Book: Joseph Stein
Music: Jerry Bock
Lyrics: Sheldon Harnick
Director: Jordan Fein
A packed opening night audience thoroughly enjoyed this evergreen popular musical that premiered in London way back in 1967. On the face of it hopes were not high for the subject matter dealt with Jews being persecuted in a turn-of-the-century Ukrainian shtetl but it proved to be a winner, going on to give 2030 performances and making a huge star of the performer in the leading role of Tevye the milkman, Topol. He would repeat this role in the celebrated film version of 1971 directed by Norman Jewison and is now considered the definitive Tevye. All subsequent actors in the role live or die by comparison and whilst this may not seem entirely fair it is, in this reviewer’s opinion, undoubtedly the case. Not all present day theatre goers may, of course, be familiar with Topol’s interpretation so in many ways such comparisons are fruitless and Matthew Woodyatt gives a perfectly serviceable account of the role. He is the narrator of the story and as the hard working and put upon milkman knows everyone in the fictional village of Anatevka. With five daughters and a loving but nagging wife to support he constantly quotes – and misquotes – the Bible and keeps up a running monologue with God, weighing up various situations on the one hand and coming up with alternatives on the other hand. His one liners and asides are classic Jewish humour and never fail.
Woodyatt has a powerful singing voice and delivers all his songs with aplomb, from the opening Tradition and iconic If I Were A Rich Man to the heartfelt duet with his wife Golde (Jodie Jacobs) Do You Love Me? and the haunting Chava solo as he contemplates the departure of his middle daughter with Perchik (Greg Bernstein) and reminisces about her childhood. One interesting aspect of this scene which this reviewer has not seen before is the musical duet between Chava (Hannah Bristow) on the clarinet and the Fiddler (Roman Lytwyniw) replacing the more traditional ballet sequence. This was highly effective and as equally emotive.
All the big set pieces are handled well by Tevye and the whole company: the opening Tradition, the beautiful Sabbath Prayer, the tavern scene To Life when Tevye and the butcher Lazar Wolf (Michael S. Siegel in an experienced and accomplished performance) strike a bargain and celebrate the upcoming marriage between Lazar and Tzeitel (Natasha Jules Bernard) and the subsequent fantastic dancing skills of the Russians, Tevye’s Dream (a very difficult scene to successfully pull off) when Tevye concocts a fictional nightmare in order to persuade Golde that Tzeitel cannot marry Lazar Wolf after all because he has also given his permission for her to marry the poor tailor Motel (Dan Wolff), and the terrific Wedding Celebrations with the iconic Bottle Dance, a deserved highlight. This famous sequence with five dancers performing while balancing bottles on their hats and choreographed by Jerome Robbins of West Side Story fame is notoriously difficult to achieve and here succeeds with plomb and not a little skill.
Dan Wolff makes an engaging Motel and is fine in his solo Miracle Of Miracles. The three daughters (Natasha Jules Bernard, Hannah Bristow and Ashleigh Schuman) all have great singing voices and their group number Matchmaker is an excellent rendition.
Tevye’s wife Golde is played by Jodie Jacobs as the traditional Jewish wife and mother figure, having been married for twenty five years and worked all her life to provide a stable and loving home, bringing up five daughters and wanting the best for them – which basically means finding them good husbands. Jacobs has an excellent singing voice and delivers all her songs and duets with expertise. In old Jewish culture the task of finding husbands for girls usually fell on the role of the matchmaker, in this case Yente as played by Beverley Klein. It didn’t seem to matter if the husband was particularly suited to the girl – they might be far too old or ugly – as long as they could provide for her. Klein revels in her role as the know-it-all gossiping busybody and has some of the best jokes!
The set design by Tom Scutt is basically in two halves with an upper and lower section. The upper part can move vertically to varying heights to be the roof on which the fiddler often stands – he does also come down and join the action at various points – or higher still to afford more general space. The ground essentially is one big performance space for the fairly large company to enact what can be quite complex routines. Right at the back and out of sight of the main action sit the orchestra, a very practical and effective arrangement. One curious feature is that all the chairs the cast use throughout appear to be of the modern plastic type which seem a bit modern and out of place for the time period. Perhaps there is a logical reason for this which was lost on this particular reviewer.
Fiddler On The Roof is both of its time and timeless. The fact that it is still so popular after all these years shows that it is not dated and irrelevant to modern audiences. The present tragedies unfolding in Ukraine and Gaza seem particularly pertinent in the light of deliberate, violent persecution of a minority group who are unable to defend themselves and want nothing more than their own homeland. The show is full of memorable tunes, great action and good humour but it also makes you think and is thought provoking.
Runs until 2nd August 2025, before continuing on tour
