Review: THE LEHMAN TRILOGY at Florida Studio Theater

The Lehman Trilogy is a three-act play written by Italian playwright Stephano Massini. The story follows the lives of the Lehman immigrant brothers, from their arrival in America to the famous collapse of their company in 2008, after being in business for 158 years. At the time, this was the largest commercial bank collapse in history.

The Lehman Trilogy first appeared in France at the Comedie de Saint-Etienne and was eventually translated and performed throughout Europe. It finally hit the New York scene in 2019 and was suspended in March 2020, due to the epidemic. In 2022 The Lehman Trilogy won 5 Tony Awards (including Best Play, Best Direction), 6 Outer Critics Circle Awards(including Best New Play) and a Drama League Award.

Florida Studio Theater’s takes on this hefty production and I commend them on their rendering. This is a large story to tell! The story opens and closes with the failure of the Lehman Brothers, which is not a spoiler here. If you are attending or thinking of attending this show, you should do a little research --I am wildly interested in “financial thrillers” of this sort so below find some broad research that will be of interest).

Like so many migrant stories, this one starts with humble beginnings, and it was fascinating to find out where the story of the fourth largest bank in the United States started! From one brother sailing to Ellis Island, comes two more brothers and their marriages, personal relationships, religious practices, children, etc. are all exposed through three generations unfolding over the course of this play. The play has one set, no costume changes and is performed in completion by only 3 actors and one “Janitor” who is the only stage technician. You must pay close attention to what is happening in this one! There is some fast talking, which we would expect from New Yorkers, symbolism, and much more to see that you will miss if you don’t stay alert. The play is very intelligent on many levels, so be ready.

Starting as Henry Lehman and transitioning to many characters large and small, Howard Kaye’s physicality and presence looms over the stage. In short, he is splendid to watch as he goes from the powerful head of the family to a demure shy woman to an awkward outspoken boy, all without changing anything but his glasses and posture.

And now, for a little history:

Like other glorious builders of this great country, when The Lehman Brothers Bank closed it did not have one family member on the board and the company, in short, failed. An accounting loophole was used to cover the true sum of their balance sheets. For about 7 years Lehman Brothers used this trick to cover and remove a large amount of debt from their books, so that their quarterly reports showed themselves to be lucrative. When asked why Lehman Brother’s did not receive a bailout, president of the New York Fed, argued that Lehman Brothers was in such a deep hole from its risky real estate investments that Fed did not have the legal authority to rescue it (citing $613 billion in debts on assets of $639 billion). Arguments have been made that the 2008 crisis may have been less severe if it had been saved, because Lehman's failure created remarkable uncertainty in the market.

This chapter is breezily skipped over in the duration of The Lehman Brothers Trilogy, but that was in the writing of the play. I would have liked to see much more about this, but this show is about the build up and triumph of the Lehman brothers. As stated, when the bank fell, they were all out of this establishment, except in name. It is a great investment of your time to see The Lehman Trilogy, and will not be a failure learning more about this, one of our  real-life great American tragedies.

The Lehman Trilogy is at Florida Studio Theatre through March 29th. Tickets are available for matinee and evening shows at The Lehman Trilogy | Florida Studio Theatre.

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