James Corden has made a triumphant return to the Broadway stage in the revival of Yasmina Reza's play Art, earning praise for his performance as the emotional core of the production. The show, which opened in September 2025, stars Corden alongside Bobby Cannavale and Neil Patrick Harris in a comedy about male friendship and the tensions that arise from a controversial art purchase.
Corden, who last appeared on Broadway in 2012's One Man, Two Guvnors, delivers a standout performance that has been described as 'superb' and 'perfectly calibrated'. In one particularly memorable monologue, he rants in the voices of three separate characters for several minutes without missing a beat, drawing extended applause from the audience.
The play, originally staged in Paris in 1994 and on Broadway in 1998, explores the dynamics of a 25-year friendship among three men. Serge (Neil Patrick Harris) buys an expensive all-white painting, which his friend Marc (Bobby Cannavale) finds ridiculous, while Yvan (James Corden) tries to mediate. The production runs for 90 minutes without an intermission, set in a single apartment designed by David Rockwell.
Director Scott Ellis keeps the action tight, allowing the three actors to navigate the friendship's devolution through shouting matches and quieter confessions. While Harris and Cannavale effectively portray their characters' adversarial relationship, it is Corden who steals the show, providing both humour and heartfelt emotion. The revival is part of a trend of star-driven limited runs on Broadway, which has seen success with other productions such as Oh, Mary! and Othello.
