Guide to ‘Art’ on Broadway starring Bobby Cannavale, James Corden, and Neil Patrick Harris

The bonds between three close friends are tested and reframed in the starry first revival of Yasmina Reza’s Tony Award-winning comedy at the Music Box Theatre.

Talk about a starry triptych. Bobby Cannavale, James Corden, and Neil Patrick Harris play longtime buddies whose bonds get battered in the first revival of Art on Broadway at the Music Box Theatre.

Yasmina Reza’s caustic comedy is framed by a simple but serious truth: A friendship, like a work of art, is highly valuable — and easily damaged. In this instance, a minimalist painting leads to a major clash.

Back on Broadway for the first time since its original Tony Award-winning run in 1998, the new production is directed by Scott Ellis (Call Me Izzy, Take Me Out), with original music contributed by Grammy-winning songwriter and producer Kid Harpoon. Want to learn more? Get to know the broad brushstrokes of Art below, and then get tickets.

Get Art tickets now.

What is Art on Broadway about?

Nearly 30 years since its Broadway debut, Art’s take on the fragility of friendship, ego, and identity is as relevant as ever. When Serge buys an expensive all-white contemporary painting, it sparks conflict with his friends Marc, who thinks the work is a joke, and Yvan, who tries to stay neutral, revealing deeper tensions bubbling under the surface of their relationships.

Where is Art on Broadway playing?

Art is playing at the Music Box Theatre, located at 239 W. 45th St. between Broadway and Eighth Avenue. The venue was built in 1921 and designed to house Irving Berlin’s musical revue The Music Box. Plays and musicals that have recently run at 1,009-seat theatre include The Picture of Dorian Gray, Suffs, and Purlie Victorious.

How long is Art on Broadway?

Art runs around 100 minutes with no intermission. The typical duration for a Broadway play is between 90 minutes and 3 hours, and longer shows may include a 15-minute intermission.

What days is Art playing on Broadway?

Art plays Tuesday through Sunday, with two performances on Wednesdays and Saturdays and no performances on Mondays. Tickets are currently on sale through December 21, 2025. Please visit our Art page for a complete performance calendar.

When did Art premiere?

Art, originally a French-language play, made its world premiere in 1994 at Comédie des Champs-Élysées in Paris. It then premiered in London in 1996 and later debuted on Broadway in February 1998 at Royale Theatre (now the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre).

Who wrote the play Art?

Yasmina Reza wrote the play Art. She is a French playwright, novelist, and screenwriter known for her sharp, satirical works exploring human relationships. Both her best-known plays, Art and God of Carnage, premiered in 1994 and 2006, respectively, each winning a Best Play Tony Award for their Broadway runs. Her works have been translated into numerous languages and staged worldwide.

Christopher Hampton, a Tony nominee for The Philanthropist in 1971 and Les Liaisons Dangereuses in 1987, translated Art into English for its Broadway runs. He won two Tonys in 1995 for writing the book and lyrics for the musical Sunset Boulevard.

Art Broadway cast and characters

Reza's play is a contemporary portrait of a relationship impacted by impressions of art. As three men observe a painting — and each other — insecurities and conflicting values emerge among the below trio.

• Serge: A confident, cultured man who buys an expensive white painting, sparking conflict. He’s played by Neil Patrick Harris, who won five Emmys, four of them for hosting the Tony Awards, and a Tony of his own for starring in Hedwig and the Angry Inch.
• Marc: A blunt, traditionalist skeptic who criticizes modern art and questions the value of his friendship. He’s played by two-time Emmy winner Bobby Cannavale, who won a Drama Desk Award for his lead role in the Broadway run of The Motherf-cker with the Hat.
• Yvan: An insecure, indecisive mediator caught between friends, struggling to maintain harmony. He’s played by James Corden, who’s won a Tony (for One Man, Two Guvnors) and 12 Emmys, including one for hosting the Tonys and the others for The Late Late Show with James Corden and its segment Carpool Karaoke.

What awards has Art won?

The Broadway revival of Art hasn’t received any awards yet. The show will be in the running for the 2025-26 season’s upcoming New York awards, including Tony Awards. Previous productions of the play, however, have been honored with various prizes.

• Molière Awards: The 1995 Paris premiere won for best author, play, and production.
• Olivier Awards: The 1996 London premiere won the Olivier for Best New Comedy as well as the Evening Standard Award for Best Comedy.
• Tony Awards: The 1998 Broadway premiere won a Tony for Best Play and was also nominated for Best Actor (Alfred Molina) and Best Director (Matthew Warchus).
• New York Drama Critics’ Circle Awards: The Broadway premiere won for Best Play.

Major productions of Art

Art has had a number of high-profile stagings, indicators of its popularity and producibility.

• 1994: The world premiere opened in Paris at the Comédie des Champs-Élysées.
• 1996: Art debuted in London's West End, directed by Matthew Warchus and opening Wyndham’s Theatre, where it ran for five years. It then transferred to the Whitehall Theatre, where it ran until January 2003.
• 1998: The Broadway premiere, also directed by Warchus, opened at the Royale Theatre, now the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre, where it ran for 600 performances.
• 2016: The 20th anniversary London revival, directed by Warchus and featuring Rufus Sewell, opened at the Old Vic, where it ran three months before touring the U.K.
• 2025: The first Broadway revival begins at the Music Box Theatre on August 28, 2025.

Celebrities who have appeared in Art

Emmy Award winners Bobby Cannavale (Boardwalk Empire), James Corden (The Late Late Show), and Neil Patrick Harris (How I Met Your Mother) star in Art on Broadway in 2025 as friends Marc, Yvan, and Serge, respectively. But the three meaty roles in Reza’s comedy have been a magnet for high-profile actors since the beginning.

The original 1996 London cast included Albert Finney (Marc), Tom Courtenay (Yvan), Ken Stott (Serge). Stacey Keach, Richard Thomas, Patrick Duffy, and George Wendt were among the actors who took over roles during this West End run.

The original 1998 Broadway cast featured Alan Alda (Marc), Victor Garber (Serge), and Alfred Molina (Yvan). Brian Cox, Buck Henry, Judd Hirsch, Wayne Knight, Joe Morton, George Segal, and George Wendt were among the actors who took over roles during the run.

Onscreen adaptations of Art

A Swedish television movie titled Art was produced in 1999. Directed by Tomas Ryberger, it starred Sven Wollter, Sven-Bertil Taube, and Johan Rabaeus.

Fun facts about Art

The art of making Art is putting it together. Learn about the play’s most unique productions and more.

• Serge purchases the controversial painting in Art for the equivalent of $40,000 (the play's set in Paris, so he uses euros). As the play was written in the 1990s, that's equivalent to over $86,000 today!
• Art really is universal. The play has been translated into more than 30 languages.
• The play is not for men only. In 2018, three women starred in a production of Art in Pakistan.
• Like the painting in the play, the show is typically staged in minimalist fashion, with just one white painting and a few sticks of furniture.
• In 2018, a Crossing the Line Festival production in New York, performed in French with supertitles, blurred the lines between the characters and the actors playing them.

How to get Art tickets

As friendships are tested today by polarized views, Art is set to resonate more than ever. It's prime time for a reappraisal.

Get Art tickets now.