“Grabbing and greed can go on for just so long, but the breaking point is bound to come sometime.” That quote is from Herbert Lehman who was a partner at his family’s firm from 1908 through 1928. He later became governor of New York and a U.S. senator. His part of the tale told in The Lehman Trilogy is smack dab in the middle of the story. This three act masterpiece begins before the Civil War and ends with the firm’s demise in the financial crisis of 2008.
The first part is subtitled “Three Brothers.” In 1844, Henry Lehman emigrated from Bavaria to the “magical music box called America.” By the time his two brothers followed, he had already established a business in Montgomery, Alabama selling fabrics and suits. It didn’t take them long to figure out how to get involved in the lucrative cotton business. Emanuel headed north to New York and the family connections to the cotton mills were established.
Although their roots were in the south and rebuilding was a profitable venture after the Civil War, the business relocated to the bustling economic juggernaut that was (and still is) New York City. In Part II, “Fathers and Sons” expand their empire with shrewd strategic investments in railways, airplanes and Hollywood. Emanuel’s son Philip is now running the show. In 1929, the firm was renamed The Lehman Corporation in recognition of another iteration of its changing business model to an investment company. This financially focused entity was based on “pure money” and “pure adrenaline.” Then the stock market crashed and the Great Depression ensued.
The final part of this trilogy is “The Immortal.” Philip’s son Bobbie is now at the helm. Money is still being made investing in the weapons of war, televisions and computers. When he ages out of the business in the 1960s, the company transitions to a series of non-family members. Trading becomes the dominant profit machine. The company gets ensnared in the subprime mortgage abomination. With no major political connections any longer, they are made an example of and left to die.
The story of this firm’s implosion is well known. The Lehman Trilogy remarkably tells this 150 year saga with three actors inhabiting all of the characters. They play all the Lehman men, their wives, children, other businessmen and even the owner of a Greek diner in Nebraska. The amount of detail covered is staggeringly dense yet simplistically clear to follow. The explanation of the business and its evolutions, particularly in the first two acts, is exemplary storytelling.
Simon Russell Beale, Adam Godley and Ben Miles perform this 3:20 two intermission marathon without leaving the stage. And what a stage it is! In the enormous Park Avenue Armory, Set Designer Es Devlin has created a spinning multiroom music box which looks a conference room perched atop the world of privilege. A single piano underscores the dialogue. The actors are astonishing in their ability to inhabit so many people with incredible physical and vocal expressiveness.
Sam Mendes directed this outstanding production with both brilliant style and focused storytelling. Everyone knows the ending. The firm dances through danger before spinning out of control. The visual representation of that is stunningly theatrical, disorienting and nothing short of genius. “The important thing is not to stop.”
Stop they did, however, with famous images of its employees carrying their file boxes out of the building at the end. In my corporate career, file boxes represented the storage of documents and business history. Here they are creatively employed throughout in support of this epic.
This piece is long and dense. If I had one small quibble, it would be with the third part. The business dealings and strategic machinations early on as the company grew were beautifully explained. When the crazy days of out of control moneymen arrived, the opportunity to elucidate the business model did not happen with the same ease. I assume that was an intentional choice in order to represent the heady unregulated financial markets as a lunatic asylum.
The Lehman Trilogy is highly recommended for theatergoers who enjoy superb actors giving outstanding performances. It’s also highly recommended for those with a keen interest in tales of finance and American business. In our current time of immigrant bashing it’s also highly recommended as a tale of the American dream. And the American nightmare.
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