"Genuinely epic production, directed with surging sweep and fine-tooled precision by Sam Mendes...Under the inspired direction of Mendes, with a design team that understands the value of simplicity in doing justice to complex matters, 'The Lehman Trilogy' unfolds a tale of extravagant wealth with an even more dazzling economy of means...It’s the miracle of three men, on a nearly naked stage, resurrecting vanished lives and worlds, leaving an oddly indelible afterglow."
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"If it weren’t for the superb work of Mendes, Devlin and the three astonishing performers, the heavy atmosphere might thicken into obfuscating fog. As it is, in the hasty final act, Massini tries to draw conclusions about a financial chaos he doesn’t understand and a show that has operated with gravity and grace spins out of control...As performance and staging, the first two sections of the trilogy are a titanic achievement."
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"Strange, sleek beast: massive and dazzling on the outside, and in plenty of ways filled with virtuosity and vitality by a core of brilliant actors and top-of-their-game designers, all given the time and space to experiment, to build a world brick by brick with their ingenious director. But something is missing. The beast, for all its scale and artistry, is an automaton...The play is an epic feat of narration...It’s all technically intoxicating — and persistently without a point of view."
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"This is theatrical storytelling at its most thrilling, a work of novelistic sweep and operatic crescendos, as rich in incisive character detail as it is in breathtaking visual coups...The play employs third-person narration to an audacious degree, and yet, under Mendes' unerring directorial hand it never feels static or cumbersomely expository. For such a long, dense narrative, it's unusually nimble, laced throughout with the wit and invention of great story theater."
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"Time — more than a century, actually — really does seem to fly at the Park Avenue Armory, home at the moment to a spellbinding exercise in storytelling, as it can only be done on a stage...Visually, it’s all remarkable...Beale, Miles and Godley, bearing absolutely no resemblance to one another, convince us utterly that they are all cut from the same Lehman cloth; they propel the story with a force that feels aerodynamic."
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“An astounding play with only one fault: It fails to mention that Henry, Emanuel and Mayer Lehman were slave owners...’The Lehman Trilogy’ has gotten rapturous reviews but usually with no mention of the hole in its moral heart. I, too, was dazzled by its three actors — who hold the stage for 3 1/2 hours — and by the staging, which consisted of one surprise after another, and even the lighting. It was a marvelous, unforgettable night of theater, a riveting reminder of why ‘live’ is so alive.”
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"An unlikely epic drama and an unlikely must-see attraction...One would not have expected a play such as this to succeed — but indeed it does thanks to Massini’s distinct viewpoint, Mendes’ precise direction (which makes the production feel both sweeping and intimate), panoramic visuals, and live piano music that reflects each mood swing...Sharp, versatile performances all round."
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"The saga of the Lehman Brothers is certainly nothing new; and in different hands, it could easily be a clichéd tale of rags to riches, innocence to greed. But as written by Stefano Massini, adapted by Ben Power, directed by Sam Mendes, and performed by three of the best actors in the world, it becomes an event not to miss!...Through narration and dialogue, the story unfolds with tremendous eloquence, very much like a fugue, riffing off repeated themes."
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