We take a look about what is being said about the return of the award winning play to the West End.
Broadway World: ***** “Those expecting an exploration into the bank’s role in the financial crisis will be disappointed; despite beginning and ending the show, we never get into the mechanics of the causes and the final crash does feel a little rushed. However, this is not really what the play is about. It’s about family ties, overarching ambition and a cautionary tale about the so-called American dream.”
Evening Standard: **** “The production remains a tour de force, though. The new actors shine. And the sense of characters ridden by events and financial systems that they think they are riding still feels horribly relevant.”
The Guardian: **** “The production grows more charged when the tone becomes savage, with boardroom talk of how to get people to buy things they don’t want, with money they don’t have. But as accomplished and aesthetically arresting as the production is, it bobs a little too lightly along the surface of its subject matter.”
iNews: ***** “The three actors play every role, big and small, down the decades and the centuries; this is nothing less than an astonishing achievement in performance. The weighty is cleverly sprinkled with the playful; Fraser, who is a particular delight, has great fun portraying a range of potential suitors for an especially demanding Lehman scion. If Balogan’s work cannot quite match the all-out versatility of the other two, it is no matter, as the trio anchors us with surety in the intimate heart of an ever-expanding family business.”
London Unattached: “Whether in the US or in London, The Lehman Trilogy has been lauded by everyone who has seen it. It has a script that is so tight, and so funny, that it can hardly fail. It spans three centuries but that has you reminiscing about the 1800s while in the 2000s, and laughing at references to the first scene halfway through the third act. The cast, direction and music exploit every joke and every shocking moment. The Gillian Lynne Theatre provides another highly engaging show, a trilogy that has you eager to return at each interval, wondering what comes next and how we will end up with it all coming crashing down.”
The Stage: **** “Sam Mendes’ stunning epic returns to the West End starring Nigel Lindsay, Michael Balogun and Hadley Fraser.”
The Upcoming: ***** “The driving force of the performance is the trio of actors: Michael Balogun, Hadley Fraser and Nigel Lindsay are cohesive and distinctive at the same time. In more than a few instances, the rolling New York accents swiftly switch to a linear English, and other highs and lows of voices are taken on to distinguish between the marvellous diversity of roles picked up and dropped by the cast. Fraser in particular delivers an exhilarating final set, mightily and funnily charging his various characters.”
The Reviews Hub: **** 1/2 “The three actors march, prowl and clamber over Es Devlin’s glass cube, a modern day office suite that revolves on stage. As we move into the 1980s it appears to spin to dizzying effect with Luke Hall’s video design that curves along the back of the stage. The way the three men move, always ending up facing the audience when the revolve stops, is a form of choreography. The three men never miss a step. Just below the stage, Yshani Perinpanayagam plays a piano, a haunting score by Nick Powell.”
WhatsOnStage: **** “It’s an astonishing achievement, weaving family drama and the history of America into its rich pattern, losing its grip only slightly in the final act when there is simply too much story to tell, and when the Lehmans themselves lose control of their business. Oddly, slightly longer might have been even better. As it is, it is a unique and very special piece, a panoramic history that never loses sight of human detail and human cost.”
Culture Whisper: **** “Don’t be put off by the three-and-a-half-hour run time; Mendes’s production will keep you engaged throughout – and feels horribly relevant as we teeter on the edge of another financial disaster.”
Time Out: **** “Multigenerational family drama are ten a penny, but ‘The Lehman Trilogy’ is something more, a rare, true, virtuosic look at the entire lifecycle of a family business, burning its way indelibly through history.”
Theatre Weekly: “Despite it’s generous running time, and plenty of exposition, it still manages to feel like it’s only telling half the story, or should that be a third of it? The financial crisis itself tops and tales the play, but the actual mechanics of the bank’s downfall are excluded. Key characters also feel thinly drawn; we learn very little about Bobby Lehman, the son of one of the original brothers and a key player in the expansion of the bank, despite playing a pivotal role.”
The Lehman Trilogy will run at the Gillian Lynne Theatre until the 20th May 2023. To book tickets click here.