Review: Compelling ‘Lehman Trilogy’ digs into 2008 subprime meltdown

There’s very little flashy about San Jose Stage’s production of “The Lehman Trilogy.”

Three actors take the audience through a narrative that crosses the three-hour threshold. Yet it’s our fascination with one of this country’s most negatively associated names that connects with the unscrupulous financial practices that makes the piece a juggernaut of riches.

That name? Lehman.

Lehman, as in, the Lehman brothers, who epitomize all that the American Dream stands for. The three Jewish brothers from Bavaria — Henry (played by Peter Hadres), Emanuel (Johnny Moreno) and Mayer (Brian Herndon) — are rooted in simple humility, Henry first arriving in New York, then proceeding to Montgomery, Alabama, where a general store is the introduction to capitalism for the hungry brothers.

Director Kenneth Kelleher is often at his best in this style of play — a blank slate where movement and simplicity tell a more sweeping story. In this no-frills case, the only aspect left from of Christopher Fitzer’s magnificently metaphoric scenic design is a big projection screen with a revolving series of Lehman Brothers images (projections designed by Eric Scanlon). A stack of thick boxes are strewn throughout the stage, conveying the constant shifts in strategy among the three brothers as time marches forward.

There are strong urges to keep up with the Joneses, always looking at the next big thing in business. The general store transitions to massive profit margins via every wart of United States history, no significant devastation is spared, no milestone overlooked. Slavery, the Civil War, the ubiquity of railroad travel and every up and down of the non-linear history of the country has some type of currency to which the Lehman brothers attached to their own personal financing model.

At some point, the investments turned into investing itself, where purely financing finance (as abstract a phenomenon as there could be) leads to Lehman as a pejorative. The 2008 financial crisis saw Lehman turn to a bankruptcy to the tune of $600 billion into the upheaval of the world’s financial infrastructure.

The play works because it is not simply a didactic retelling of one family’s bargains over the course of history. The three actors spend the bulk of their time explaining how things went down in real time, as opposed to rattling off high and low lights. The piece is entirely presentational, with minimal representational actions taking place between the brothers.

Stefano Massini’s writing, adapted by Ben Power, understands where to place the drama for maximum effect. Kelleher moves his cast through space with purpose, each performer making heavy discoveries of how they made the fortune that ultimately became their personal fool’s paradise.

While each actor has his own highlights of interpreting the sweeping script, the third-person narrative ensures that individuality is not the most critical aspect of the storytelling. The tight ensemble — Hadras, Moreno and Herndon — takes storytelling precedence.

There is plenty to chew on within the script, but what seems missing is a more concrete interrogation of the ultimate downfall. There is insight into other historical financial disasters (a scene involving the stock market crash of 1929 is particularly haunting), but not much mention of the impacts of Reaganomics in the 1980s, and the late 2000s dynamics of subprime mortgages and home foreclosures. Ultimately, the play doesn’t fully address the devesating impact on regular Americans, maybe because it’s not titled “The Nameless and Faceless Who Lost Everything Trilogy.”

“The Lehman Trilogy” possesses a super power, and that is its ability to be so pure in how it tells a story. This style of theater both enlightens and entertains, each actor stepping out of the ensemble inside Kelleher’s direction that teeters on the edge of heavy-handidness without ever getting there. Despite moments that can lull in pockets, the play is an exciting exploration of theater’s ability to serve an organic purpose, with the story itself centered as the show’s shining star.

David John Chávez is a former chair of the American Theatre Critics/Journalists Association, a 2020 O’Neill National Critics Institute fellow, and a two-time juror for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama (2022-23). @davidjchavez.bsky.social

‘THE LEHMAN TRILOGY’

By Stefano Massini, adapted by Ben Power, presented by San Jose Stage Company

Through: March 1

Where: San Jose Stage, 490 S. 1st St., San Jose

Running time: 3 hours, 30 minutes, two intermissions

Tickets: $34-$84; thestage.org