The piano music is a clever thread running through, at times subtle & at times dominating, but always necessary. The whole conception of this poetic epic is wonderfully conceived & directed by Sam Mendes.
Hugely entertaining.
But, at it's heart, this is the story of 3 men, Henry, Rimpar & Emanuel & the dynasty they founded. They were Jewish emigrees from Bavaria to America & they started from a small dry goods store in Alabama & built an empire spanning the world.
The last Lehman, Bobbie, died in 1969 & Pete Peterson was brought in to save the firm. A series of CEO's followed culminating in the collapse of the company in 2008 because of their involvement in US sub-prime mortgage asset management. The world wide recession followed, which it is arguable we have still not fully recovered from. It was the largest failure of an investment bank. Thousands of people were adversely affected. It seems surprising that apparently the US weren't confident that they could prove that Lehman Brothers violated US laws in its accounting practices.
The ability to turn this story of 150 years of Western Capitalism into a hugely gripping theatrical production as innovative & unique as this just has to be admired. It is a credit to UK support of the Arts that the play "was developed over three years without the constraint of a schedule, or even a destination — I (Mendes) was allowed time to find its form, and to build a wonderful team with which to make it".
Unbelievable! So many lessons, on so many levels.
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