There were a few shows that I hoped did well in the Tony Awards last night, but only one that I actually cared about, and that was The Lehman Trilogy. I just dearly love the play on several levels. And it went five-for-five! Best Play, Best Director, Best Actor in a Leading Role, Best Scenic Design and Best Lighting Design. (Okay, for sticklers, to be accurate it went five-for-seven, because it actually got seven nominations - since all three actors, the entire cast, were nominated for Best Actor. Though, of course, it could only win one of those.) I've seen The Lehman Trilogy twice, which is saying a lot because it's about 3-1/2 hours long. The first time was when it streamed a live production from London as part of the National Theatre Live series, with the original cast. It was spectacular - a look at the history of the Lehman Brothers who came to America as immigrants not speaking English, and following the family over the intervening 200 years through to the growth of the Lehman Brothers investment firm today and its ultimate collapse. It's a visceral production with three actors as essentially the entire cast - playing about 150 roles, men, women, children, adults and aged grandparents. Yes, really. (Again, to be accurate, in one scene at the very end there a half-dozen actors in non-speaking roles in the background, portraying the modern Lehman Brothers firm.) Most notable for me was Simon Russell Beale, who was one of my dad's three favorite British actors from my folks regular trips to London. (Seven years ago, I posted this video with him and others singing Stephen Sondheim's "Everybody Ought to Have a Maid" at the London Proms. It's a lot of fun and worth pausing here to check or -- or come back when you're done.) In fairness to his brilliant performance, which won him the Tony for Best Actor tonight, all three actors in the show have equal parts, which he acknowledged in his acceptance speech. In fact, when the play premiered in London, the three actors were all nominated as Best Actor - as they were here at the Tonys - but with one huge difference: because it was near-impossible to separate their intertwining performances, the three were nominated together as one "person." In fact, I raved about it here, three years ago, for those interested in more detail about the play. The second time I saw The Lehman Trilogy was just a few months ago when the original cast brought the play to Los Angeles. (Well, two of the three - Simon Russell Beale and Adam Godley, who those who watch the streaming series The Great on Hulu about Catherine the Great will recognize as the Archbishop.) I dearly, dearly wanted to see it live and most-especially with Simon Russell Beale, but it was during COVID. And I hadn't yet cross the threshold where I was ready to go to the theater. But I kept checking the seating chart for the Ahmanson, and found a seat in the last row of the mezzanine where there was no one around me for five rows. So, I felt comfortable enough with that. And it was the first - and still only - theater production I've seen since the pandemic. That's how much I love the play and wanted to see it. And I'm serious about the five rows. Here's the seating chart when I bought my tickets a few days before the performance. All the darkened dots are unsold seats. My seat is the purple dot in the last row at the bottom. I obviously didn't have a great view of the stage, though they had a video screen and I brought binocular, so I divided my time between "live," binoculars and video. But above all, seeing it live with that cast (and, of course, Simon Russell Beale) was tremendous. And seeing the physicality of the almost-always turning set and actors moving props around to change settings added to it. And there was also a physical dimension and depth to the production (including with almost-impressionist video as a moving background) that didn't come across in the streaming version, which was deeply impressive. I also had a sort of personally-memorable moment that overlaps the play. About three years ago, the Writers Guild screened the movie 1917, directed by Sam Mendes - who had also directed The Lehman Trilogy - and since he cowrote the film's screenplay, he was going to be present afterwards with his cowriters for a Q&A. I very much wanted to see the movie (which was great), but I was also considering getting called on during the Q&A to mention The Lehman Trilogy, having nothing of course to do with the movie, but it was that great. And given that I feel awkward asking questions at Q&As, it was even more of a leap. But I wanted to do so in part because it was indeed great, but also because the production was not well-known in the U.S. at that point, so I thought he'd like to know of an American awareness and admiration of it. As the post-screening questions about the movie went on, combined with my awkwardness, I ultimately felt it was not the venue to say anything there. But…hmmm, maybe I could go down to the stage after to say something. However, he and his reps immediately left through the side door. And so, I made a quick and weird decision. I raced out the theater, turned the corner and ran to the side door where were the waiting limos. The group was just exiting, but much as I wanted to say something, even more I didn't want to intrude. So…what to do??? I quickly had an idea. As they headed to the limo, I slowly and calmly timed my walk, so that as I passed the car as Mendes was getting in…all I said was, "I loved The Lehman Trilogy." And kept walking. That's it. I only paused to look back to see if he might have heard. And he not only did - he got out of the limo and walked to me. With a big smile on his face. So, I walked back. And said that, yes, I loved tonight's movie, but I most-especially loved The Lehman Trilogy and had seen it on National Theatre Live. He expressed his appreciation, we nodded, and he left. The thing is - as much as I went through that because I wanted to express my admiration for the work, even more I truly thought that because of what the production is (which anyone who's seen it can understand) he - and indeed anyone who worked on it - would be glad to hear appreciation of the monumental work. And it turned out, I was right about that. So, I'm glad that I made that silly effort. And I'm glad that the play won five Tony Awards out of five, including Best Play, Best Director and Best Actor for Simon Russell Beale. No trailer will do it justice, but it will give some sense of the tone and staging. That's Simon Russell Beale who starts the narration. And as a bonus, here's one minute of a scene --
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AuthorRobert J. Elisberg is a political commentator, screenwriter, novelist, tech writer and also some other things that I just tend to keep forgetting. Feedspot Badge of Honor
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