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The Lehman Trilogy

The Lehman Trilogy is a three-act play by Stefano Massini, an Italian playwright and novelist. It was translated into twenty-four languages before being published as a novel in 2013. The French version of the play premiered the same year at Comédie de Saint-Étienne in Saint-Étienne, France. The original Italian version premiered in 2015 at Piccolo Teatro, Milan. Luca Ronconi directed this version.

The Lehman Trilogy is the story of three immigrant brothers in America. It follows their journey to the US, their investment firm, and its eventual collapse in 2008.

Production History and Background Information

The English version of The Lehman Trilogy play debuted at the West End in October 2018. It was directed by Sam Mendes and based on the adaptation by Ben Power, a British playwright. The play was transferred to New York in 2019 to return to the West End Piccadilly Theater and run for sixteen weeks.

The National Theater Production planned to perform the play on Broadway in 2020. However, the Covid-19 pandemic led to postponing the play to 2021. Finally, The Lehman Trilogy officially opened on Broadway in October 2021 and continued in 2022.

The Lehman Trilogy has three characters- the Lehman brothers, Henry, Emanuel, and Mayer. Simon Russell Beale played Henry Lehman from 2018 to 2022 in both the West End and Broadway versions.

Similarly, Adam Godley played Mayer Lehman in both the US and the UK. Ben Miles was Emanuel Lehman in 2018 and 2019, while Adrian Lester took over for the official Broadway version and Howard W Overshown was Emanuel Lehman for the performances at the Ahmanson Theater in Los Angeles in 2022.

The interesting part of the play is that the same actors play more than one role. They also play the children, grandchildren, wives, business partners, and other minor characters.

Furthermore, the artists don't change costumes for any of the characters. They wear the same tailored suit from start to finish and enact multiple roles.

The original London production was nominated for Laurence Olivier and Evening Standard Theater Awards in 2018 and 2019, though it didn't win any. The original Broadway production was nominated for several awards in 2022. The Lehman Trilogy won Outstanding Production of a Play at Drama Desk, along with five categories at the Tony Awards and four at the Outer Critics Circle Awards.