How much would you pay for a white painting? Would it matter who the painter was? Would it be art? One of Marc's best friends, Serge, has just bought a very expensive painting. It's about five feet by four, all white with white diagonal lines. To Marc, the painting is a joke, but Serge insists Marc doesn't have the proper standard to judge the work. Another friend, Ivan, though burdened by his own problems, allows himself to be pulled into this disagreement. Eager to please, Ivan tells Serge he likes the painting. Lines are drawn and these old friends square off over the canvas, using it as an excuse to relentlessly batter one another over various failures. As their arguments become less theoretical and more personal, they border on destroying their friendships. At the breaking point, Serge hands Marc a felt tip pen and dares him: "Go on." This is where the friendship is finally tested, and the aftermath of action, and its reaction, affirms the power of those bonds.
Impeccable though both performances are, these fine actors almost seem to fade into, um, blank white canvases with a few gray streaks when Mr. Corden bounds or blusters onstage, and sends the comic temperature soaring. This isn’t entirely surprising. The British actor and comic shot to fame (at least in the U.S.) on the strength of a single, dazzling performance in the commedia dell’arte update “One Man, Two Guvnors,” a sensation in London and later on Broadway.
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.
| 1998 | Broadway |
Original Broadway Production Broadway |
| 2016 | West End |
Old Vic London Revival Production West End |
| 2025 | Broadway |
Broadway |
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