"Fiddler On The Roof" - Woodland Opera House

Friday night brought a wave of nostalgia, watching "Fiddler On The Roof" at the Woodland Opera House. The first musical theatrical production I ever had the joy to appear in was the same show, on the same stage, in 1997. Indeed, several of the same people were involved in this production as last time: Joe Schulte as Lazar Wolf (previously, 'Tevye') and Micail Buse as The Rabbi (both shows!). In addition, Jon Mounts played Avram the Bookseller in this show as well as the 2003 DMTC production of 'Fiddler.' Jeff Kean directed both productions.

Darryl Strohl was a fine Bottle Dancer - he's limber and energetic. I really liked Monika Neal's double (or was it triple?) inside pirouette during her dance - it's freakin' scary to do that so close to the stage's edge! In general, though, the dancing in this production was considerably more conservative than in the 1997 production, including the 'Bottle Dance', and 'To Life'. To some, this was a blessing: Micail Buse broke his nose during 'To Life' in 1997, forcing him to use gobs of latex to cover the wound in 'The Dream' (which follows 'To Life', after the intermission). Not surprisingly, Micail said he preferred the 2006 'Fiddler' to the 1997 production (although, as he should recall, the 1997 nosebreak did correct an even earlier nosebreak, which for many years had limited nasal breathing to just one nostril, and finally allowed him to breathe again freely out of both nostrils).

Eva Sarry is listed as choreographer (or actually not as choreographer, but rather in standard MTI-contract language as 'original choreography reproduced by'). I prefer every show to have a choreographer - I think even if a 'traditional' show, there is no merit to mindlessly follow past practices. In 1997, Pam Kay Lourentzos was choreographer. A standard criticism of Pam's methods has been that she over-choreographs shows, but I think that's preferable to the alternative of not trying new things out.

I liked Bethany Pedersen (Tzeitel) and Monika Neal (Chava) just fine, but of Tevye's primary daughters, on Friday night, I thought Julia Mosby (Hodel) was the most effective - perhaps it was because she was more sombre than the others. I thought that Bethany had trouble with the acting as she pleaded with Tevye to allow her to marry Motel, The Tailor - she seemed tentative in hugging Tevye's legs. But apparently there was some backstage drama there - on Saturday I learned that Bethany had been battling illness earlier that week, and so we were lucky to have her there at all.

Regarding Motel, the Tailor, there is a fine line he has to tread, to neither be over-intimidated by Tevye, nor too belligerent in speaking back. I thought Clocky McDowell played the role a shade too belligerent, not waiting long enough to speak back to Tevye. Nevertheless, and as always, Clocky's energetic interpretation of the role commanded admiring attention!

I was surprised to learn Buffee Gillihan played Fruma-Sarah - did not recognize her! Her entrance, from below, was very powerful, but unlike other productions, she was not portrayed as a giantess, which had the benefit of allowing more movement, but also stripped away her intimidating aura.

In 'To Life', the role of Sasha was split with Kyle Hadley (as Fyedka) handling the singing, and Darryl Strohl doing the dancing.

Scott Woodard played Perchick a bit too in-the-moment for my taste - the puritanical idealism was overshadowed by too much enjoyment. To me, Perchick is best played as somewhat stiff and humorless - a proto-Strelnikoff (from Pasternak's book and the 1964 movie 'Dr. Zhivago').

Jeff Nauer played a fine Tevye - a different interpretation than most, but very well done. Nancy Agee has a fine voice for Golde, but I thought she was a bit imperious (maybe to compensate for Jeff Nauer's lack of imperiousness as Tevye???)

In general, this production was very 'goyish' - sounding off-key on a lot of Jewish themes, but that was a major criticism of the 1997 production as well (indeed, in 1997, Lenore Sebastian left the production during rehearsals, in protest). The problem, then and now, isn't a lack of goodwill, it's a lack of Jews. Yolo County theater is just a little too WASPish for some shows - too few Jews, blacks, Hispanics, gays - gays? Gays? Nah, I think we're OK there......

The music was wonderful (there was an accordion!) - I liked watching Erik Daniell's lilting hands against the lit stage as he conducted the orchestra.

In addition to actors from 1997, there were other DMTC favorites (Bruce Wallace, Jon Mounts) and WOH favorites (Matt Taloff).

Joelle Wirth played a fine Yente. I thought she wasn't quite ethnic enough, and too young, but she attacked the role with humor and energy.