PicksInSix Review: The Lehman Trilogy - Timeline Theatre Company | Broadway in Chicago

Searching For The Next Big Thing!
PicksInSix® Gold Review | Ed Tracy

Though it's not customarily appropriate to disclose the ending of a dramatic piece up front—and certainly one as consequential as the Chicago premiere of the 2022 Tony Award-winning “The Lehman Trilogy,” a brilliantly staged co-production of TimeLine Theatre Company and Broadway in Chicago that opened at the Broadway Playhouse on Wednesday night—there it is right in front of us all at the top of the show: A blinding frenzy of news reports cascading across multiple screens on Collete Pollard’s striking, multi-level set composed of stacks of banker’s boxes, copy machines and office furniture. Few born before 1990 will need to know much more about the 2008 subprime mortgage crisis that toppled world financial organizations and placed tremendous hardship on America’s middle class.

“The Lehman Trilogy” serves as a rich and compelling reflection of our troubling financial times and a largely fact-based interpretation of the journey that led to this unimaginable end. The story hinges on the notion that the events that we know all too well are actually a consequence of succession and not of the vision and passion of its founders.

Wisely, and with blistering speed, “The Lehman Trilogy” focuses on the burgeoning path of their family pilgrimage to America, their aspirations and legacy. We first meet Heyum ‘Henry’ Lehman (Mitchell J. Fain), the eldest brother and patriarch of the family empire, as he arrives in New York in September 1844 and establishes a storefront business in Montgomery, Alabama.  Henry is joined by Mendel ‘Emanuel’ (Anish Jethmalani) in a few years and then by younger brother Maier ‘Mayer’ (Joey Slotnick).

Stefano Massini’s script, adapted by Ben Power, introduces several dozen characters—heirs, wives and business partners—who first emerge as brokers in the cotton industry in the pre-Civil War years; expand their influence with a major move to New York City that would eventually diversify business models during the Industrial Revolution and into the emerging Stock Market and then on to investment banking operations. Along the way, the Lehman’s developed dynamic investment philosophies and successfully navigated the aftermath of the 1929 Stock Market Crash in the face of enormous challenges.

Through it all, there is a willingness by the Lehmans to constantly look for opportunity—the next big thing—by taking a simple idea and making money with it. Lots of money.

Perhaps the most important element of this epic tale is not the accomplishments of the Lehmans to perpetuate their version of the American Dream, but rather the brilliantly imaginative way the story is told: with only three extraordinarily talented actors playing all roles over the course of the three-act production, one that moves so swiftly and with such grace, humor and pathos that we feel a sense of wonder and awe at every turn.  

There is an economy of scale to the entire production that co-directors Nick Bowling and Vanessa Stalling have baked into every scene that is worthy of a Lehman investment. At one moment, the Lehman brothers are head-to-head passionately debating the next iteration of the company or one is playfully wooing a partner into marriage. In the next moment, characters shift, the stage is on fire and the story launches forward, challenging the emergence of the next generation of the family to cope with molding America’s investment infrastructure on their own. It’s all together a fascinating adventure tale.

Pollard’s towering scenic landscape is richly amplified by the collective brilliance of John Culbert’s lighting design, Anthony Churchill’s projections, André Pluess soundscape and Izumi Inaba’s period costumes.

In truth, Robert Lehman, the last of the Lehman heirs to run the company in this exuberant, fast-paced and superbly staged production, passed away in 1969. The play then races to its conclusion with mergers, buyouts and the highly questionable move to mortgage acquisitions that led to the eventual collapse with nary a Lehman in sight.

By that time in the piece, having been gloriously entertained by these gifted performers, we are left with the understanding that the founders, and their heirs, had successfully pivoted in the face of every threat to the survival of the company for the next generation.

It’s no coincidence that “The Lehman Trilogy” is indeed the next big thing to strike a chord with audiences in Chicago. The show has already been extended through November 26.

PHOTO|Liz Lauren

TIMELINE THEATRE COMPANY
BROADWAY IN CHICAGO
present
THE LEHMAN TRILOGY
NOW EXTENDED
through November 26, 2023

BROADWAY PLAYHOUSE
at Watertower Place

TICKETS
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PICKSINSIX Review: Photograph 51

Sharp Focus Drives Winning ‘Photograph 51’

The moment Dr. Rosalind Franklin learns that she has received a grant to lead a genetics research team at Kings College, she makes three requests in writing: a cube, a camera and the date of delivery so that she may begin her work at once. From that declaration in December 1951 through the course of Anna Zielger’s insightful Court Theatre production of “Photograph 51,” directed by Vanessa Stalling, Chaon Cross delivers an exhilarating and flawless performance as Franklin, the British chemist whose groundbreaking work in the male-dominated world of scientific research provided the key to our understanding of DNA’s molecular structure.

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Upon arrival at the Kings College research laboratory, Franklin discovers that the brash Dr. Maurice Wilkins (Nathan Hosner) has a completely different perception of their professional association creating an intolerable – and what we would today call ‘toxic’ – work environment. Undaunted, Franklin forges an alliance with her research assistant Ray Gosliing (Gabriel Ruiz) to refine the X-ray technology to photograph the shape and pattern of DNA. As successive images become more illuminating, word leaks to James Watson (Alec Goodrich) and Francis Chick (Nicholas Harazin), a competitive team of scientists at the University of Cambridge. Along the way, Franklin corresponds with Don Casper (Yousof Sultani), a doctoral student who vies for a fellowship to work alongside Franklin. It is around the reflections of all of these men that the portrait of Franklin’s life emerges.

The injustice defined in “Photograph 51” involves sexism, deception, greed and unethical behavior, all tinged with anti-Semitism. As she feels progressively more suffocated by the hierarchy in the post-war scientific research community, Franklin’s only recourse is to isolate herself. With only a few steps left in her research, a pair of fresh eyes – three pairs, actually – obtain key information and are able to break the code ahead of her. Without an earnest ally in the group, Franklin’s significant contributions are obscured and marginalized.    

This compelling story unfolds through the voices of the men, all superbly cast, recalling pivotal scenes with Franklin, and among themselves, presented in rapid succession over a span of roughly 18 months into mid-1953. The narratives, according to the fine program notes by Production Dramaturg Derek Matson, are rooted in the contrasting view of Franklin’s work first addressed in James Watson’s controversial 1968 memoir The Double Helix, which compelled other works, all represented here, and Maurice Wilkins own account in which he accepts responsibility for minimizing Franklin’s contributions when he, with Crick and Wilkins, received the 1962 Nobel Prize for Physiology for the discovery. 

Arnel Sancianco’s arresting scenic design includes a massive, two-story wall framed with definitive circular stairs on either side while the laboratory’s main floor has period card catalogs, lab tables and equipment on an ingenious floor design. It is all integrated with Keith Parham’s superb illumination, Jeffrey Levin’s stirring sound, stunning projections by Paul Deziel and Mieka van der Ploeg’s impeccable costumes.

“Photograph 51” is an empowering statement about equality, perseverance and truth. While “the world wins,” the moving and heartfelt performance of Chaon Cross reveals Franklin as a complex, compassionate, driven chemist with an extraordinary thirst for knowledge. Most importantly, as art and science intersect, Rosalind Franklin’s rightful place as a trailblazer is assured.

PHOTOS|Michael Brosilow

Court Theatre
Presents
Photograph 51
through February 17th
5535 S Ellis Ave
(773) 753-4472

WEBSITE
TICKETS

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