Neil Patrick Harris, James Corden & Bobby Cannavale Argue Art Is More Relevant Than Ever on Broadway

What is art, if not a conversation starter? The first Broadway revival of Yasmina Reza's Tony Award-winning play Art, now open at the Music Box Theatre for a limited run, invites audiences to engage in a little healthy disagreement—and share plenty of laughs.

Starring Tony winners James Corden and Neil Patrick Harris and two-time Tony nominee Bobby Cannavale, the one-act comedy revolves around three longtime friends and one incredibly expensive piece of avant-garde art. Cannavale plays Marc, Corden portrays Yvan and Harris is Serge, whose purchase of a divisive painting is the catalyst for everything that happens onstage.

The trio sat down with Broadway.com Editor-in-Chief Paul Wontorek ahead of the show's opening to discuss how the latest iteration of Art took shape. They couldn't help but emulate their respective characters, as Cannavale and Harris kicked off the chat with a playful back-and-forth: "It's just a white square on a canvas," Cannavale said. "It's not," Harris shot back. "And that's it, that's the play," Corden teased.

As Harris explained, "It starts as this nice highbrow conversation about contemporary art" before devolving into "comedy [and] chaos through a lot of disconnect and contempt." Because like all good art, Art isn't really about the painting, but rather about what it represents.

Delving into the complexities and contradictions of male friendship, Art tackles universal themes like ego, loyalty and tolerance. Director Scott Ellis is no stranger to exploring such dynamics, which are prevalent in his past shows including the Tony Award-winning Take Me Out and Tony-nominated 12 Angry Men.

It's been more than three decades since Reza wrote the play in 1994, and 27 years since the original Broadway production won the 1998 Tony Award for Best Play. Yet all three stars stressed how the subject matter rings uncannily true today.

"It's a part that I've always loved and a play that I think is due a revival," said Corden, who Ellis credits for initiating conversations around the Broadway return. "Sometimes a play won something years ago and you pick it up and read it and you think, 'Oh, I don't know if this could work today, this feels of a different time.'" Rehearsing for Art, the actors had the opposite reaction. "This feels like it could have been written two months ago," according to Corden.

"I go home and I walk around for a long time in my head thinking about these arguments that I may have had paralleling my life," Cannavale noted about his experience during the rehearsal process. "I think anybody can recognize themselves in this play."

With its straightforward premise and simple staging, Reza's book and Ellis' direction allow for the seasoned trio's comedic timing and physicality to take center stage. Expect impressive monologues and laugh-out-loud moments of absurdity. "It's so rich," said Corden, who fires off an epic speech as Yvan. "The dialogue is so great."

Carefully constructed wordplay and intentional delivery keep the stakes high, along with what Cannavale referred to as the "unexpected surprises that are revealed in the play between these friends."

Harris echoed this about the show's payoff. "I like the surprise of it," he said. "It ends in a very big way. So what you think you're starting to see is not what you wind up leaving with."