FIDDLER ON THE ROOF

FIDDLER ON THE ROOF

Chichester Festival Theatre

15.07.2017

This is a show that celebrates tradition – it's the opening number, and the setting is a Jewish community in which culture and religion are the cornerstones of the life of poverty lived out in rural Russia.

So Daniel Evans is wise to embrace the traditional in his staging. The costumes, the dances emphasise the Jewish roots of these villagers, whose lives are overturned not only by revolutionary progress, but by the pogroms which will send them on their travels – the fortunate to the US, the less so to Warsaw. There's even a small Klezmer band for the inevitable Jewish wedding.

Lez Brotherston's striking design uses an empty stage, peopled from the back by the displaced and the dispossessed, with their suitcases, symbols of their search for a home, which become the bar, or the stove, the tables and the chairs.

The ensemble pieces are superbly done – three families at sabbath prayers, the rumour-mill scene, the wedding and its violent end, and most impressive of all, the nightmare sequence with the noisy ghost of Fruma-Sarah [Laura Tebbutt] swooping over the bed as the fires of hell surround the stage. The detail is often delightful, too; in Miracle of Miracles, for instance, the Red Sea is parted, manna falls from heaven. The final tableau has Anatevka's refugees standing behind a curtain of rain, on which are projected newsreel images of persecutions yet to come. A profoundly moving, though not over-stated, reminder that intolerance and insecurity remain real threats to many communities.

The loquacious milkman Tevye and his wife Golde are the big names here. Omid Djalili makes a very likeable Tevye, confidently appealing to his Maker and to the audience. Tracy-Ann Oberman brings a no-nonsence Jewish matriarch convincingly, and affectingly, to life – the gestures, the body language all perfectly observed. They're neither of them great singers, and numbers like Sunrise, Sunset suffer a little for it.

The younger generation, on the other hand, are superb musical theatre vocalists – Matchmaker, Matchmaker excellently done – though, perhaps deliberately, the three girls are much less ethnically defined. Emma Kingston's Hodel is very strong, as is Rose Shalloo's bookworm Chava, who defies tradition and family ties by eloping with a Russian soldier.

Louis Maskell stands out as the radical teacher Perchik, bringing a breath of revolution to the shtetel.

This is perhaps the classic, definitive Fiddler, harnessing state of the art staging to recreate a lost world suspended somewhere between history and nostalgia.

FIDDLER ON THE ROOF

FIDDLER ON THE ROOF

Trinity Methodist Music and Drama at the Civic Theatre

10.05.2016

A real treat to have an actor/musician in the title role. Carrie Penn is a frequent presence in Eric Smart's heart-warming production: a silent witness on the side of the stage, perched on the milk cart, or reaching out a comforting hand to Tevye,

Another delight was the chorus: a real sense of the peasant community here, in the Sabbath Prayer, in Sunrise, Sunset, and, after a shaky start, in Lo Chaim.

Though the scene changes were bridged by music cues, they were all done under cover of darkness, and things generally seemed a little slow on opening night.

Plenty of good performances from the principals. David Slater, fighting “a stinking cold”, gave a larger-than-life Tevye, a good father, a good neighbour, talking with his God, chary of his wife Golde [Catherine Gregory]. His three elder daughters were all splendidly sung – and acted – by Beth Elam as Tzeitel, Emily Delves as Hodel – Far from the Home I Love wonderfully performed – and Nicola Myers as the bookish Chava.

Aaron Crowe was an engaging, eager Motel the Tailor, William Micklewright was Perchik, the stranger in a strange land, and Adam Pomozow brought a touch of authenticity to Fyedka, the gentile whom Chava loves.

And a lovely comedy cameo from Pat Hollingsworth as Yente the Matchmaker. Not to mention the sterling work from Shandel, Fruma-Sarah, the Butcher, the Bookseller, the Innkeeper and the Beggar.

But it's the ensembles that will stay in the mind, from Tradition to Anatevka and the emotional company encore at the end.

Julie Slater was the choreographer, Gerald Hindes the Musical Director, with an impressive band in the Civic pit, including two trumpets, an accordion and a mandolin.

photographs by Val Scott

FIDDLER ON THE ROOF

FIDDLER ON THE ROOF

Billericay Operatic Society at Brentwood Theatre

16.04.13

Tradition celebrated, challenged, overturned – that's the timeless story of Fiddler on the Roof. A canny banker for Billericay Operatic after last year's award-winning On The 20th Century.

An impressive stage design again, practical, solid and evocative, with plenty of space for bottle dancing, pogroms and all the other comings and goings in Anatevka.

This is very much Wayne Carpenter's show. Producer, director and Tevye the Milkman. A very likeable performance, sitting between the shafts of his cart, perched on a churn, forever bothering his God for favours great and small. Two of many choice moments are his domestic duet with Gail, his very own Golde, and the touching Chava sequence, as the last of his daughters [Jaz Cook] flies the nest. He has five in all – nice work from Alice Wesson's Tzeitel, who escapes Mark Clements' butcher to wed Kieran Hynes' poor tailor, and Georgia Redgwell's Hodel, who goes off with Perchik, confidently characterized by Matthew Carpenter.

On opening night the pace suffered from some slow scene changes, though there is welcome youthful energy in Miracle of Miracles, and eventually in Lo Chaim, good ensemble from a large company [some accents more convincing than others] in the Rumour number, Frume Sarah's scene, Sunrise Sunset. Telling stage pictures, too, not least the Evening Prayer, and the final moments, with the weary line of refugees and the Fiddler himself [Callum Johnson] hitching a lift on Tevye's cart.

FIDDLER ON THE ROOF

CAODS at the Civic Theatre

27.02.10

It's nearly half a century since the ethnic cleansing musical started its record Broadway run. Nearly forty years since Ray Jeffery directed the first of his 46 Fiddlers.

For CAODS' 90th anniversary he's returned to the show, using the expanse of the Civic Stage, just a toy-town Anatevka in the background, for a production that looked as wonderful as it sounded.

From the long line of Tradition to the final diaspora, the slightly dated show gave us a series of stage pictures, notably the candle-lit Caravaggio of the Sabbath Prayer.

Stuart Woolner, MD for the first time for CAODS, produced some impressive choral singing, supported by a fine band, starring fiddle, accordion and klezmer clarinet.

A huge cast included veterans and youngsters – Tevye's sweet-voiced daughters were brilliant in Matchmaker.

Yente herself was played with great strength of character by Angela Broad, and I liked Sean Quigley as Perchick, the radical who thinks that girls are people too.

Daryl Kane was a warm, expansive Tevye with a voice to match, his long-suffering Golde Lynette Sullivan. And the nimble Fiddler was Siemona Kingsley.

I could easily mention dozens more: faces who fitted the period and the places, telling cameos, strong characters. But this was very much a company piece, with CAODS at the top of their game. A great start to the celebrations which continue in September with Beauty and the Beast.