''For the film, see
Fiddler on the Roof (film)''
'''Fiddler on the Roof''' is a
musical with music by
Jerry Bock,
lyrics by
Sheldon Harnick, and book by
Joseph Stein, set in
Tsarist
Russia in
1905. Originally entitled ''Tevye'', the musical is based on ''
Tevye and his Daughters'', or ''Tevye the Milkman'', and other stories originally published by the
Russian
Jewish author
Sholom Aleichem in 1894.
[1] The story centers on
Tevye, the father of five daughters, and his attempts to maintain his family and religious traditions while the world and civilization around him change rapidly. He must cope with both the strong-willed actions of his three older daughters — each daughter's choice of husband moves progressively further and further away from established custom — and with the edict of the
Tsar that upends his village.
The original
Broadway production of the show, in 1964, was the first Broadway musical to surpass the 3,000 performance mark, and it held the record for longest-running Broadway musical in history for almost 10 years until ''
Grease'' surpassed its run. The production earned $1,574 for every dollar invested in it.
[2] The show was nominated for ten
Tony Awards, winning nine, including Best Musical, score, book, direction and choreography. It spawned four Broadway revivals, a successful
1971 film adaptation, and has enjoyed enduring international popularity.
The play's title stems from a painting by
Marc Chagall, one of many surreal paintings he created of Eastern European Jewish life. The Fiddler is a metaphor of survival, through tradition and joyfulness, in a life of uncertainty and imbalance. Stein created a version of the show called ''Fiddler on the Roof, Jr.'' for elementary and middle schools that cuts out a few of the scenes, including the dream sequence.
Productions
;1964 Broadway production
The original Broadway production opened on
September 22 1964 at the
Imperial Theatre, transferred in 1967 to the
Majestic Theatre and in 1970 to
The Broadway Theatre, and ran for a total of 3,242 performances. The production was directed and choreographed by
Jerome Robbins – his last Broadway staging. Original producer
Fred Coe was replaced by producer
Harold Prince. The cast included
Zero Mostel as Tevye the milkman,
Maria Karnilova as his wife Golde (each of whom won a Tony for their performances),
Beatrice Arthur as Yente the
matchmaker,
Austin Pendleton as Motel,
Bert Convy as Perchik the student revolutionary and
Julia Migenes as Hodel. Joanna Merlin originated the role of Tzeitel, which was later assumed by
Bette Midler during the original run.
Adrienne Barbeau took a turn as Hodel, and
Pia Zadora played the youngest daughter, Bielke. Other stage actors who have played Tevye include
Theodore Bikel and
Leonard Nimoy.
;1967 London production
The original
West End production opened on February 16, 1967 at
Her Majesty's Theatre and played for 2,030 performances. It starred
Chaim Topol, who would also play Tevye in the 1971 film adaptation and the 1990 Broadway revival, and
Miriam Karlin as Golde.
Alfie Bass eventually took over as Tevye. The show was revived in London in for short seasons in 1983 at The Apollo Victoria Theatre and in 1994 at The London Palladium.
;1976 Broadway revival
A Broadway revival opened on December 28, 1976 and ran for 176 performances at the
Winter Garden Theatre. Zero Mostel starred as Tevye. Robbins directed and choreographed.
;1981 Broadway revival
A second Broadway revival opened on July 9, 1981 and ran for 53 performances at
Lincoln Center's
New York State Theater. It starred
Herschel Bernardi as Tevye and Karnilova as Golde. Robbins directed and choreographed.
;1990 Broadway revival
A third Broadway revival opened on November 18, 1990 and ran for 241 performances at the
George Gershwin Theatre. Topol starred as Tevye and
Marcia Lewis was Golde. Robbins production was reproduced by Ruth Mitchell and choreographer Sammy Dallas Bayes. The production won the Tony Award for Best Revival.
;2004 Broadway revival
A fourth Broadway revival opened on February 26, 2004 and ran for 36 previews and 781 performances at the
Minskoff Theatre.
Alfred Molina, and later
Harvey Fierstein, starred as Tevye; and
Randy Graff, and later
Andrea Martin and
Rosie O'Donnell, was Golde. It was directed by
David Leveaux. The production was nominated for six Tonys but did not win any.
