Though STC succinctly explains that The Lehman Trilogy, on stage now at Shakespeare Theatre’s Harman Hall, is three acts, with three actors, with three ways of looking at the events that unfold… nothing quite prepares audiences for the epic storytelling of this historic drama. It may be one of the best that has yet come to this theater!
Most will be surprised by the early history of the Lehman Brothers’ business: Bavarian immigrants in the mid-1800s opening a dry-goods store in Alabama. But this family drama about the American Dream gets caught up in personalities, ambitions, and a Civil War (!) even before Lehman Brothers Bank became the largest corporate failure in U.S. history.
It’s fascinating to watch the business change, just as the brothers do, responding to markets and desires and building off of – or in spite of – revolutions around it. And while the action centers around Henry (Edward Gero), Mayer (Mark Nelson), and Emanuel Lehman (René Thornton Jr.), historic events as well as the transformation of what the brothers sell become equal characters in the play.
There is no bombshell about the now well-documented collapse of Lehman Brothers Bank in 2008; much more focus is on beginnings than the bust. But it’s an astonishing journey to watch the business at so many points flourish before it fails.
And these actors are astounding in telling this tale! Gero, Nelson, and Thornton perform a feat of extraordinary theater just by memorizing all of their lines and embodying all of the accompanying (~50!) characters — and then there’s the heft of the play itself, covering 163 years of Lehman family history!
The Lehman Trilogy is longer than most would prefer, at three hours and 20 minutes including two 15-minute intermissions, but it’s so worth it. It’s such a quintessential drama about the American dream… and so much more.
Don’t miss The Lehman Trilogy at Shakespeare Theatre’s Harmon Hall through March 30, 2024.
