Road or Abie's Irish Rose?

[The Distinctive Baritone]

Posted: 5/22/25 at 7:34pm

Well Yvan is a pretty perfect role for Corden. I was confused by the earlier report that he is playing Serge, which is a pretty thankless part for a Tony winner. He could be Marc too - since the character is basically an abrasive a**hole, and it might have given him a chance to do what Hugh Grant had to do three decades ago, which was start playing jerks after revelations about his personal life made him much harder to buy as an “adorkable” protagonist. 

[Ensemble1698878795]

Posted: 5/22/25 at 9:06pm

ErmengardeStopSniveling said: "Whatever happenedtoSh!t Meet Fan? It seemed destined for Broadway (despite middling reviews) and Eva Price was the producer behind it. But now everyone has moved on to other projects."

It was not good. No amount of celebrity actors or producers could save it. It didn't work at MCC, I don't think much would change on Broadway. 

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 5/22/25 at 11:16pm

WiCkEDrOcKS said: "RippedMan said: "I wish we could get some new, interesting directors. I feel like everything is Scott Ellis or Kenny Leon."

This.

To me, this is a much bigger “problem” than the NPH and James Corden of it all. Why are the same directors hired to mount multiple productions, season after season?"

Because they have powerful agents, the directors themselves have deep relationships with producers (who gravitate to people they know) and talent, they have decent track records, and they are proven to know how to work with stars. And knowing how to “handle” a star is not something every director is good at, and most stars want to know they are in safe, experienced hands.

I agree they’re overexposed. But their work is good more often than not, IMO. And throughout history there have always been people who work more than others for one reason or another. 

Updated On: 5/22/25 at 11:16 PM

[PipingHotPiccolo]

Posted: 5/22/25 at 11:47pm

theres nothing sadder to me than perfect strangers commenting on an actor's personality, as if they actually know them, or have any reason to believe an actor with bad PR/press is somehow worthy of boycotting/avoiding more than others.

such delusional narcissism to be like 'oh i read Cordens a jackass in the NYP, so I wont see this show" it actually makes me laugh out loud.

 

 

[Georgeanddot2]

Posted: 5/23/25 at 12:40am

It's interesting and pretty sad that Corden was at one time considered a pretty major upcoming talent. He used to be pretty great before he crossed the pond and got chewed up and spit out by Hollywood.

[DeNada]

Posted: 5/23/25 at 2:03am

Georgeanddot2 said: "It's interesting and pretty sad that Corden was at one time considered a pretty major upcoming talent. He used to be pretty great before he crossed the pond and got chewed up and spit out by Hollywood."

Corden blotted his copybook long before any form of US "stardom"; there was a period in the late 2000s where he was massively overexposed on British television/film in a series of terrible projects, he gave a number of graceless interviews, and had a very well-publicised bust up with Patrick Stewart at an awards show.  Yes, The History Boys, Gavin and Stacey, and One Man Two Guvnors were all very well received, but there's a huge amount of dross in Corden's career both at home and in the US.

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 5/23/25 at 7:41am

ErmengardeStopSniveling said: "WiCkEDrOcKS said: "RippedMan said: "I wish we could get some new, interesting directors. I feel like everything is Scott Ellis or Kenny Leon."

This.

To me, this is a much bigger “problem” than the NPH and James Corden of it all. Why are the same directors hired to mount multiple productions, season after season?"

Because they have powerful agents, the directors themselves have deep relationships with producers (who gravitate to people they know)and talent,they have decent track records, and they are proven to know how to work with stars. And knowing how to “handle” a star is not something every director is good at, and most stars want to know they are in safe, experienced hands.

I agree they’re overexposed. But their work is good more often than not, IMO. And throughout history there havealways been people who work more than others for one reason or another."

I understand all of that, of course - the question was mostly rhetorical. I just wish we’d be giving new directors a shot, especially with revivals. Leon and Ellis don’t exactly have a track record of reinvigorating or reimagining older material.

They generally deliver straightforward, unsurprising productions. Which, I’m sure, is part of their draw when it comes to helming starry revivals. They’re “safe” bets. But I’m bored by “safe.”

[SteveSanders]

Posted: 5/23/25 at 8:25am

Someone may already have done this, but it would be interesting to look at director lists for say the last 20-30 years and see what themes emerge.