;2007 London revival
After a two-month tryout at the Crucible Theatre in
Sheffield, England, a London revival opened on
May 19 2007 at the
Savoy Theatre starring
Henry Goodman as Tevye,
Beverley Klein as Golde,
Victor McGuire as Lezar Wolf and
Julie Legrand as Yente. It is directed by
Lindsay Posner. Robbins' choreography is recreated by Sammy Dallas Bates, with additional choreography by Kate Flatt.
[3]
Synopsis
Act I
As a lone fiddler stands on a roof playing a tune, Tevye, the philosophical village milkman, explains the customs of the Jewish people and their lives in the Russian ''
shtetl'' of Anatevka, where life is as precarious as that of a fiddler on a roof ("Tradition"). At Tevye's home, everyone is busy preparing for the
Sabbath meal. His sharp-tongued wife, Golde, orders their five daughters, Tzeitel, Hodel, Chava, Sprintze, and Bielke, about their tasks.
Yente, the village
matchmaker, arrives to tell Golde that Lazar Wolf, the town's wealthy butcher, a widower of Tevye's age, wants to wed Tzeitel, their eldest daughter. Tevye must be persuaded to meet Lazar to arrange the marriage. The two middle daughters, Hodel and Chava, speculate excitedly about what their mother and the matchmaker were talking about, but the eldest daughter Tzeitel warns them not be so hasty. They are poor, so their parents will have no choice but to take whatever husband Yente brings ("Matchmaker"). Tzeitel is not eager to have a match found for her, as she is already in love with the tailor, Motel Kamzoil, her friend since childhood.
Tevye's horse is lame, and he must pull the cart himself. He asks God, who it would hurt "
If I Were a Rich Man?" The men of the village confront Tevye, as he is late delivering their milk and cheese. Avram, the bookseller, has news from the outside world about
pogroms and expulsions. A student from
Kiev, Perchik, newly arrived in town, hears their conversation and scolds them for doing nothing more than talk. The men dismiss Perchik as a radical, but Tevye takes a liking to him and invites him home, offering him room and board in exchange for tutoring his two youngest daughters. Motel also joins the family for dinner. Golde tells Tevye to meet Lazar after the Sabbath but does not tell him why, knowing that Tevye does not like Lazar. Tzeitel is afraid that Yente will find her a husband before Motel asks Tevye for her hand. Motel is very shy and afraid of Tevye's temper, and tradition says that a matchmaker arranges marriages. Motel, who is poor, is saving up for a sewing machine and wants to buy it before he approaches Tevye. The family gathers around for the "Sabbath Prayer."
After the Sabbath, Tevye goes to meet Lazar at Mordcha's inn, where many of the villagers are drinking, including a group of non-Jews. Teyve assumes incorrectly that Lazar wants to buy his milk cow. After the misunderstanding is cleared up, Tevye agrees to let Lazar marry Tzeitel – with a rich man, he knows that his daughter will never starve. All join in the celebration of Lazar's good fortune. The Russian youths at the inn join in the celebration and show off their dancing skills ("To Life"). Outside the inn, Tevye bumps into the Russian Constable, who has jurisdiction over the Jews in the town. The Constable warns him that there is going to be a "demonstration" in the coming weeks (a
euphemism for a minor
pogrom). The Constable has sympathy for the Jewish community but is powerless to prevent the violence.
The next morning, a
hungover Tevye delivers the news to the family that he has agreed that Tzeitel will marry Lazar Wolf. Golde is overjoyed, but Tzeitel is horrified and pleads with Tevye not to make her marry Lazar. Motel arrives and gathers the courage to tell Tevye that he and Tzeitel gave each other a pledge to marry. Tevye is outraged at this breach of tradition, but Motel argues that even a poor tailor is entitled to some happiness. Tevye is impressed when the formerly-unassertive young tailor stands up for himself. He relents ("Tevye's Monologue") but worries about how to break the news to Golde. An overjoyed Motel celebrates with Tzeitel ("
Miracle of Miracles").
