Art by Yasmina Reza. Translation by Christopher Hampton. Directed by Scott Ellis. Scenic design by David Rockwell. Costume design by Linda Cho. Lighting design by Jen Schriever. Sound design by Mikaal Sulaiman Original music by Kid Harpoon. Fight direction by Rick Sordelet and Christian Kelly-Sordelet. Associate director Kasey Graham.
Cast: Bobby Cannavale, James Corden, and Neil Patrick Harris.
Theater: Music Box Theatre
Tickets: Telecharge.com

The Cast Photo by Matthew Murphy

Back in the 1990s, plays and musicals dealing with male relationships were often shaped by the AIDS crisis (among them, Angels in America, Falsettos, and Love! Valour! Compassion!). Art was different. It stood outside of the world of the gay/AIDS-themed works and chose to focus on the interactions among a trio of straight male friends around whom the play revolves.

The title, Art, refers to the low-hanging-fruit joke generator of a painting that Serge (Neil Patrick Harris) has acquired for a mere $300,000. It is, to the eye of us members of the hoi polloi in the audience, a four-by-five-foot canvas that is entirely white. Is it art? Is it flim-flam? But never mind our reaction. What will Serge's friends Marc (Bobby Cannavale) and Yvan (James Corden) think of it?

The jokes that come out of this situation are the sort anyone who has spent time at the Museum of Modern Art might easily produce with respect to some items on display, including a number of undoubtedly high-priced monochromatic pieces. And though there are plenty of laughs to be mined here, Art wouldn't be much of a play if that's all there was to it.

So, beyond the jokes, what we get is a series of short scenes (punctuated by bits of original music by Kid Harpoon and bursts of lighting by Jen Schriever) in which each of the three men and their connections to one another are revealed through peeling away layers of psychological complexity.

On the face of it, Serge is thin-skinned, needing affirmation from the other two; Marc is an arrogant snob, whose friendship with Serge is threatened by a shift from what had once been a fixed mentor-mentee relationship; and Yvan is an insecure zhlub who just wants everyone to get along. But, as we are learning from current studies of male friendships, men are rather more complicated than they often have been depicted in popular culture, with at least a certain degree of vulnerability added to the mix of masculine tropes of stoicism, aggressiveness, and a decided reluctance to express emotions beyond a collective love of sports. (Art? Really?)

We see particularly with Marc and Serge a long-valued connection that is nearing a breaking point, almost like a marriage that is on the verge of collapse. Things get so heated that Yvan's presence becomes vital to releasing the pressure both for them and for us who are bearing witness. Thankfully, James Corden makes the most of his tension-breaking role, especially with a near-breakdown monologue about his own relationship issues that is brilliantly written and perfectly executed, both very funny and relatable.

The 90-minute production is snappily directed by Scott Ellis at a brisk, farce-like pace, while the stereotypic notion that men are all alike is slyly reinforced by having the same exact set design (by David Rockwell) in place regardless of whose apartment any given scene unfolds, with the only visible sign of their individuality being the particular piece of art hanging on the wall of each apartment. Throughout, all three actors deliver the goods with a perfect pacing and interactions that make this a thoroughly engaging production of a whip-smart play that easily makes Art a delightful and thought-provoking objet d'art for our time.