REVIEW: Fiddler on the Roof (Olney Theatre Center)
Preview: Ikh bin tsugevaoynt aoyf eydish. My first-ever experience with a staged production of Fiddler on the Roof — though I was familiar with the film — was New York’s Folksbeine mounting in Yiddish pre-pandemic. Honestly? Joel Gray’s knockout production had me thinking it couldn’t be topped. How do you approach textual realism like this while still making it this fun? Even though Olney Theatre Center has yet to fail me, I had my doubts. Could the creative brains over in rural Montgomery County turn the quintessential Jewish musical, as oft produced as it is, into something unique and memorable?
Book/Music: Tevye is a humble, pious Jewish milkman with five daughters trying to keep up his day-to-day traditions in the face of increasing political scrutiny and upheaval. As his children age and seek suitors, changing cultural attitudes will put him into conflict with his faith, values, and community. It’s a classic! Tevye’s convictions as a father can be seen as old-timey by contemporary standards, but within the context make total sense. Even framed within its publishing era, too; in the late 1960s when progressivism and hippies dominated social discourse, it only made sense that its stage productions reflect this. It almost feels hard to critique this show for Joseph Stein’s book, in truth. My own great-grandparents were forced to Brooklyn from the Pale in similar fashion to the citizens of Anatevka, so this holds personal significance to me; if you need a crash course on why so many Jews came to the US in the early 20th century, look no further than Fiddler. Musically, Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick’s score takes inspiration from Klezmer and other culturally specific genres, but obviously combines them with Western musical structure. I mean, “Tradition” and the two songs that follow it are all bona fide standards in the Great American Song Book, even to the extent of being interpolated for 2000s pop and 2020s trap. If you’re not humming/whistling the melody to “Matchmaker, Matchmaker” to yourself at some point in life, are you even a real musical fan? 10/10
Acting: From a casting point of view, I think it’s an alright choice to diversify the cast a bit for Fiddler, as this production did. There’s a long-documented history of Jews of all creeds and colors, so to see this represented somewhat was a welcome decision. At the end of the day, the talent was there regardless; cast chemistry is familial and wholesome across the board, knitting a believable gaggle of Anatevkans that feel like they’ve been onstage together for decades. On an individual level, Howard Kaye’s Tevye was physically stiffer than I would have liked, but still emotionally dynamic and dadlike. The triple-threat of Sophie Schulman, Sumié Yotsukura, and Ariana Caldwell (Tzeitel, Hodel, and Chava, respectfully) are a delight, delivering different flavors of cultural dissidence with unique physicality and voice. Noah Keyishian’s Perchik, the radical student, is snappy and witted with a slightly-wilted confidence that I appreciated. I would say I was most disappointed by the presence of the Fiddler herself, Graciela Rey. A trained dancer, it felt like she was holding herself back, though it could be the fault of the production for not giving her enough to work with. 7/10
Production: The most interesting technical take on this piece is Olney’s attempt at in-media-res-ing it, with director Peter Flynn setting it after they leave from Anatevka. (The show opens as everyone is in a processing room, only starting when Tevye opens a scrapbook.) Yep, this time, the whole show is a flashback! As interesting as this is as a premise, it’s not that groundbreaking as they would make it seem. Underneath this new angle remains, functionally, the same premise, and you’re only reminded that it’s a flashback maybe once or twice the whole show, which fails to bring its recontextualization to consequence. It’s otherwise a fairly run-of-the-mill Fiddler, technically. Though, with that means we get some great choreo courtesy of Lorna Ventura. 5/10
VisDev: I’ll say it again! I love it when there’s action on the stage pre-show. Such is the case here, as when you enter, there’s a hushed anticipation as the Anatevkans anxiously bob about on benches while Russian officers patrol the space. The little things that each character does such as minor seat shuffles, knocking over bags, conversations, they all put out a lot of personality before a single note is sung. It’s a shame Olney doesn’t publicize how much charisma this production has, given the program art, while eye-catching and textured, isn’t handed out freely like usual. This season, due to rising costs, they’ve forgone free programs (unless you’re a member, or a K-12 student). They’re still available virtually via QR code, or for purchase ($1 under 25, $2 for everyone else). I understand the issue of rising costs, but I think this could lead to a bad precedent in local theatre. Here’s hoping things improve economically so that we don’t have virtual programs everywhere; I’m already tired of virtual menus at restaurants. 3/10
VERDICT: Fiddler on the Roof doesn’t make any drastic changes to its tried-and-true family formula, which it doesn’t make it bad, but leaves it as “regular”.
25/40
