Touring Broadway musical ‘Fiddler’ is as culturally relevant today as in 1964.
.jpg "The cast of the Broadway Live touring production of the 2015 revival of the classic “Fiddler on the Roof,” which takes audiences through the tensions of one Jewish family’s dramas during the Russian pogroms, as they are forced to leave their homes.")
“Fiddler on the Roof” lingers in the memory as a heartwarming musical comedy, full of affection and humor and joyous dancing, not to mention some of the most infectiously hummable songs ever written for the American musical theater.
From “Tradition” and “Matchmaker, Matchmaker” to “If I Were a Rich Man” and “To Life” to the meltingly beautiful “Sunrise, Sunset,” the songs by Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick — still widely performed in high schools and community theaters and at weddings around the world more than half a century since the show opened on Broadway in 1964 — are as warmly life-affirming as ever.
“Sunrise, sunset / sunrise, sunset,” the lyric goes. “Swiftly fly the years / One season following another / Laden with happiness and tears.”
And yet when you see “Fiddler on the Roof” onstage, especially in the national tour of the 2015 Broadway revival that is making a stop this weekend at the Lexington Opera House, it may be the tears that hit home hardest.
Joseph Stein’s book for the show, based on the Yiddish writer Sholem Aleichem’s stories about a milkman named Tevye, his wife Golde and their rebellious daughters defying the Jewish tradition of arranged marriages, is set during the pogroms — the persecution and eventual expulsion of Jews from southern Russia — of 1905.
The show’s famously downbeat ending, in which Tevye, his family and neighbors are forced to leave their village of Anatevka for points unknown, seals its status as an important chapter of the history of anti-Semitism. That history includes the Holocaust, and continues to unfold in the form of several violent attacks on American synagogues, kosher supermarkets and a rabbi’s home over the past two years.
“Throughout the musical, there’s bullying and harassment by police who call Tevye names, threaten him, warn him that there’s going to be trouble,” says Rabbi David Wirtschafter of Lexington’s Temple Adath Israel. “In Jewish history, sadly, this has been a painful reality. We’re only as welcome and as safe as local authorities are willing to tolerate us.”
Ruthy Froch, who plays Hodel — the daughter who distresses Tevye by falling in love with the young radical Perchik — in the touring production coming to the Opera House, also sees the show as having extra layers of meaning for Jewish audiences.
“I’m really proud to be Jewish,” says Froch, 26, whose grandfather was a Holocaust survivor. “But I think we’re living in a time when Jewish people are shying away from things out of fear of being persecuted. If they come to see shows like ’Fiddler,’ maybe they’ll be proud of who they are because of how timeless the show is, how important it is for many people.”
Wirtschafter’s own history with “Fiddler on the Roof” epitomizes its significance as a cultural touchstone for many Jewish families. He fondly recalls performing the non-speaking role of the Fiddler as a young assistant rabbi in a synagogue in Huntingdon, Long Island, in 1998: “I stood on a ladder and squeaked out a few notes,” he says with a laugh.
Years later, his daughter Emanuelle, now 16, performed in a summer theater production in Minneapolis.
“It meant even more to me as a dad, to see the next generation encountering these parts and singing these songs,” he says. “It was particularly gratifying as a parent given the context, the historical setting of the show, to see her doing it. I was especially grateful to the director for learning about Judaism and exposing the kids in the show to some Jewish history, including the history of anti-Semitism.”
On the other hand — a phrase used by the philosophical Tevye in the musical — “Fiddler” remains relevant to the present moment for reasons that transcend its Jewish context.
The current production, Froch points out, was mounted on Broadway in 2015 at the height of the Syrian refugee crisis in the Mediterranean. “This happens to be a group of people in our world today who are being forced to leave their homes,” she says. “I think people relate to the show on many levels, no matter if you’re Jewish or not Jewish. The show is unfortunately very relevant. The good thing is, we get to remind people how relevant the story is.”
Wirtschafter agrees. “It’s good to encounter stories like ’Fiddler on the Roof’ to remind us of the humanitarian importance of giving our fellow human beings — including Syrian Muslims — refuge from violent persecution and poverty and hunger,” he says. “Whether it’s the Holocaust or the pogroms or exile, when we say ’never again,’ we say it for anyone, anywhere, anytime.”
If you go: “Fiddler on the Roof”
Where: Lexington Opera House, 401 W. Short St.
When: 7:30 p.m. Feb. 6-7; 1 and 7:30 p.m. Feb. 8; 1 p.m. Feb. 9
Tickets: $70-$155 at 859-233-4567 or lexingtonoperahouse.com