8 THENEWYORKER,OCTOBER11, 2021
ILLUSTRATION BY SERGIY MAIDUKOV
Is the story of American capitalism the story of the Lehman brothers?
In 1844, Henry Lehman, the son of a Bavarian cattle merchant, immi-
grated to the United States and started a drygoods shop in Montgomery,
Alabama. He was soon joined by his brothers Emanuel and Mayer,
and their new business began trading cotton from slave plantations. By
2008, Lehman Brothers was the fourth-largest investment bank in the
country—with six hundred and nineteen billion dollars of debt—and
its epic collapse helped spark a global financial crisis. Stefano Massini’s
play “The Lehman Trilogy,” adapted by Ben Power and directed by Sam
Mendes, traces that centuries-long arc. After a different kind of ca-
tastrophe forestalled the show’s Broadway run, in March of last year, the
acclaimed production—which has played at London’s National Theatre,
the Park Avenue Armory, and in London’s West End—finally comes to
the Nederlander (in previews, opening Oct. 14), starring Simon Russell
Beale, Adam Godley, and Adrian Lester.—Michael SchulmanONBROADWAY
1
DANCE
New York City Ballet
This fall season at City Ballet is one of returns
and farewells. Four dancers are retiring, two of
them this week. The loss of Lauren Lovette, a
dancer of great poetry and imagination, will
be felt keenly, particularly in ballets such as
“Afternoon of a Faun,” “Namouna,” and “Ser-
enade.” The latter is included in her farewell
program, presented at the matinée on Satur-
day (Oct. 9). But don’t cry for Lovette—she is
departing to focus on her burgeoning choreo-
graphic career. That evening, Ask la Cour, one
of the company’s most dependable cavaliers,
also takes his leave, in a program that includes
Christopher Wheeldon’s “After the Rain” pas
de deux and the limpid Balanchine pairing of
“Monumentum pro Gesualdo” and “Move-
ments for Piano and Orchestra.”—Marina
Harss (nycballet.com)Richard Move and MoveOpolis!
Conceived, directed, and choreographed by
Richard Move, “Herstory of the Universe@
Governors Island” takes place, naturally, on
Governors Island, Oct. 9 and Oct. 16. Each
of its six sections takes advantage of a differ-
ent site: the brick buildings and pathways of
Nolan Park, the nooks of Hammock Grove,
the wind-exposed contours and city views
of the Hills. Dramatically costumed cast
members—Megumi Eda, PeiJu Chien-Pott,
and Natasha M. Diamond-Walker, among
others—respond to the environment, even
as they embody goddesses and angels.—Brian
Seibert (govisland.org)“Swing Out”
Best known as a bright young talent in contem-
porary tap dance, Caleb Teicher is also a force
in bringing present-day swing dance to the
stage. The form, born in the nineteen-twenties
and thirties, is often approached as period-cos-
tume historical, but this show, at the Joyce
Theatre, Oct. 5-17, treats the Lindy Hop as
alive. The creators and performers, called the
Braintrust—who, in addition to Teicher, in-
clude Nathan Bugh, Evita Arce, Macy Sullivan,
and the extraordinary LaTasha Barnes—are
highly knowledgeable about tradition yet open
to change, most visibly in a flexibility around
gender roles. In conversation with live music
by the Eyal Vilner Big Band, they improvise
the dance into our time.—B.S. (joyce.org)anti-spectacle. Most of the action takes place
in a small apartment where two unnamed
songwriters (Ben Fankhauser and Alex Wyse,
who also wrote the book, the music, and the
lyrics) are trying to work up a jingle for the
washed-up diva Regina Comet (a very funny
Bryonha Marie Parham). The songwriters
mostly fail at the writing, but they succeed in
straining their partnership. All three deliver
jokes in plump clusters. The shtick is better
than the songs in this fleet, funny show, at
DR2; at eighty minutes, it’s only got time to
set ’em up and knock ’em down. Fankhauser
and Wyse have put a fresh spin on old ethnic
archetypes: two Jewish guys (proud alums of
“Camp Rosenblatt”) write for Black talent
and, by slow degrees, make good.—Vinson
Cunningham (Through Nov. 14.)
Hindsight
How to write a political play? This show, pre-
sented by Fault Line Theatre, at the Paradise
Factory, and written by Alix Sobler—who
also stars, anxiously, as the Playwright—re-
veals just how fraught and difficult the job
is, especially if you think politics depends
on truth. The Playwright, laptop always in
tow, frets through the composition of a play
about the Fairness Doctrine, whose abolition,
in 1987, may or may not have landed us in the
hot epistemic water we’re wading through
today. That “may or may not” is the uncertain
axis on which Sobler brilliantly makes the
audience swing. Those clichéd and much de-
rided “both sides” multiply deviously. Under
the direction of Aaron Rossini, a wonder-
fully versatile and antic ensemble—Andrea
Abello, Craig Wesley Divino, Lynnette R.
Freeman, Daniel Pearce, and Luis Vega—al-
ternates roles impressively, playing the top
brass of the F.C.C. as well as the Playwright’s
news-poisoned family. See “Hindsight” to
watch that pit in your stomach be turned into
art.—V.C. (Through Oct. 23.)Persuasion
Bubbles of grace rise to the surface in this
new adaptation of Jane Austen’s final novel,
thanks largely to delightful comic turns from
Annabel Capper, as Lady Russell, and from
Caroline Grogan and Claire Hsu, as the sisters
Henrietta and Louisa Musgrove. But Bedlam’soverlong production, at the Connelly Theatre,
never coalesces into a satisfying whole, and
it’s unlikely to match the popularity of the
company’s adaptation of “Sense and Sensi-
bility.” The playwright Sarah Rose Kearns
and the director Eric Tucker attempt to tread
a thin line between irreverence and defer-
ence and end up in a disappointing middle.
This might be easier to overlook were there
greater sparks between Arielle Yoder’s Anne
Elliot and Rajesh Bose’s Captain Wentworth.
The pair is among Austen’s most intriguing
romantic couples, with a melancholia-tinged
love born of missed opportunities. Unfortu-
nately, the two actors never quite find that
bittersweet yearning.—Elisabeth Vincentelli
(Through Oct. 31.)