Tevye is struck with inspiration: he tells Golde that he has had a dream in which Golde's Grandmother Tzeitel returned from the grave to bless the marriage of her namesake, Tzeitel, but to Motel, not to Lazar. In the dream, Lazar's late (but fearsome) wife, Fruma Sarah, also rises from the grave to warn, in graphic terms, of severe retribution if Tzeitel marries Lazar ("Tevye's Dream"). Frightened, Golde agrees that Tzeitel must marry Motel. While returning from town, Tevye's middle daughter, the bookish
Chava, is teased and intimidated by some Russian youths, but one of them,
Fyedka, protects her, dismissing the others. He offers Chava the loan of a book, and a secret relationship begins.
The wedding day of Tzeitel and Motel arrives, and all the Jews join to celebrate ("
Sunrise, Sunset") and dance ("The Wedding Dance"). Lazar gives a fine gift, but he and Tevye argue over the broken agreement. Perchik ends the tiff by breaking another tradition: he crosses the barrier between the men and women and dances with Tevye's daughter Hodel. The celebration ends abruptly when a group of Russians rides into the village to perform the "demonstration". They disrupt the party, damaging the wedding gifts and wounding Perchik, who attempts to fight back, and wreaking more destruction in the village. Ever practical, Tevye advises everyone to clean up the mess.
Act II
Months later, Perchik tells Hodel he must return to Kiev to work for the
revolution. He proposes marriage, admitting that he loves her, and says that he will send for her. She agrees ("Now I Have Everything"). They tell Tevye that they are engaged, and he is appalled that they are flouting tradition by making their own match, especially as Perchik is leaving. When he forbids the marriage, Perchik and Hodel inform him that they do no seek his permission, only his
blessing. After some soul searching, Tevye finally relents – the world is changing, and he must change with it ("Tevye's Rebuttal").
Tevye explains these events to an astonished Golde. "Love", he says, "it's the new style." Tevye asks Golde, "Do You Love Me?" After 25 years of living and struggling together and raising five daughters, she admits that she does. Other events are moving apace. Yente tells Tzeitel that she saw Chava with Fyedka. News spreads quickly in Anatevka ("The Rumor"). Perchik has been arrested and exiled to
Siberia, and Hodel is determined to join him there. At the railway station, she explains to her father that her home is with her beloved wherever he may be, yet she will always love her family ("Far from the Home I Love").
Weeks pass, and Chava finally gathers the courage to ask Tevye to allow her marriage to Fyedka. Again Tevye reaches deep into his soul, but marriage outside the Jewish
faith is a line that he cannot cross. He forbids Chava ever to speak to Fyedka again. When Golde brings the news that Chava has eloped with Fyedka, Tevye wonders where he went wrong ("Chava Sequence"). Chava returns and tries to reason with him, but he refuses to speak to her and tells the rest of the family to consider her dead. Meanwhile, rumors are spreading of the Russians forcing Jewish villagers to leave their villages. While the villagers are gathered, the Constable arrives to tell everyone that they have three days to pack up and leave the town. In shock, they reminisce about the miserable town, and how hard it will be to leave what has for so long been their home ("Anatevka").
As the Jews leave Anatevka, Chava and Fyedka stop to tell her family that they too are leaving. Her mother and sisters are afraid to talk to her with Tevye present. Although Tevye does not speak directly to Chava, he mutters, "God be with you." As Tevye and his family leave the village for America, the fiddler begins to play. Tevye beckons with a nod, and the fiddler follows them out of the village.
Songs
;Act I
# Tradition — Tevye and the Company
# Matchmaker, Matchmaker — Tzeitel, Hodel, and Chava (sometimes also the youngest daughters)
# If I Were a Rich Man — Tevye
# Sabbath Prayer — Tevye, Golde, and the Company
# To Life — Tevye, Lazar Wolf, and the Company
# Tevye's Monolgue — Tevye
# Miracle of Miracles — Motel, Tzeitel
# Tevye's Dream — Tevye, Golde, Grandma Tzeitel, Fruma Sarah, and the Company
# Sunrise, Sunset — Tevye, Golde, Perchik, Hodel, and the Company
# The Bottle Dance — Instrumental: four or more dancers balance bottles on their heads as they perform a dance
|
;Act II
# Now I Have Everything — Perchik and Hodel
# Tevye's Rebuttal — Tevye
# Do You Love Me? — Tevye and Golde
# The Rumor — Yente and Avram
# Far From the Home I Love — Hodel
# Yente — Yente and the Women
# Chava Sequence — Tevye, while Golde and the oldest three daughters and their husbands dance in the background
# Anatevka — The Company
|
★ The 2004 revival featured a song sung by Yente and some women of the village entitled "Topsy Turvy," discussing the disappearing role of the
matchmaker in society.
