EXCLUSIVE: Sam Mendes, the Oscar- and Tony-winning director, has chosen three London theater stars: Michael Balogun (National Theater Live: Death of England-Delroy), Hadley Fraser (Donmar Theatre’s coriolanus) and Nigel Lindsay (Chichester Festival Theatre’s woman in mind) to bring his award-winning production of The Lehman Trilogy back to the west side. It comes after triumphant performances at Britain’s National Theatre, Park Avenue Armory and Broadway, and a phenomenal sell-out 16-week run at London’s Piccadilly Theater in 2019.
The actors play the Bavarian-born Lehman brothers Emanuel, Mayer and Henry, who settled as cotton traders in Alabama, a stepping stone to what Balogun called “a giant machine” on Wall Street. Simon Russell Beale, Adam Godley and Ben Miles originally played the various roles of the Lehman brothers and their descendants – husband and wife, old and young – in London and New York.
Written by Italian playwright Stefano Massini and adapted for English ears by Ben Power, The Lehman Trilogy Charts started by the Lehman brothers in 1844 detailing their rise and how their descendants bankrupted the financial institution in 2003.
Mendes is awaiting the release of a new film rich in lighta hopeful awards season, rehearsals with his cast begin November 28. The play is moving to the Gillian Lynne Theatre, the former home of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Troublemakers cinderella musical [the latter opening on Broadway next year with new title Bad Cinderella] on January 24 for a limited 17-week season.
The current resident of the Gillian Lynne is the new production of CSLewis The lion, the witch and the wardrobeproduced by Marianne Elliott (company) and Chris Harper’s production company Elliott & Harper.
The Lehman Trilogy is a co-production between the National Theater and Neal Street Productions [the film, theater and tv production house founded by Mendes, Pippa Harris, and Caro Newling]. Nealstraat was the first to commission the play and it was created and developed in collaboration with the National.
The National Theater and Neal Street are also collaborating on the world premiere of The motive and the keyword by Jack Thorne, directed by Mendes, due out at The National in early 2023. It’s about when John Gielgud directed Richard Burton hamlet on Broadway, shortly after his first marriage to Elizabeth Taylor in 1964.
The Lehman Trilogy was a huge success for everyone involved. “When you hear it’s a play about bankers, it’s not something you immediately think is going to take off, and we don’t have to say anything to prove that it’s already taken off. Run in London! A run up and off Broadway! We just have to keep going, don’t we?” said Fraser.
Also, it’s a very human piece, isn’t it? To call it a bench match, don’t take it,” Fraser added.
Lindsay agreed, noting that the play “humanizes the characters. Nobody starts out as a multi-millionaire banker… You start small, start a business, change it and change it, and suddenly this dynasty is built. Nobody comes up unless they’re like Donald Trump and get a billion pounds by the time you’re fifteen or whatever. It usually starts somewhere, and that’s what this play is about,” Lindsay told us at the time meeting The three actors recently met for morning tea in a penthouse at The Londoner, a chic hotel on the edge of Leicester Square.
Balogun who appeared big boy and was praised for his portrayal of a working-class black man in Death of England: Delroy by Clint Dyer and Roy Williams at the National, said he was impressed with the scale and scope the Lehman Trilogy, “Probably a piece about finances. If you take it back to basics, it’s almost modern game of thrones. It’s about power and money.”
Lindsay saw the original version at the National. Later, when he saw Mendes in the theater’s Green Room, he jokingly wondered why he hadn’t been cast. “I told him: ‘I’ve been a banker for three years, I’m Jewish…’ He just smiled. This time when I saw Sam, he said, “I remember the conversation we had. I thought, ‘Oh yes, Nigel. He likes it,” Lindsay recalls.
Lindsay went to the City of London as an analyst for Suisse Bank for three and a half years. “I knew everything. But I spoke French. I had this interview and the first question they asked was, “What do you know about OPUL?” Of course I didn’t know anything.”
When asked if he was fine, Lindsay replied: “I was awful.” The worse I got, the more they put my money into it. You fired 150 people and not me. I said, “Are you crazy! I’m the worst person!”
Fraser, now laughing, cut him off, saying: “There are versions of Nigel still running the stock market, and that’s why we’re where we are.”
Balogun also had banking experience. He worked in retail banking for two years and was later promoted to Relationship Manager for NatWest Bank. “That was before the 2008 accident,” he said, quickly adding that he was not responsible.
Fraser was not involved. “I have no background in banking, finance, anything. I have nothing to contribute, I feel like a fraud,” he said with mocking indignation.
However, he admitted that he had a piggy bank and postal savings account. “That’s it,” he shrugged.
However, having an industry background covering the piece is not necessarily helpful. Like I said, it’s not about banking.
And to portray the characters across multiple generations, spanning 150 years, the actors had to be skilled in shape-shifting and physical dexterity, and the three actors have that expertise.
Fraser has performed in two Donmar Warehouse Theater productions in the Donmar and West End for musicals City of Angels, played dual roles effortlessly and went back and forth between musicals and dramas; Lindsay, who was from the West End Shrekwith the best, as he did when he played a British jihadist in the satire Four lions. Balogun was magnetic Death of England: Delroyand a riot in various roles in a touring production of the play people, places and things. “We have it,” said Balogun.
They have the skills and are ready to go.
And with the world in a kind of financial downturn, the play offers some insight. “It’s always human,” Fraser said.
“It is very easy to see these institutions as banks and ignore that they are made up of people. All the things you hear on the news, you know, the markets and all that stuff. A bank is made of people and it becomes inhuman as it grows and as it falls apart the collateral becomes human and that was so moving to me. [the play]Fraser told us.
The actor will play a police officer in the six-part BBC One and Paramount+ drama the gold, about the so-called “Crime of the Century” Brink’s Mat gold theft near Heathrow Airport in 1983. Starring Dominic Cooper, Hugh Bonneville, Jack Lowden, Charlotte Spencer and Sean Harris.
The Lehman Trilogy The cast will be joined on stage by pianist Yshani Perinpanayagam.
The creative team includes: set designer Es Devlin, costume designer Katrina Lindsay; video designer Luke Halls; lighting designer Jon Clark; composer and sound designer Nick Powell; associate sound designer, Dominic Bilkey; Conductor, Candida Caldicot. Movement Director, Polly Bennett. West End director Zoe Ford Burnett.
Voice work by Chairmian Hoare. Cast by Jessica Ronane.
Author: Baz Bamigboye
Source: Deadline
Kenneth Weaver is an author at “The Fashion Vibes”. He focuses on writing about celebrity-related news, keeping his readers up to date with the latest happenings in the entertainment industry. With a keen eye for detail and a passion for writing, Kenneth brings his unique perspective to every article he writes, making him a trusted source for all things celebrity.
