The Lehman Trilogy

(Broadway Theater) This was a masterpiece of stagecraft, with three actors and one revolving set telling the 163-year story of the rise and fall of Lehman Brothers, from immigrant purveyors of fabric in Alabama to a bankrupt New York financial giant. The acting was beyond impeccable: Simon Russell Beale could portray anyone, and did, and he was well matched by Adam Godley. (If American actor Adrian Lester was less sensational, that was probably necessary to counter the flamboyance of the two English stage stars.) The play itself was fascinating as history, although in compressing a century-and-a-half into three hours, you felt there must be a lot of oversimplification. The characters also came off more as cameos than real people. What was missing, for me at least, was any emotional pull. Nor did I get any particular moral from the story. I had no rooting interest and didn’t feel any wiser for having watched the play. This all happened, and this is an amazing way to show it all. But it was a bit like those plays, which I haven’t seen, that present all of Shakespeare in 90 minutes.