April 4-21, the Ensemble Theatre Company (ETC) will present a new production of “The Lehman Trilogy” (2022) by Stefano Massini, translated and condensed by Ben Power, directed by Oánh Nguyên, and starring Troy Blendell, Chris Butler and Leo Marks.

“The Lehman Trilogy,” which won the 2022 Tony Award for “Best Play,” is the epic — indeed, the epithet, “Homeric,” would not be misplaced — saga of the rise to dominance and the eventual dissolution of the Lehman brothers’ business enterprises, from 1850 —when the concern “Lehman Bros.” was formed in Montgomery, Alabama, by Henry, Emanuel, and Mayer Lehman, sons of a Jewish German cattle merchant — until the collapse of the derivatives market in 2008 drove the firm into bankruptcy (although no member of the Lehman family had been actively involved with the partnership since 1959).
 
Power’s translation cuts the Italian original’s five hours into three, but still, you might be forgiven for thinking that a three-hour play in which three actors play all the parts, speaking in what amounts to blank verse — a play, moreover, in which there is virtually no action or sexual tension (except as is narrated in the dialogue), and which, on paper, seems as static as a tragedy by Aeschylus — might not be your cup of tea.

Those were my reservations, anyway, and yet, as with my feelings going into Ronald F. Maxwell‘s four-hour, 14 minute “Gettysburg” (the longest film released theatrically by a major film studio in the United States), my misgivings vanished in the first few minutes, as the characters began to speak, and I was held spellbound from start to finish.
 
My reference to Aeschylus was not random: the Lehman family history bends inevitably towards Nemesis. “The Lehman Trilogy” — it might almost be called “The Lehmaniad” — is a tour de force and a once-in-a-lifetime theatrical experience.
 
“The Lehman Trilogy” plays Wednesdays and Thursdays at 6:30 p.m., Fridays and Saturdays at 7 p.m., and Sundays at 1 p.m., with added performances at 7 p.m. on Sunday, April 7, 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 9, 1 p.m. Saturday, April 13, and 1 p.m. Wednesday, April 17: all in the New Vic Theater, 33 W. Victoria St., Santa Barbara.
 
Tickets are $40-$86 (all patrons 35 and under are always $35; student tickets are $25), and can be purchased by calling 805-965-5400, or online at www.etcsb.org.