If I were a rich man we would be happy. A scene from Fiddler on the Roof. Pantages Theatre performs world famous musical
By Ed Rampell
There once was a droll poster campaign depicting people who were obviously non-Jews, such as an American Indian, with the advertising slogan: “You don’t have to be Jewish to love Levy’s, real Jewish rye.” In that same spirit, you don’t have to be Jewish to love Fiddler on the Roof – a real Jewish musical. Music by Jerry Bock, lyrics by Sheldon Harnic and book by Joseph Stein, Fiddler on thh Roof is arguably one of the 10 best Broadway musicals of all time.
Featuring songs such as: “Tradition"; “If I Were a Rich Man"; “Matchmaker, Matchmaker”; and “Sunrise, Sunset,” Fiddler has has a crowd pleasing, universal appeal combined with the culturally specific stories of Sholom Aleichem, the master storyteller of Yiddishkeit (Jewishness, or the traditional Jewish way of life). However, I strongly suspect that these stories about the simple milkman, Tevye, who struggles to support his four daughters and henpecking wife in a constantly changing world beyond his control, likewise attracts non-Jewish audiences, too; especially any member of a minority group that’s experienced discrimination.
The original 1964 production starred the immortal Zero Mostel, and Fiddler ran on Broadway for 3,000-plus performances. When I was a lad back in the “Mother Country” (New York), I saw Herschel Bernardi’s rendition of the milkman who philosophically quibbles with god and, despite his lack of education, tries to endow his family and village with a sense of religious and cultural continuity.
Topol, who starred in and was Oscar-nominated for Norman Jewison’s 1971 mediocre movie adaptation of Fiddler, brought the house down at the Pantages Theatre with the opening number, “Tradition.” After 38-plus years as Tevye, it is nothing less than remarkable that Topol, who turns 74 Sept. 9, gives such a strenuous physical performance -- moving, dancing and, of course, singing with that deep voice of his, for almost three full hours. It is truly phenomenal and quite inspiring. What a trooper – and trouper.
The Israeli actor’s Tevye is introspective; songs and scenes deftly express his inner state of mind. Tevye’s arguments with the almighty could inspire an atheist in his/her non belief. Indeed lord, would it have spoiled some vast eternal plan if Tevye had been a wealthy man? Why were he and the chosen people chosen to suffer so? Be that as it may, Tevye yearns for riches so, above all else, the humble milkman could become educated, studying the holy books and discussing them with learned men at temple. Not for nothing do Jews sometimes refer to themselves as "People of the Book.”
The musical’s title is derived from an image by Marc Chagall, himself a Russian Jew born in Belarus. There are various interpretations but to me, the musician fiddling on the roof symbolizes that, despite the precariousness of life in oppressive czarist Russia, the Jews were still determined to celebrate life. The story unfolds against the backdrop of revolution, as Russia – and along with it, many traditions – are rocked and changed forever. Student intellectual Perchik (Colby Foytik) is obviously a Bolshevik, and it’s refreshing to see a positive depiction of a revolutionary on the mainstream stage. The communist breaks customary practices, woos Tevye’s daughter, Hodel (Jamie Davis), resists the Cossacks and joins the revolution in Kiev.
So what’s not to like? Scenic designer Steve Gilliam’s sets fail to evoke an Eastern European village the way Chagall’s paintings do. Some dance numbers are too long – especially the nightmare and wedding scenes.
But these are far more minor quibbles than Tevye’s ongoing debates with god. The audience at the Pantages went nuts during the performance, applauding, clapping and crying.
I, too, was very moved by Fiddler, not least of all because I am descended from Kiev and Odessa Jews from the Ukraine. When I grew up the Holocaust was still fresh in people’s minds and I can still remember the spooky tattooed numbers on the arms of concentration camp survivors that bespoke of unimaginable evils and horrors. And I always knew about pogroms – the riots against the Jews in their Eastern European shtetlsAnatevka.
But what threw me for a loop and knocked this happy-go-lucky fiddler from his perch was the czarist order to Anatevka’s Jews to sell their homes and land and to get the hell out – in just three days. Can you imagine such hardship and injustice? How can people be so heartless and cruel? Where in the world will these homeless, dispossessed Jews go? This just broke my heart, as I thought of my ancestor, Alexander Rampell, sailing to the Promised Land in the 1880s. And of the ancestral Kwass family, drafter dodgers fleeing the czar’s army, which had conscripted the men folk in 1904 to go fight the Japanese..
But then I saw Tevye, yoked to his cart like a mule, pulling the family’s meager belongings, leading them to god knows where. But wait, choreographer/director Sammy Dallas Bayes cleverly has the wandering Jews move across the stage from right to left – towards America. It will be no picnic there but they will be spared Russia’s Civil War, Stalin’s terrors, the famine in the Ukraine, the Nazi occupation of the Ukraine and Hitler’s mass extermination of Ukrainian Jews at Babi Yar, etc.
So maybe Fiddler does have a happy ending, after all. Don’t miss it! To life!!!
Fiddler on the Roof performs at Pantages Theatre through August 9. For more info call: 800/982-ARTS or see: www.BroadwayLA.org. Fiddler will also be performed at the Orange County Performing Arts Center August 11-23. See: www.ocpac.org.
