Artist:
Genre: Fiddler on the Roof
Background: Fiddler on the Roof was inarguably one of the most beloved stage musicals of the second half of the 20th century. Based on a series of short stories by Ukranian writer Sholom Aleichem (the "Jewish Mark Twain"), the Harold Prince production opened on Broadway in September 1964. More than seven years later, when Norman Jewison's screen version was released, millions around the world were already familiar with the story of Tevye and his family. The motion picture adaptation further widened Fiddler on the Roof's audience and increased interest in the long-running play.
Fiddler on the Roof takes place around 1910 in a small Ukranian village. It is an uncertain time. Unrest grips the country - unrest caused by the Pogroms (when Jews were driven en masse from their homes), rising anti-Tsarist sentiment (which would lead to the Revolution), and the approach of World War One. The historical realities of the time do not simply provide a colorful backdrop to this story; they are central to all that transpires. A central theme is how the old traditions are disintegrating under the pressure of a world culture that is being re-shaped by industrialization and mechanization.
One of those traditions is the means by which Jews have been married: a matchmaker chooses a wife for a man, the girl's father approves the match, and the ceremony is held. That's how Tevye (Topol) and his wife, Golde (Norma Crane), were united, and that's how the hard-working milkman believes his five daughters should find their husbands. But Tzeitel (Rosalind Harris) has other, modern ideas. She spurns Tevye's selection of a mate, the wealthy butcher Lazar Wolf (Paul Mann), in favor of her childhood sweetheart, the poor tailor Motel (Leonard Frey). Reluctantly, Tevye eventually assents to her choice, but, in doing so, he acknowledges the freedom of all his children. Subsequently, his second daughter, Hodel (Michele Marsh), decides to marry a young revolutionary, Perchik (Paul Michael Glaser). And Tzeitel and Hodel's younger sister, Chava (Neva Small), falls in love with a non-Jew by the name of Fyedka (Raymond Lovelock). This is one match that Tevye cannot countenance, and he warns of dire consequences if Chava goes through with the marriage.
It doesn't take long for the revival of the 1964 musical Fiddler on the Roof, which just opened at the Minskoff, to find its defining statement. It's spoken by the philosophizing milkman Tevye at the end of the first song, "Tradition": "Without our traditions, our lives would be as shaky as a fiddler on the roof!" Even with a few of those traditions visible onstage, this production is mighty shaky.
To find the reason, one need look no further than director David Leveaux. Yes, the man who thought Nine was about Lucite chairs, flying sheets, and splashing water also believes Fiddler on the Roof is about tilting floors, flying roofs, and the inveterate sorrow of humanity. Apparently, the idea that this show is about people experiencing tumultuous emotional and cultural changes didn't occur to him.
This makes watching the Sholom Aleichem-derived story about Tevye (Alfred Molina), his wife Golde (Randy Graff), and their daughters in the pre-revolution Russian town of Anatevka an often bewildering experience. One can't help but love the classic Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick score, with such great songs as "Matchmaker, Matchmaker" and "Sunrise, Sunset," or Joseph Stein's insightful, moving book, yet almost nothing about this production evokes real feelings of any sort.
