"The Lehman Trilogy" at Florida Studio Theatre

I've been interested in seeing "The Lehman Trilogy" since I first heard about the show a few years back. Having been directly affected by the 2008 financial crisis -- I was working for Bear Stearns at the time -- the demise of Lehman feels somewhat personal. But I didn't expect a Sarasota theater to be where I'd watch the story unfold over the course of three hours (with two intermissions). Given the demographics of Sarasota theatregoers, people tend to nod off even in the liveliest of performances, and "The Lehman Trilogy" doesn't have a lot of bells and whistles. But Florida Studio Theatre's Producing Artistic Director Richard Hopkins had faith in his audience, and he was right. The audience was engrossed, with good reason. It was a terrific production. 

I had the chance to attend a "fireside chat" about the show with Hopkins (who directed the show), actors Rod Brogan (Mayer Lehman) and Howard Kaye (Henry Lehman) and Akhim Church (production manager). What a treat to hear a bit about what happened behind the scenes before the actors hit the stage. 

Surprisingly, Hopkins didn't choose to mount "The Lehman Trilogy" after seeing a live performance of the show and thinking "FST can do this play." Instead, he read the play and thought about it and read it again (and again). Somewhere along the way, Hopkins watched recordings of both the original London production and the New York production. Interestingly, he said there were differences in the language between the two productions as the British English had been translated into American English. (Apologies, but I don't have any examples.) He also noted that the London version had more straight up monologues than the New York version. "Americans need more car chases," he noted. 

Emanuel and Mayer Lehman

Hopkins knew it would be important to physicalize the show to keep the audience's attention. And so an additional character of sorts was included -- a large turntable filled with bankers' boxes. The turntable is such an integral part of the production that a smaller version was built for the rehearsal studio. A young man whom we meet sweeping up at the top of the show has the job of moving the turntable to indicate a shift in setting or time. Church said the production team had considered mechanizing the turntable, but he knew that would only invite problems. Spoiler alert: The young man also closes the show by picking up a lone bankers box and, after looking around the remains of Lehman Bros. one last time, leaves the stage. It was a brilliant ending that was added with only a couple of days left in the rehearsal process. 

Kaye surprised me by noting that his character Henry opens the show with a 12 page monologue. That's right. Henry is front and center for the first 12 minutes, more or less. It's a credit to both the writing and Kaye's performance that I didn't notice how extended this opening was. Kaye said he'd recently counted the number of characters he plays -- 23. Brogan chimed in that he plays about 20 characters himself. In one scene, Brogan plays both Mayer and a multitude of women auditioning to be his wife. It was hilarious. 

Lehman Bros.' Times Square headquarters

The actors came into rehearsal off book for Acts I and II so they could hit the ground running. For a less demanding show, actors study the script before rehearsals begin, but they generally don't have their parts memorized. Still, Kaye, Brogan and Hopkins said there was a lot of unlearning and re-learning that happened once everyone was in the room. (Hopkins noted as an aside that he asks his directors to watch a production three or so weeks into the run to see if the actors have -- consciously or subconsciously -- made changes that need to be undone.) The actors learned Act III together as the rehearsal process continued. 

An important element in the show is the music provided by pianist Jim Prosser. The talented Prosser has been with FST for 30 years. He improvised the music during the rehearsal process, so his performance grew along with that of the actors. He had been out for one rehearsal and there's no understudy for his role, so that session was music-free. While Kaye and Brogan said their performances were more difficult without the musical cues. 

And this is one show in which having to overcome additional challenges is a herculean task. By the end of each week, the actors have logged a full 24 hours of performance time. Sure, they get those intermissions between acts, but that's really not much more than time to drink some water and use the loo. Kaye and Brogan said they had been still running lines for Act III during the intermission preceding the final segment of the show for the first three weeks into the run. It's exhausting just to think about. 

Happily, all the hard work of the actors and the director and the designers and the production crew paid off. The story is gripping. The performances are excellent. And the scenic design works beautifully. I'd be remiss not to mention that in addition to the turntable, the production includes wonderful projections that set the scene and help the audience stay engaged. It's a theater experience I'll always remember.   

"The Lehman Trilogy" runs through March 29th, and availability is quite limited. Snag a ticket if you can.