Fiddler on the Roof

‘Fiddler on the Roof’ is my all-time favourite show and having played Grandma Tzeitel, Yente and Golde I know it inside out. As it is based on the history of the Jews in Tsarist Russia over 100 years ago it does not lend itself to anything other than a traditional, (no pun intended) approach by the director and that is how Vanessa Hine dealt with it.

The opening scene with the fiddler was good and all the men appeared to have grown beards for the show. ‘Tradition’ is a moving and powerful number and the choreography was in keeping, but there were one or two people who were not sure when to put up their hands for ‘tradition’ which made it look a little messy. The singing was strong.

Costumes were suitable for the period and the men’s tallit looked like genuine ones. A further touch of authenticity was added by the couple of men who wore pe-ot.

Tevye is possibly the most coveted male role in musical theatre and the whole show hinges on his ability as both and actor and singer to be the epitome of a Jewish papa, exhibiting all the characteristics that entails. Strength, touched with well covered timidity when dealing with Golde, and tenderness when dealing with his daughters who want to break the long held traditions. Andrew Wilson did well in the role, his ‘If I were a rich man’ was sung with feeling and in the lower register his voice was superb. He could perhaps have been a little larger in the character from time to time, and I would have liked ‘God’ to have been higher up as when speaking to Him he appeared to be addressing the audience.

Sarah Wenban as Golde, was mostly convincing in her Jewish mannerisms and expression, and her singing was beautiful.

The eldest and first daughter to give Tevye a headache was Tzeitel and that role was played confidently and sung well by Samantha Johnson

Natalie Faulkner’s voice is lovely and as Hodel she had the beautiful song ‘Far from the home I love’ to sing as she left Tevye at the railway station. For me that’s the most moving song in the musical and she did sing it perfectly well, but she needed more help from the musical director in conveying the conflicting emotions expressed in the song. Some freedom within the timing of the number would have helped her to do that.

The student Perchik was presented very dramatically by Graham Kirby Smith who gave a polished performance and his singing was first rate.

Matt Harcourt was very good in the role of the timid tailor Motel and his ‘Miracle of Miracles’ was commendable.

As Chava, Jasmine Eade acted well but her dialogue was sometimes difficult to hear.  

Her Russian boyfriend Fyedka did not come across as someone for whom she would have broken all ties with her family, and Alexander Haben needed much more help in the presentation of his character. He didn’t appear to be comfortable in the role.

Andrew Few on the other hand gave Lazar Wolf the big blustering personality required, and as Yente, Yvonne Tozer had the mannerisms and accent but rushed a few of her wonderful ‘punch lines’.

Grandma Tzeitel and Frumah-Sarah, both appearing from beyond the grave, were well portrayed and sung by Sarah-Jane Hall and Dawn Steel respectively, and those dream scenes were good.

Bob Cousins had presence in both of his small roles and Holly and Evie were charming as Shprintze and Bielke. They appeared at ease on the stage.

I know that some people find an accent difficult to do, but as the Rabbi, which I know is only a small part but is depicting a very important personage in the life of the village, I felt that Martin Radford should have had an accent and more stage presence.

Alan Everett had a good tenor voice but was obliged to play the Constable surrounded by women ‘officers’. I didn’t think that worked and even though I know how short of men you were it would have looked more authentic with just one man accompanying him.

Richard Hine mimed the fiddling convincingly.

The scenery was very good as were the swipes, but I’d forgotten how many scene changes are involved. They were rather long, but competently filled in by the orchestra, apart from a particularly noisy one when Chava was talking to Fyedka.

Lighting was good and added to the atmosphere of the production.

Unfortunately there were quite a number of late cues on the personal mikes and the sound was inconsistent quite a lot of the time. The sound department provided by the theatre did not give the support that those on the stage deserved.

There is such a lot in this musical that has to be right for the period and also the tradition of Judaism, and most of it was good.

The wedding scene was excellent and the Sabbath meal also properly enacted.

The bottle dance was great! Well done guys.

In the dance routine with Perchik, Hodel would have been more reticent to hold his hand (they never touched a member of the opposite sex) and I doubt that any Jewish women would have been in the bar drinking with the men!

In that same scene there was clearly no liquid in the bottle, (the one that was used to fill up an incredible number of tankards and glasses!) or any in the shot glasses. It would have been more realistic / natural to put down the empty bottle and use a new full one.

Chaveleh’s dance was pretty and performed with grace.

There are some shows in which a walk down and a cheery ending is inappropriate. After the telling of the story and the build up to the sadness tinged with hope for the future, it would have been good to see the inhabitants of Anatevka gather and then go their separate ways to the USA, Palestine etc; As it was the stage was empty apart from Tevye and the ending was not nearly as moving as it might have been. The Jews had been forced to leave their homes and it must have been incredibly hard to leave  their friends and set off into the unknown. Those emotions didn’t come across to the audience, and any feelings of compassion for their plight were wiped out by the traditional walk down in which everyone was smiling happily.

Nevertheless the show was well received by the audience and I enjoyed it too. I make the above comments because I believe that my job as a NODA Rep is to help by making constructive criticism. On the whole, and having taken over at short notice with obvious cast restrictions, Vanessa Hine did a very good job with ‘Fiddler on the Roof’.

The orchestra was balanced and didn’t overpower the singers and the singing throughout the musical was extremely good indeed.

Your programme is attractive with good coloured photographs but for ease of reading it helps if the cast list and act information is presented on the centre page.

Thank you for inviting me to see my favourite show and thanks also to Vivien for her hospitality to my guest and I. 

© NODA CIO. All rights reserved.