The original Broadway production of "Fiddler on the Roof" (1964):
From Wikipedia:
The Lincoln Theater production is directed and choreographed by Jeff Teague. In general, Teague's production moves and flows very well on a fairly-small stage. Teague has an excellent eye for movement. (Friend and Choreographer Pam Lourentzos particularly praised Teague's choreography.) Musical Directon is by Bill Zinn. The Lincoln Theater production featured recorded rather than live music.
Book by Joseph Stein
Lyrics by Sheldon Harnick
Music by Jerry Bock
Entire Production Directed & Choreographed by Jerome Robbins
Fiddler on the Roof is based on Tevye (or Tevye the Dairyman) and his Daughters, a series of stories by Sholem Aleichem that he wrote in Yiddish between 1894 and 1914 about Jewish life in a village in the Pale of Settlement of Imperial Russia at the turn of the 20th century. The stories are based on Aleichem's own upbringing near modern-day Kyiv (fictionalized as Yehupetz). It is also influenced by Life is with People, by Mark Zborowski and Elizabeth Herzog. Aleichem wrote a dramatic adaptation of the stories that he left unfinished at his death, but which was produced in Yiddish in 1919 by the Yiddish Art Theater and made into a film in the 1930s. In the late 1950s, a musical based on the stories, called Tevye and his Daughters, was produced off-Broadway by Arnold Perl. Rodgers and Hammerstein and then Mike Todd briefly considered bringing this musical to Broadway but dropped the idea.
Investors and some in the media worried that Fiddler on the Roof might be considered "too Jewish" to attract mainstream audiences. Other critics considered that it was too culturally sanitized, "middlebrow" and superficial; Philip Roth, writing in The New Yorker, called it shtetl kitsch. For example, it portrays the local Russian officer as sympathetic, instead of brutal and cruel, as Sholom Aleichem had described him. Aleichem's stories ended with Tevye alone, his wife dead and his daughters scattered; at the end of Fiddler, the family members are alive, and most are emigrating together to America. The show found the right balance for its time, even if not entirely authentic, to become "one of the first popular post-Holocaust depictions of the vanished world of Eastern European Jewry". Harold Prince replaced the original producer Fred Coe and brought in director/choreographer Jerome Robbins. The writers and Robbins considered naming the musical Tevye, before landing on a title suggested by various paintings by Marc Chagall (Green Violinist (1924), Le Mort (1924), The Fiddler (1912)) that also inspired the original set design.
My attention was drawn to the Bottle Dance (I've done it myself twice; in 1997 and 2008). On September 16th the dancers managed to keep their bottles on their heads (although Matt Dunn's bottle was off-center and he had a terrible challenge to keep from dropping it), all succeeded! I was impressed how the costumes and the background set worked together in the wedding scene.
The central character in the musical is Tevye (played very well by Gary Giurbino). Tevye is earnest, active, doing his best to maintain Jewish traditions in an era when political violence and rapid changes systematically upended every tradition.
Tevye is ably assisted by his wife Golde (played by Rachel Rycerz). Rachel is a wonderful Golde, with the clearest singing voice and convincing familial center.
The three older daughters - Tzeitel (Leah Deutch), Hodel (Amanda Bistolfo), Chava (Sierra Nevin) - and their beaus - Motel (Jack Fidler), Perchik (Matthew Dunn), Fyedka (Drew Mayes) - are the familial flywheel that spins apart. All three daughters play their parts well. Deutch has a bright, winning personality. Bistolfo has an excellent singing voice and Nevin carries the difficult acting required to portray Chava's shunning.
There are several important character actors. The Fiddler (Kayden Dayog) has a larger and welcome presence in this production than in others I've seen. Karen Tricomo portrays Yente and her talkative ways (but had a tendency to wander off-script). The Constable (Adam Triplett) seemed measured but remote. Lazar (Jamesson Kaupanger), Rabbi (Steve Allison), and Mordcha (Travis Mononym) were ably played.
The Lincoln Theater production was dogged by difficulties, with the cast and crew catching Covid-19, among other problems. There were changes in the September 16th show that were significant. Fruma-Sarah was played, I believe, by Amanda Bistolfo. Mendel (Vikram Verma) was unable to finish the September 16th show
(More to come)
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Role Name
Hodel (Amanda Bistolfo)
Sasha (Brandon Hunter)
Yussell (Colin Monks)
Momma (Dawn Maurer)
Fyedka (Drew Mayes)
Tevye (Gary Giurbino)
Fruma-Sarah (Gracie Hollwager)
Motel (Jack Fidler)
Lazar (Jamesson Kaupanger)
Yente (Karen Tricomo)
Momma (Kasper Cummins-Rodriguez)
Momma, Grandma Tzietel (Kay Jones)
Fiddler (Kayden Dayog)
Daughter Ensemble (Kourtney Sebree)
Tzietel (Leah Deutch)
Shprintze (MaKenna Spencer)
Perchik (Matthew Dunn)
Avram (Matt Toto)
Belke (Persephone Hanks)
Golde (Rachel Rycerz)
Chava (Sierra Nevin)
Rabbi (Steve Allison)
Momma Ensemble (Susan M Stecz)
Momma Ensemble (Tea Hanks)
Mordcha (Travis Mononym)
Mendel (Vikram Verma)
Constable (Adam Triplett)
Position Name
Director/Choreographer Jeff Teague
Musical Director Bill Zinn
Stage Manager Patti Keeling-Haines
Set Designer Brandon Hunter, Jeff Teague
Costumer Laurel Krein
Lighting Designer Chris Moore
Sound Designer Paul Schechter
Executive Director Paul Schechter
Executive Producer Peggy Schechter
Props/Production Assistant Kate Abila
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