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October 29, 2021

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Thanks for this. I'm sharing the link with one of my students who recently saw the play in NYC. While I know that elements of history and hard facts have to be reworked in order to create a cohesive and dramatically engaging story, on stage or on film, it gripes me when people play fast and loose with facts in order to push a sociopolitical point of view.
Of course, it matters whether the work presents itself as largely historical, or fiction-inspired-by-history. The movie "Chinatown," for example, is the latter -- none of the characters have real-life counterparts; all the character names and many plot elements are entirely invented. Here, on the other, the playwright -- and before that the author -- propose to tell the story of real people. So... The production hasn't come to L.A. yet but I'm glad to be apprised before-hand that the material's slanted a certain way. If someone's working an angle I like to know it.

Thank you very much for your posting, David. I was thinking of trying to see the play, but I'm going to give it a miss. In light of the ticket prices, my bank account also thanks you. Lots of high flyers of many kinds in your family! How about writing a nice, long Department of Clarifications fact piece in The New Yorker?

I never realized you were a Lehman Lehman. Silly of me. But poets and bankers don't necessarily go together. I salute you.

Caroline Seebohm, (a banker's daughter)

Thank you for your comments. Because of the apparent credibility of the persona I take in writing about "The Lehman Trilogy," I have appended a clarification. As it happens I know a lot about the Lehmans. I was always curious about my namesake and have done a lot of reading. Stacey and I share the feeling that the play's depiction of Robert Lehman in particular was shabby and that making Lehman Brothers a metonym for Wall Street's periodic breakdowns since 1987 is bogus. That tickets cost an astronomical amount is an irony worth mentioning.

Wonderful piece, David!!

Thank you for a marvelous review!

Thank you, Denise. . . and Bruce. . .

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That Ship Has Sailed
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"Lively and affectionate" Publishers Weekly

Radio

I left it
on when I
left the house
for the pleasure
of coming back
ten hours later
to the greatness
of Teddy Wilson
"After You've Gone"
on the piano
in the corner
of the bedroom
as I enter
in the dark


from New and Selected Poems by David Lehman

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