The Lehman Trilogy (Off-Broadway)
Closed 3h 20m
The Lehman Trilogy (Off-Broadway)
91

The Lehman Trilogy (Off-Broadway) NYC Reviews and Tickets

91%
(143 Ratings)
Positive
95%
Mixed
4%
Negative
1%
Members say
Great acting, Great staging, Absorbing, Ambitious, Intelligent

About the Show

Making its North American premiere, this National Theatre production traces the trajectory of western capitalism by following the fortunes of a single immigrant family. Directed by Sam Mendes.

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Show-Score Member Reviews (143)

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75 Reviews | 43 Followers
100
Great staging, Great acting, Entertaining, Enchanting, Absorbing

See it if you want to see an excellent play and production.

Don't see it if you don't like long plays!

112 Reviews | 19 Followers
100
Intelligent, Great writing, Great staging, Great acting, Exquisite

See it if you enjoy magnificence on stage. It has flaws in last third but you will only remember the magnificence.

Don't see it if you are not deserving of an evening of magnificence on stage.

536 Reviews | 279 Followers
100
Great writing, Great staging, Great acting, Absorbing, A thrilling evening in the theatre

See it if you're interested in historical stories. This play charts the rise & fall of the Lehman family. Superb performances, direction, set.

Don't see it if you can't sit through 3 hours and 20 minutes—which just fly by. Also, if you are not a fan of serious theatre and exquisite acting.

535 Reviews | 155 Followers
100
Intelligent, Great writing, Great staging, Great acting, Absorbing

See it if You enjoy plays that are set as storytelling rather than multiple actions. You have interest in the makings of the stock market + Lehmans.

Don't see it if You don’t want to invest a long evening watching a fascinating but very serious play. The evening began at 7:30 and ended at 10:50. Read more

228 Reviews | 36 Followers
100
Must see, Great staging, Great writing, Great acting, Absorbing

See it if you want to see three magnificent performances directed by a virtuoso and written and translated by two geniuses.

Don't see it if you cannot sit for three plus hours. Read more

494 Reviews | 123 Followers
100
Poetic, Masterful, Gripping

See it if You’re looking for theater that is both epic and intimate,chronicle of real events and a parable,3 outstanding actors deliver great writing.

Don't see it if You dislike wordy plays, hate it when actors play multiple roles, stepping in and out of character, don’t like narration or right directing. Read more

260 Reviews | 55 Followers
100
Intense, Masterful, Thought-provoking, Ambitious, Absorbing

See it if you want to see one of the most brilliant stage productions performed in New York this season.

Don't see it if you have difficulty sitting for a long time. Read more

414 Reviews | 70 Followers
100
Masterful, Great writing, Great staging, Great acting, Absorbing

See it if story of immigrant Jewish brothers & their descendants, traditions & struggles; history & econ. primer of financial markets that isn't dry

Don't see it if don't like unusual (but very effective) staging, actors that play more than one role (including some brief side parts); 3 hrs 20 minutes* Read more

Critic Reviews (42)

The New York Times
March 28th, 2019

"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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Time Out New York
March 28th, 2019

"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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New York Magazine / Vulture
March 28th, 2019

"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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The Hollywood Reporter
March 28th, 2019

"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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The Washington Post
March 28th, 2019

"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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The Washington Post
April 8th, 2019

“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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AM New York
March 28th, 2019

"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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NY1
March 29th, 2019

"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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