Fiddler on the Roof

Based on Sholem Aleichem stories by special permission of Arnold Perl

Book by Joseph Stein
Music by Jerry Bock
Lyrics by Sheldon Harnick

Performed
Performed August 11-14, 17-21, 24-28, 2004
at
The Boal Barn Playhouse

Production Staff

Director	Elaine Meder-Wilgus
Music Director	Russell Bloom
Scenic Designer	Anne Thompson
Costume Designer	Laura Lee Hanchar
Technical Director	Alexa Krepps
Choreographer	Jill A. Brighton
Lighting Designer	Matt Clark
Stage Manager	Louisa Smith
Apprentice Coordinator	William C. Muberger

About the Show

The opening number of a musical often defines the work that follows. Think of “Oh What a Beautiful Morning” (Oklahoma), “May We Entertain You” (Gypsy), “Willkornrnen” (Cabaret), and “Why Can’t the English” (My Fair Lady). The same holds true for Fiddler on the Roof “Tradition.” This is what Fiddler is about.

As Tevye explains, there is a tradition for everything – for eating, for sleeping, for dressing (covered heads, prayer shawls). “Everyone knows who he is and what God expects him to do.” In the course of the song, we are introduced to Tevye, his family, and all the townspeople. To the Jews in the small shtetl (village) of Anatevka, life is as precarious as being a fiddler on the roof. What makes life endurable, what gives the Jews of Anatevka balance, what is their strength – is tradition.

Although Fiddler concentrates on Tevye and his daughters – the original title of the show – at its heart is the community – the papas, the mamas, the sons, the daughters. Some of the best songs in Fiddler are communal numbers such as “Tradition”, “To Life”, and “Sunrise, Sunset”. Fiddler traces the breakdown of Orthodox Jewish tradition, symbolized most importantly by the fact that three of Tevye’s daughters marry against Orthodox Jewish custom, one even marrying outside her faith. But other traditions are broken. Men dance with women, Golde even dancing with Tevye.

Anatevka, of course, does not exist in a vacuum. This is Russia in 1905, a time of pogroms. An edict is proclaimed, and all must leave Anatevka, which in turn will be destroyed. Although Anatevka “is just a place”, to its Jews, this “little town of mine” is a “dear little village”. As the villagers leave at different times and in opposite directions, we see the break-up of the community. All that is left is the fiddler. On to a new life in America. On to new traditions.

Richard Gidez for SCCT

The Cast

Tevye	Jeff Brown
Golde	Debbie Meder
Tzeitel	Kristina Heinz
Hodel	Rebecca Ricker-Gilbert
Chava	Stephanie Shoffner
Shprintze	Anna Rockower
Bielke	Suzie Shoffner
Yente	Beth Resko
Motel	Eric Brinser
Perchik	Matthew Swope
Fyedka	Ben Thomas
Lazar Wolf	Scott Case
Rabbi	Barry Hutzell
Mendell	Regis Cleary
Constable	Lance Baird
Mordcha	Eric McGinnis
Shaindel	Cathy Hutzell
Avram	Andrew Kankey
Fruma-Sarah/Villager	Amelia McGinnis
Grandma Tzeitel/Villager	Bonnie Spetzer
Nachum/Villager	Eli Beers-Altman
Yussel/Villager	Jim Moser
Sasha	Mike Hill
Russians	Jason Adams James Hall
Villagers	Stephanie Baker Maggie Lee Ben Moser Deanalis Resto