The Lehman Trilogy

B+

Stefano Massimi’s epic tale of family, faith and finance has undergone major transformation since it first appeared as a radio play in Italy in 2012. First adapted for the stage for a French production, it then appeared in Milan in a version with a large cast. Ben Power, Deputy Artisitic Director of the National Theatre, has cleverly adapted it for an English version with just three actors. But what actors! Simon Russell Beale (Bluebird, Jumpers), Adam Godley (Anything Goes) and Ben Miles (Wolf Hall) give commanding performances in multiple roles of varying ages, genders and social status. One rarely has the opportunity to witness acting at such a consistently fine level. Director Sam Mendes (The Ferryman) deploys his actors well. The set by Es Devlin (Girls and Boys, Machinal) features a giant revolving glass cube furnished like a modern corporate office filled with creatively used bankers boxes. The curved back wall displays a panorama of evocative projections by Luke Halls (Miss Saigon) that, in the third and final act, literally become dizzying. Costume designer Katrina Lindsay (Harry Potter and the Cursed Child) dresses the three Lehman brothers in black mid-19th-century garb that they wear throughout the evening. The transformations between roles are accomplished by gesture and voice, without benefit of costume change. The proceedings have piano accompaniment by Candida Caldicot that I found less than compelling. The story cover 164 years from the arrival of Henry Lehman in America to the collapse of the family-founded financial giant in 2008. The story-telling technique makes heavy use of third-person narration, which I find a bit distancing. The play provides a varied series of vignettes that give insight either into the family dynamic or the development of American capitalism or, sometimes, both. The difference in the mourning period accorded each brother traces the “progress” of family and firm. I find the length of the play problematic; it is either too long to hold our close attention or too short to do justice to both the personal and financial stories. I would be curious to know what was cut from the 5-hour Milan version. While I would call this production at Park Avenue Armory a “must-see” for lovers of serious theater, I have to say that I admired it more than I enjoyed it. Running time: 3 hours 25 minutes, including 2 intermissions.

Girls and Boys

A-

A friend recently said that she would gladly pay for the chance to hear Carey Mulligan (Skylight, The Seagull) read from the phone book. On the basis of her riveting performance in this exhilarating but harrowing solo piece by Dennis Kelly (Matilda the Musical) now at the Minetta Lane Theatre, I can understand why she is regarded as one of the finest actors of her generation. She commands the stage dressed in an orange shirt and umber slacks (by Jack Galloway), barefoot, with her short hair tied back. Over the course of an hour and 45 minutes, she does not strike a false note as she tells a tale that slides down a slippery path from amusing anecdote to tragedy. Monologues on a bare stage alternate with scenes in her monochromatic pale blue kitchen (set by Es Devlin; Machinal) during which she mimes interactions with her unseen children Leanne and Danny. In the monologues, she portrays a vibrant, bold career-minded woman who, through sheer force of will, becomes a successful documentary producer. In the kitchen scenes, she exists only in relation to her children. When her husband’s business fails, she is preoccupied with her own concerns. We know that things will turn out badly but we are on edge waiting to find out what will happen and why. For the entire play the audience was rapt in silent attention. The level of the writing is high except for a brief turn to the didactic near the end. Director Lyndsey Turner’s (Machinal) direction is assured. I am curious how the play picked up 15 minutes between London and New York. I doubt that it was by slowing down the speech because I still found it frustratingly rapid, especially considering the thick British accent. Whatever the reason, the extra 15 minutes are not a plus; a judicious trim would have improved the play. Be forewarned that the outcome is devastating. With that caution, I urge you to take advantage of this brief opportunity to see an amazing actor. Running time: one hour 45 minutes; no intermission.

NOTE: You may be interested to know that Audible, the recorded book company, has set up a theatrical division to produce plays at the Minetta Lane Theatre, with one or two characters, that will be recorded for sale on Audible. Harry Clarke was their first production. This is the second.

American Psycho ***

This musical version of Brett Easton Ellis’s controversial 1991 novel about Patrick Bateman (the mesmerizing Benjamin Walker), an investment banker by day and serial killer by night, is a triumph of style over substance. Although I have neither read the book nor seen the movie, I gather that the musical has smoothed out a lot of the rough edges and reduced the body count substantially. Satire trumps gore most of the time. The soullessness of consumerist capitalism in the Reagan era is well-captured by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa’s book, Duncan Sheik’s music, Lynn Page’s choreography and Rupert Goold’s direction. The gadgets, brands, clubs and restaurants may have changed but the spirit of entitlement in 1989 New York is not all that different from today’s. Bateman and his coworkers are as vacuous as their pecs are buff. The women are equally unlikable. The monochromatic scenic design by Es Devlin and sophisticated projections by Finn Ross are so striking that they sometimes threaten to upstage the actors. Among them are Helene York as Bateman’s obnoxious fiancee, Jennifer Damiano as his love-struck secretary, Drew Moerlein as his rival, Morgan Weed as his mistress and Alice Ripley, basically wasted, as his mother. The whirling sets, hyperactive videos, bright lights (by Justin Townsend) and gaudy costumes (by Katrina Lindsay) eventually produced a feeling of sensory overload and a diminishing conviction that the story was worth all the effort involved. The second act loses some of the early energy. Nevertheless, as its best moments, the show’s style overcomes its flaws and makes for edgy entertainment. The audience, considerably younger than usual for Broadway, was quite enthusiastic. Running time: 2 hours, 35 minutes including intermission.

Machinal****

My theatergoing year got off to a very promising start with Roundabout Theatre's dazzling revival of Sophie Treadwell's expressionistic 1928 play. Helen (Rebecca Hall), a woman in her 20s who lives with and supports her unloving widowed mother (Suzanne Bertish), suffers from what used to be called neurasthenia, a kind of mental exhaustion brought on by the stresses of the impersonal, mechanistic, modern urban world. The stylized opening scene, set in the office where Helen works as a stenographer, brilliantly captures the relentless monotony and banality of the workplace. After Helen's older self-absorbed boss (Michael Cumpsty) takes a shine to her, she reluctantly marries him even though she cringes at his touch. When she visits a speakeasy with a friend, she meets a sexy young man (Morgan Spector) and begins an affair. Her powerful attraction to her lover makes her loveless marriage seem ever more intolerable. Complications ensue. Supporting the four excellent leads, 14 actors deftly handle multiple roles. A great deal of the success of the play is owed to its outstanding production design -- Es Devlin's set of beige geometrically etched panels mounted on a large turntable seems to bring us to a new location each time it revolves. It functions almost like one of the characters. When the set turns between scenes, we get fleeting vignettes choreographed by Sam Pinkleton which Jane Cox has dramatically lit by moving horizontal bands of light. The excellent sound design by Matt Tierney underscores the emotions onstage. Michael Krass has costumed the supporting cast in appropriately bleak monochromes. Director Lyndsey Turner has skillfully blended all these elements with brilliant results. Bravo to Roundabout for bringing us this rare treat. Running time: 95 minutes, no intermission.