"Three actors take the audience through a narrative that crosses the three-hour threshold. Yet it's our fascination with one of this country's most negatively associated names that connects with the unscrupulous financial practices that makes the piece a juggernaut of riches. That name? Lehman."
"The three Jewish brothers from Bavaria—Henry (played by Peter Hadres), Emanuel (Johnny Moreno) and Mayer (Brian Herndon)—are rooted in simple humility, Henry first arriving in New York, then proceeding to Montgomery, Alabama, where a general store is the introduction to capitalism for the hungry brothers."
"The general store transitions to massive profit margins via every wart of United States history, no significant devastation is spared, no milestone overlooked. Slavery, the Civil War, the ubiquity of railroad travel and every up and down of the non-linear history of the country has some type of currency to which the Lehman brothers attached to their own personal financing model."
"At some point, the investments turned into investing itself, where purely financing finance (as abstract a phenomenon as there could be) leads to Lehman as a pejorative. The 2008 financial crisis saw Lehman turn to a symbol of financial ruin."
The Lehman Trilogy follows three brothers—Henry, Emanuel, and Mayer—who arrive in America and build a financial empire starting with a general store in Montgomery, Alabama. Director Kenneth Kelleher employs minimalist staging with only boxes and projections to convey the brothers' evolving business strategies across American history. The production illustrates how the Lehman brothers capitalized on every significant American event, from slavery and the Civil War to railroad expansion and economic cycles. Their business model evolved from tangible commerce to abstract financial investing, eventually leading to the 2008 financial crisis that transformed Lehman into a symbol of financial catastrophe and corporate malfeasance.
Read at www.mercurynews.com
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