Awards
The Broadway production won nine
Tony Awards:
★ Best Musical
★ Composer and lyricist: Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick
★ Leading actor: Zero Mostel
★ Featured actress: Maria Karnilova
★ Author:
Joseph Stein
★ Producer:
Harold Prince
★ Director:
Jerome Robbins
★ Choreographer:
Jerome Robbins
★ Costume designer: Patricia Zipprodt
Film version
The film won three
Academy Awards, including one for arranger-conductor
John Williams. Recording was done at
Pinewood Studios in
Buckinghamshire, England. Most of the exterior shots were done in
Croatia:
Mala Gorica,
Lekenik, and
Zagreb.
Cultural influence
★ In the late 1960s, ''
Mad Magazine'' published a parody of ''Fiddler'' called ''Antenna on the Roof'', which speculated about the lives of Tevye's descendents living in an assimilated 1960s suburban America.
★ In 1964, jazz saxophonist
Cannonball Adderley recorded an album entitled "Fiddler on the Roof," which featured jazz arrangements of eight songs from the musical. The album featured
Nat Adderley (trumpet),
Charles Lloyd (tenor saxphone, flute),
Joe Zawinul (piano),
Samuel Jones (Bass), and
Louis Hayes (drums) and was released by
Capitol Records.
★ A novelty rap act, Two Live Jews, recorded an album entitled "Fiddling With Tradition" in 1991 which featured rap interpretations of the musical's numbers, often incorporating the original choruses.
★ In
1999,
Knitting Factory Records released the ''Knitting on the Roof'' compilation CD, featuring covers of ''Fiddler'' songs by alternative bands such as
The Residents,
Negativland, and
The Magnetic Fields.
★
Indie rock band
Bright Eyes recorded an adaptation of "Sunrise, Sunset" on their
2000 album ''
Fevers and Mirrors''.
★ In
2005, Melbourne
punk band
Yidcore released a reworking of the entire show called
Fiddling On Ya Roof.
★ The H. P. Lovecraft Historical Society published a
parody of "Fiddler on the Roof", called "
A Shoggoth on the Roof", which incorporates the works of
H. P. Lovecraft. The parody was translated into Swedish and produced by the Swedish amateur theatrical company Teater Tentakel (sw. "En shoggoth på taket") during a Lovecraft convention called MiskatoniCon in 2005. It was finally performed in English at
Leprecon, the
Trinity College, Dublin Gamers society convention, on the 23rd and 25th February 2007, but with a new musical score.
★ The Broadway cast of the hit musical "Avenue Q" and the Broadway 2004 revival cast of "Fiddler on the Roof" got together for an AIDS benefit and produced an approximately 5-minute long show called "Avenue Jew" that incorporated both puppets and actors.
★
Paul Jennings' story Piddler on the Roof is a pun on the movie's name.
★ The
Santa Clara Vanguard Drum and Bugle Corps often performs music from Fiddler on the Roof, and the Bottle Dance has become one of the songs connected with the corps.
★ In 1993, ''If I Were A Rich Man'' was covered as a
ragga version by the British
Louchie Lou &
Michie One, as "Rich Girl".
Lady Saw covered it in 1999, as well as
Gwen Stefani and Eve for Stefani's debut solo album ''
Love. Angel. Music. Baby.'' in 2004.
★ The children's educational show
The Electric Company featured a song satire called ''Fiddler on the Chair.''
References
★
Broadway: the American musical, Kantor, Michael, , , Bulfinch Press, , ISBN 0-8212-2905-2
★
Playbill article about the original Broadway production
External links
★
★
Fiddler on the Roof - Insight on Tevye's Query
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