Gordon and I left early for the Ahmanson Theater last night. We presented our vaccination and booster cards and photo ID to get our wristband first so we could tour the plaza and enjoy a glass of wine before the show. All the restaurants that used to be on the plaza had closed for the pandemic. Even the hotdog stand on Grand Ave. The wine bar sold sandwiches but we just got drinks. The video screens on the plaza showed people coming up the escalator for the theaters. It was good to be back. Hope more restaurants open up soon.
The Lehman Trilogy started at 7:30 because it had a 3 1/2 hour running time. I was dreading it. I can manage 2 hours of whining and Leftist political propagandizing (seems to be what’s produced these days), but 3 1/2 hours? Thank God, I was wrong. The play is adapted from a novel by an Italian, Stefano Massini, and is about the founding of Lehman Brothers Financial Institution. It wasn’t a denunciation of capitalism; it was an admiring account of immigrant success in the United States. I didn’t think that was allowed anymore. According to this account, the Lehman brothers contributed to the creation of most of the financial institutions we know today. Some of the family even became the politicians who placed regulations in place to stop of the worst excesses of those institutions. This German-Jewish family had an enormous impact on the development of the United States. The play starts with the Lehman brothers emigrating from Germany and starting out in Alabama in the 1840s. They first opened a store that sold fabric and became cotton factors. They survive the Civil War and create financial institutions to resurrect Alabama–all while making a profit, of course. Nobody works for free, do they? They end up in New York because that’s where big finance is. We watch their financial rise and family interactions over the decades. By the time the business went bankrupt in 2008, no Lehmans were involved in it. So, the bankruptcy was just a footnote. But the story was fascinating. The adaption by Ben Power was brilliant. As was the staging. And I can’t say enough about the three actors who performed for 3 hours (with two intermissions; they probably needed a rest) –and held my attention. Simon Russell Beale, Adam Godley, and Howard W. Overshown played the original brothers. They also played women, children, plantation owners…basically, they played whatever character was needed. Wow. It was a master class in acting. Most Los Angeles audiences tend to leave after two hours but I didn’t see anybody walk out–or not show up after either intermission. It was engrossing. Well done.
So, for an evening of brilliant theater, go see The Lehman Trilogy. I don’t know how much longer it’s running at the Ahmanson.
