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Since its American debut at the Park Avenue Armory last month, “The Lehman Trilogy” has had New Yorkers of a certain breed held tightly at the forearms. A play about money and decline, it has been chewed over by those still on top.

The show was virtually sold out long before it opened, with tickets for the best seats costing more than $400. Tickets for some of the final performances have now reached $2,000 on StubHub, at which point you might consider flying to London — the production returns there next month — spending a night at Claridge’s and buying a royal-baby saltshaker with whatever is left.

We are lingering in a moment in which there is a fashion, or even a giddiness, for spending large sums of money on theatrical experiences that explore the foundations and promises of American capitalism. Commenting on the success of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s singular effort in this vein, The Harvard Business Review ran a piece three years ago titled: “Hamilton’s $849 Tickets Are Priced Too Low.” The point was that there were so many people with plenty of money desperate to see the show that too much power was redounding to scalpers.

But the fact that there were — and remain — so many people willing to spend so many hundreds or even thousands of dollars on a single evening of live theater suggests something else as well. Technology has so democratized the consumption of culture — much of it of impressively high quality — that it is possible for virtually anyone to stream nearly anything at any time. Naturally, a new system of status was bound to evolve. The housekeeper can watch “The Crown,” but only the mistress of the penthouse can see the musical sensation that has won 11 Tony Awards on her own schedule.