Fiddler on the Roof

Fiddler on the Roof is playing at The Broadway Theatre located at 1681 Broadway (between 52nd and 53rd Street). The show runs two hours forty fine minutes with one intermission. It is an open ended run.

The original Broadway show opened on September 22, 1964 at the Imperial Theatre and transferred in 1976 to the Majestic Theatre and in 1970 to The Broadway Theatre. It is the first musical theater run to surpass 3,000 performances. The show held the record for almost ten years and is the 16th longest running show in history. When it closed it ran 3,242 performances. It was nominated for 10 Tony Awards and won nine. Zero Mostel (Tevye) and Maria Karnilova (Golde) won Tony Awards. Beatrice played Yente. There have been five revivals 1976, 1981, 1990, 2004 and 2005. Actors on Broadway to play Tevye were Herschel Bernard, Theodore Bikel, Harry Goz, Leonard Nimoy, Topol and Danny Burstein. In 1981 Herschel Bernard was nominated for a Tony Award, 1991 Topol was nominated for a Tony Award and it won A Tony Award for Bes t Revival and the 2004 production was nominated for six Tony Awards and three Drama Desk Awards.

A film was made of the show in 1971. It became the highest-grossing film of 1971.

Danny Burstein was nominated for five Tony Awards for Cabaret (2014), Golden Boy (2013), Follies (2012) South Pacific (2008) and The Drowsy Chaperone (2006).

Jessica Hecht was nominated for a Tony Award for A View of the Bridge (2010).

Bartlett B. Sher is the director. He has been nominated for seven Tony Awards. Bartlett won a Tony Award and Drama Desk Award for South Pacific in 2008. Bartlett was nominated for six Tony Awards for The King and I (2015), Bridges Over Madison County (2014), Golden Boy (2012), Joe Turner’s Come and Gone (2009), Clifford Odets’ Awake & Sing (2006) and The Light in the Piazza (2005).

Michael Yeargan is the scenic designer. He won two Tony Awards for South Pacific (2008) and The Light in the Piazza (2005).

Catherine Zuber is the costume designer. She has been nominated for eleven Tony Awards and won six. The six Tony Awards were for King & I (2015), The Royal Family (2010), South Pacific (2008), The Coast of Utopia (2007) Awake & Sing (2006) and The Light in the Piazza (2005). Catherine was nominated for five Tony Awards for How To Succeed in Business Without Trying; Born Yesterday (2011), Edward Albee’s Seascape (2006), Dinner at Eight (2003) and Twelfth Night (1999).

The story revolves around Tevye and his daughters. It takes place in the Pale Settlement of imperial Russia in 1905. In the settlement are people of the Jewish faith.

Tevye (Danny Burstein) and his wife Golde (Jessica Hecht) have five daughters. He is trying his best to keep tradition of carrying for five daughters. A match maker named Yentel (Alix Korey) will arrange for a husband for each daughter. Tevye is a poor dairy farmer. He is trying his best, however his older daughters have other ideas, tradition or not! Tzeitel (Tess Primack), Hodel (Julie Benko) and Chava (Melanie Moore) have other design on who they are to be matched with.

There is tension in the air. The Russian government has ideas on what will happen to the settlement and community.

What happens to the family and community you will have to see the show.

It has been a long time since I have seen the movie or Broadway show. It’s a classic worth seeing again. It is a well done revival. Danny Burstein rendition of Tradition and If I Were a rich man was brilliant. Jessica does an impressive job a Golde.

The only thing I think thatwould have made this production one of the best, is if the cast had accents. He seemed to lack something without it.

Review by Rozanna Radakovich

Photos by Annazor.

To read a candid interview with the cast, scroll down to the left for recent photos. Click on recent photos for this and other shows.