Fiddler on the RoofBalancing progress and tradition has always been one of the foremost challenges for any people or culture. Fiddler on the Roof takes place at the transition between the 19th and 20th centuries in a small village in Tsarist Russia called Anatevka. It focuses on a dairyman named Tevye (Topol), his wife, Golde (Norma Crane), and his five daughters, including the eldest three of marrying age: Tzeitel (Rosalind Harris), Hodel (Michele Marsh), and Chava (Neva Small). Each of his three daughters find love without the aid of the local matchmaker, Yente (Molly Picon), meaning Tevye must come to terms with his daughters' happiness in spite of his definition of tradition, as the fires of political tension rise in the background.
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Directed by Norman Jewison, Fiddler on the Roof is an adaptation of the stage play of the same name by Joseph Stein, which in turn was adapted from the series of short stories collectively titled "Tevye and His Daughters" by Sholem Aleichem, which was written in Tevye's time. In this way, Fiddler on the Roof is a manifestation of traditions--the legacy of a people handed down over generations. Tevye comments on his devotion to tradition as the stabilizing agent for his people, even if he confesses that he does not always understand the rationale behind some customs. In the opening sequence, he comments--directly to the audience--that without tradition, "life would be as shaky as a fiddler on a roof". Tevye adds that the fiddler he sees never falters, despite being in such a precarious position. Tevye's dogma that tradition must be upheld first and foremost is revealed to be an excuse to avoid being challenged by new ideas, which runs the risk of reinforcing old prejudices--an irony lost on him as he and his fellow Jews face persecution at the hands of the Cossacks. Tevye comes from a world where people did not ask questions about why things were the way they were--they just accepted them...at least Tevye would like to believe this. As a point of fact, Tevye even comments that their "traditions" must have seemed like radical ideas when they were first conceived. Despite Tevye's occasional outbursts and resistance to change, he is a good man, and is (in most cases) open to reason, or at least to the hearts of his daughters. His daughters' love for the men they choose is largely what brings him to reconsider his values and accept that his children are more than just his "blessings", but people with their own needs and desires. Tevye eventually comes to understand that the only true blessing a father can have is that of his child's love, and subsequently goes to great lengths to ensure Tzeitel's happiness--even concocting an elaborate fiction about a nightmare he claims to have had to help Golde reach the same conclusion.
Being a poor dairyman with five daughters, Teyve is keenly aware of his financial predicament, and dreams that he might someday be blessed with wealth. This is the real reason that he initially accepts the offer of the financially secure widower, Lazar Wolf (Paul Mann), to marry Tzeitel, despite her affection for her childhood sweetheart, a poor but determined tailor named Motel (Leonard Frey). When he breaks the news to Tzeitel--after celebrating the engagement with Lazar--it is as though he had pronounced her death sentence. A visiting political student from Kiev named Perchik (Michael Glaser) overhears the news, and opines that money is a curse; Tevye retorts that he wishes he were afflicted by such a curse. Even though Tevye is a good man, his fixation on money is his first obstruction to overcome for his eldest to be truly happy and not just "provided for". Each engagement that follows--with Hodel to Perchik and finally Chava to a Christian named Fyedka (Raymond Lovelock)--represents additional challenges to Tevye's traditional understanding of the world, as much as it represents the divide between his generation and his daughters'. These introspective moments come as he is looking at his daughters from afar, weighing the options from one proverbial hand to the other...and then the other. These encounters are tests of his humanity and his ability to overcome the prejudices and vices adopted over the years. Tevye comments that his people are "chosen", to which he adds that he wishes that God would choose someone else once in a while. He concludes that he is being tested by God, like Job before him. Tevye speaks with God in a conversational, yet deferential tone, looking for guidance and asking for clarity in his confusion and distress; his reply is in the music of an enigmatic fiddler (Tutte Lemkow). The eponymous fiddler seems to follow Tevye around, and it would seem that only Tevye sees him. But the fiddler plays a very special tune--sometimes a tune that only Tevye would know--implying that the fiddler is an avatar for God...at least in Tevye's mind.
