Hailed by The New York Times as "a genuinely epic production," The Lehman Trilogy comes to Broadway after acclaimed, sold-out runs at London's National Theatre, the Park Avenue Armory, and in London’s West End. The story of a family and a company that changed the world, The Lehman Trilogy unfolds in three parts over a single evening. Academy Award and Tony Award winner Sam Mendes directs Simon Russell Beale, Adam Godley and Adrian Lester as the Lehman brothers, their sons, and grandsons. On a cold September morning in 1844, a young man from Bavaria stands on a New York dockside dreaming of a new life in the new world. He is joined by his two brothers, and an American epic begins. 163 years later, the firm they establish – Lehman Brothers – spectacularly collapses into bankruptcy, triggering the largest financial crisis in history. Book now to witness this "remarkable exercise in storytelling" (The Washington Post) from the National Theatre and Neal Street Productions. The New York Post suggests "you dare not miss it. Do anything you can to get a ticket."
Much of what happens in 'The Lehman Trilogy' is invisible to the eye, which is not the way prestige drama usually works onstage. Directed by Sam Mendes, this British import, which reaches across 164 years of American history to trace the family saga behind the fallen powerhouse Lehman Brothers, was a scalding-hot ticket during a brief prepandemic run at the Park Avenue Armory. Yet it offers almost nothing in the way of spectacle, and only the slightest of costume changes: a top hat here, a pair of glasses there. In the captivating production that opened on Thursday night at the Nederlander Theater, it relies largely on an unspoken agreement between actors and audience - to imagine together, and let fancy crowd out fact.
The country has changed in the two and a half years since The Lehman Trilogy came to America, wowing audiences at the Park Avenue Armory with a theatrical epic, inventively staged and extraordinarily acted, if historically blinkered, that dramatizes the 164-year history of the Lehman Brothers - starting with the arrival in America of the first of the three brothers, Hayum Lehmann, in 1844, and ending (three and a half hours later) with the collapse of the venerable financial institution in 2008. Opening now on Broadway, 'The Lehman Trilogy' is also different than it was in 2019, some of it in evident response to the changing times. The question is whether it has changed enough.
2018 | West End |
Original West End Production West End |
2019 | Off-Broadway |
Park Avenue Armory North American Premiere Off-Broadway |
2021 | Broadway |
Original Broadway Production Broadway |
2023 | West End |
West End |
West End |
West End |
Year | Ceremony | Category | Nominee |
---|---|---|---|
2022 | Drama League Awards | Distinguished Performance Awards | Simon Russell Beale |
2022 | Drama League Awards | Outstanding Direction of a Play | Sam Mendes |
2022 | Drama League Awards | Outstanding Production of a Play | The Lehman Trilogy |
2022 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Actor in a Play | Simon Russell Beale |
2022 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Actor in a Play | Adam Godley |
2022 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Actor in a Play | Adrian Lester |
2022 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Director of a Play | Sam Mendes |
2022 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Lighting Design (Play or Musical) | Jon Clark |
2022 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding New Broadway Play | The Lehman Trilogy |
2022 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Scenic Design (Play or Musical) | Es Devlin |
2022 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Sound Design (Play or Musical) | Nick Powell |
2022 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Video/Projection Design (Play or Musical) | Luke Halls |
2022 | Tony Awards | Best Direction of a Play | Sam Mendes |
2022 | Tony Awards | Best Lighting Design of a Play | Jon Clark |
2022 | Tony Awards | Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Play | Simon Russell Beale |
2022 | Tony Awards | Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Play | Adam Godley |
2022 | Tony Awards | Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Play | Adrian Lester |
2022 | Tony Awards | Best Play | The Lehman Trilogy |
2022 | Tony Awards | Best Scenic Design of a Play | Es Devlin |
2022 | Tony Awards | Best Sound Design of a Play | Nick Powell |
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