The three actors will star in a revival of Yasmina Reza’s 1994 play, which begins performances at the end of August.
Broadway’s run of starry plays shows no signs of slowing down.
James Corden, Neil Patrick Harris and Bobby Cannavale will return to Broadway in a late summer revival of “Art,” a Yasmina Reza comedy that explores what happens to a three-way friendship when one of the men spends a lot of money on a painting that is mostly a white canvas.
First staged in France in 1994, the show made it to Broadway in 1998, and won the Tony Award for best play that season. It has been widely staged in the years since its debut. The revival is scheduled to begin performances on Aug. 28 and to open Sept. 16 at the Music Box Theater. It is expected to run through Dec. 21.
The new production will be directed by Scott Ellis, a Broadway regular who is currently serving as interim artistic director of Roundabout Theater Company and who directed this spring’s production of “Pirates! The Penzance Musical.”
The show is being produced by Sand & Snow Entertainment, a company founded by Michael Shulman, as well as by ATG Productions, led by Adam Speers, and Gavin Kalin.
This star-led production is the latest example of a growing trend: Broadway producers are turning to limited-run plays featuring TV and film celebrities because those shows seem more likely to succeed. At a time when almost every new musical is failing financially, six of this season’s plays have already become profitable: “Oh, Mary!,” “All In: Comedy About Love,” “Romeo + Juliet,” “Othello,” “Glengarry Glen Ross” and “Good Night, and Good Luck.”
Corden, Harris and Cannavale are not just stars of the big and small screen — all three are experienced and accomplished stage performers. Corden and Harris are both Tony winners — Corden in 2012 for “One Man, Two Guvnors,” and Harris in 2014 for “Hedwig and the Angry Inch.” Cannavale is a two-time Tony nominee.
Source: Theater - nytimes.com