Fiddler on the Roof is known for its memorable songs, like "Matchmaker, Matchmaker" and "If I Were a Rich Man"; and they are so well known that you might already be humming these in your head just by reading the titles. Topol--who also played Tevye on the stage--brings an earthy charm to the proverbial pater familias, but also a fatherly warmth mixed with a teddy bear-like gruffness. Norman Jewison takes a story originally conceived for the stage and transports it into a convincing recreation of a poor Russian village over a hundred years ago. The score--arranged and conducted by John Williams--recalls traditional Jewish and Russian music, adding to the feeling that Fiddler on the Roof has transported the audience back in time. But this recreation acknowledges the grim realities of that history, as Russia was on the verge of exploding with revolutions that would herald a new order for the "Motherland". The sanctioned vandalism of Tzeitel and Motel's wedding reception feels like both a surprise and an inevitability. Perchik hardly conceals that he is going back to Kiev to incite a revolution, which ultimately gets him arrested and sent to Siberia, with Hodel following after him in his time of need. Tension is evident between the Jews and the Cossacks early on; consider when Tevye and Lazar are celebrating in the bar, and they are unsure how to take the congratulations offered by one of the Tsarists. Even when one of the locals shares a report from his newspaper about a town like theirs being purged of Jews, all but Perchik believe that such a thing couldn't possibly happen to Anatevka, foreshadowing the inevitable exodus at the conclusion. Despite this seemingly sorrowful end to Fiddler on the Roof, Tevye understands that even an exodus is a tradition of his people, and that the feelings of his daughters are more important to him than a shabby house or any material riches.
Recommended for: Fans of a musical adapted from the stage, filled with lively songs paired with historical and cultural context. Fiddler on the Roof is best enjoyed by those who can appreciate the allure of tradition as well as the danger that comes with following it blindly.
Being a poor dairyman with five daughters, Teyve is keenly aware of his financial predicament, and dreams that he might someday be blessed with wealth. This is the real reason that he initially accepts the offer of the financially secure widower, Lazar Wolf (Paul Mann), to marry Tzeitel, despite her affection for her childhood sweetheart, a poor but determined tailor named Motel (Leonard Frey). When he breaks the news to Tzeitel--after celebrating the engagement with Lazar--it is as though he had pronounced her death sentence. A visiting political student from Kiev named Perchik (Michael Glaser) overhears the news, and opines that money is a curse; Tevye retorts that he wishes he were afflicted by such a curse. Even though Tevye is a good man, his fixation on money is his first obstruction to overcome for his eldest to be truly happy and not just "provided for". Each engagement that follows--with Hodel to Perchik and finally Chava to a Christian named Fyedka (Raymond Lovelock)--represents additional challenges to Tevye's traditional understanding of the world, as much as it represents the divide between his generation and his daughters'. These introspective moments come as he is looking at his daughters from afar, weighing the options from one proverbial hand to the other...and then the other. These encounters are tests of his humanity and his ability to overcome the prejudices and vices adopted over the years. Tevye comments that his people are "chosen", to which he adds that he wishes that God would choose someone else once in a while. He concludes that he is being tested by God, like Job before him. Tevye speaks with God in a conversational, yet deferential tone, looking for guidance and asking for clarity in his confusion and distress; his reply is in the music of an enigmatic fiddler (Tutte Lemkow). The eponymous fiddler seems to follow Tevye around, and it would seem that only Tevye sees him. But the fiddler plays a very special tune--sometimes a tune that only Tevye would know--implying that the fiddler is an avatar for God...at least in Tevye's mind.
Fiddler on the Roof is known for its memorable songs, like "Matchmaker, Matchmaker" and "If I Were a Rich Man"; and they are so well known that you might already be humming these in your head just by reading the titles. Topol--who also played Tevye on the stage--brings an earthy charm to the proverbial pater familias, but also a fatherly warmth mixed with a teddy bear-like gruffness. Norman Jewison takes a story originally conceived for the stage and transports it into a convincing recreation of a poor Russian village over a hundred years ago. The score--arranged and conducted by John Williams--recalls traditional Jewish and Russian music, adding to the feeling that Fiddler on the Roof has transported the audience back in time. But this recreation acknowledges the grim realities of that history, as Russia was on the verge of exploding with revolutions that would herald a new order for the "Motherland". The sanctioned vandalism of Tzeitel and Motel's wedding reception feels like both a surprise and an inevitability. Perchik hardly conceals that he is going back to Kiev to incite a revolution, which ultimately gets him arrested and sent to Siberia, with Hodel following after him in his time of need. Tension is evident between the Jews and the Cossacks early on; consider when Tevye and Lazar are celebrating in the bar, and they are unsure how to take the congratulations offered by one of the Tsarists. Even when one of the locals shares a report from his newspaper about a town like theirs being purged of Jews, all but Perchik believe that such a thing couldn't possibly happen to Anatevka, foreshadowing the inevitable exodus at the conclusion. Despite this seemingly sorrowful end to Fiddler on the Roof, Tevye understands that even an exodus is a tradition of his people, and that the feelings of his daughters are more important to him than a shabby house or any material riches.
Recommended for: Fans of a musical adapted from the stage, filled with lively songs paired with historical and cultural context. Fiddler on the Roof is best enjoyed by those who can appreciate the allure of tradition as well as the danger that comes with following it blindly.