A play about Enron, in
Having covered the five-month trial of Skilling and former Enron Chairman Ken Lay in Houston in 2004, and having sat through their dramatic sentencing hearing just weeks before Ken Lay suddenly died, I feel as though I have already seen at least one version of "Enron."
Encountering Skilling in the hallways of the federal building in downtown
On a personal level, though, Skilling was a non-threatening guy, un-intimidating at five foot 7 or 8 inches, a guy you knew had worked hard -- what with the contact lenses and the hair plugs -- to escape his early nerdishness and become a guy you could barely understand when he told a ballroom of conference attendees how his company had become "asset lite" and that big energy companies like Exxon should somehow follow suit.
When Enron declared bankruptcy, it listed almost $70 billion in real physical assets strewn around the globe, entire electric grids and pipeline networks in a number of countries. Maybe Skilling was just punking Exxon.
According to the review in The Times of
The Times says the play is about a man "whose impatience with playing by the rules is first the making and then the ruin of him." The director is quoted as saying, "We'd always said: 'Is this Richard III or is it the fall of
"Enron" is headed soon to
There is a chance of yet another Enron performance, though. In the first week of March, the US Supreme Court is going to hear Skilling's lawyer, Daniel Petrocelli, argue that Skilling deserves to have his conviction vacated or, at least be given a new trial.
Imagine that: "Enron" running on Broadway, while a retrial drama runs in
Saw this production in London and will see it again in NY. The whole show was really well done. The plot remained very true to how events were reported. There were also quite a few memorable visuals and excellent acting overall.