The Lehman Trilogy
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The Lehman Trilogy
The Lehman Trilogy was commissioned by Neal Street Productions in 2016 for Sam Mendes to develop. It was forged at the National Theatre Studio for a co-production with the National Theatre and the Park Avenue Armory, NYC.
Ben Power’s English adaptation of Stefano Massini’s original, Italian, masterpiece is told in three parts on a single evening, with three actors playing the Lehman Brothers, their sons and grandsons.
World Premiere on the 12th July, 2018 at the Lyttelton Theatre, National Theatre, London.
North American Premiere at the Park Avenue Armory in New York, 22nd March, 2019.
The production transferred to the West End for a run at the Piccadilly Theatre, May to August 2019, playing to audiences of 132,000 in sixteen weeks.
Producers: Neal Street Productions and National Theatre Productions.
The Lehman Trilogy was then re-made for the Nederlander Theatre on Broadway, intended for a sixteen week season opening on 26th March, 2020. The original cast performed just four previews before shutting down due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The show triumphantly returned to the Nederlander Theatre on 25th September 2021 with new cast member Adrian Lester making his Broadway debut alongside returning original cast members Simon Russell Beale and Adam Godley.
Following the acclaimed Broadway run, The Lehman Trilogy performed for a limited run at the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles from 3rd March 2022. Simon Russell Beale and Adam Godley returned alongside new cast member, Howard W. Overshown.
The Lehman Trilogy returned to London's West End in January 2023, at the Gillian Lynne Theatre.
Most recently, the show embarked on another International tour first playing at the Theatre Royal Sydney from 26th February to 24th March 2024, and currently performing at the American Conservatory Theater's Toni Rembe Theater in San Francisco from 25th May to 23rd June 2024.
Winner of 5 Tony Awards, 6 Outer Critics Circle Awards and a Drama League Award
See more >About
The Lehman Trilogy is a story of a family and a company that changed the world, told in three parts on a single evening. 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, and triggers the largest financial crisis in history.
Key Creatives & Cast
Key Creatives:
Written by Stefano Massini
Adapted by Ben Power
Directed by Sam Mendes
Set Design by Es Devlin
Costume Design by Katrina Lindsay
Video Design by Luke Halls
Lighting Design by Jon Clark
Composed and Sound Design by Nick Powell
Movement by Polly Bennett
Company Voice and Dialect Work by Charmian Hoare
Music Director & Pianist Candida Caldicot
Associate Director Zoé Ford Burnett
London 2024 Cast:
John Heffernan
Aaron Krohn
Howard W. Overshown
San Francisco Tour Cast:
John Heffernan
Aaron Krohn
Howard W. Overshown
Sydney Tour Cast:
Aaron Krohn
Howard W. Overshown
Adrian Schiller
London 2023 Cast:
Michael Balogun
Hadley Fraser
Nigel Lindsay
Original Cast:
Simon Russell Beale
Adam Godley
Ben Miles
Broadway Cast:
Simon Russell Beale
Adam Godley
Adrian Lester
Los Angeles Cast:
Simon Russell Beale
Adam Godley
Howard W. Overshown
Productions
American Conservatory Theater, San Francisco. 25 May - 23 June 2024
more >Theatre Royal, Sydney. 21 February - 24 March 2024
more >Gillian Lynne Theatre, West End. 24th January - 20th May 2023
more >Ahmanson Theatre, Los Angeles. March – April 2022
more >Nederlander Theatre, Broadway. September 2021 – January 2022
Piccadilly Theatre, West End. May - August 2019
Park Avenue Armory, New York. March - April 2019
National Theatre, London. July - October 2018
Reviews
"The Lehman Trilogy is epic for every minute of its 3 ½ hours"
"I’m not sure that I’ve ever seen a production as well-fitted to the Ahmanson stage as this one…“Mesmerizing.” Beale, Godley and Overshown wield a powerful incantatory spell.”
“A triumph! With the opening of The Lehman Trilogy, Broadway just got more exciting. It’s exhilarating and sublime.”
“A masterpiece and a miracle. Directed by Sam Mendes with astonishing grace, ingenuity and inventiveness that transforms everything on stage into a spellbinding demonstration of theater’s possibilities. Every scene is performed without flaw by the remarkable cast of actors. This is acting as magic.”
"What sets The Lehman Trilogy apart is its exceptional concentration of narrative simplicity and depth, in which minimal resources seem to expand into unlimited riches."
"What an astonishing evening! Engrossing play and an acting masterclass"
"Theatre at its best. Sam Mendes triumphs"
The Last of the Imperious Rich: Lehman Brothers, 1844-2008 by Peter Chapman is a leading reference on the history of the Lehman family.
