Review: Gripping ‘Lehman Trilogy’ exposes merciless world of Wall Street

The global economy is a runaway train barreling right into you and there’s nowhere to go but into the roar.

The evolution of the global stock market spins into being before our eyes in “The Lehman Trilogy,” a thrilling and trenchant financial drama that rides the roller coaster of the American economy as the Lehman brothers go from hawking cotton to helping carry the U.S. economy to the brink of collapse.

The monetary instruments they trade grow ever more sophisticated but the greed-is-good mantra never changes — from Wall Street to Silicon Valley.

Of course, every once in a while, the unchained pursuit of wealth upends our entire society. Stockbrokers jump off skyscrapers and homeowners lose the roofs over their heads but eventually the engine of big business revs up again and whirs faster than it did before. From the Great Depression or the Subprime Meltdown of 2008, one takeaway stays true: The poorest are usually the hardest hit while the richest often prosper.

“The Lehman Trilogy,” in its electric regional premiere at American Conservatory Theater, directed by the famed Sam Mendes, traces the birth of this financial empire from cotton fields and the slave trade to the time of digital day traders raiding the globe for profits with explosive results.

While it’s not as emotionally ferocious as some of Mendes’ previous musings on the dark side of materialism, such as “American Beauty,” the smarts, craft and ambition of this theatrical epic are undeniable.

The characters here are not as particularly compelling, especially in the first act, which is heavy on exposition. But the play builds momentum as it goes until it sweeps you away with its sheer theatrical audacity and intellectual daring.