Definitely Not a Sing-a-long

The tickets came to us as a combined birthday present. Both of us have been to plays, amateur hometown and college affairs, but certainly never one that reached Broadway, performed by professionals. It was the musical we would have chosen, though, because we had seen the movie half a dozen times on t.v. We never set out to watch the movie, but there was something about the music that unfailingly sucked us in as soon as we heard Chaim Topol’s tones and cadences fill the living room. "If I were a rich man, yuddy diddy diddy diddy diddy diddy diddy dum..." Can you hear the violin? Are you finishing the stanza in your mind? ("I would...biddy biddy bum") Sailing across the Keller Auditorium, his 73 year old voice was just as deep and rich on this day, the second to last day of his farewell US tour, as it was thirty-six years ago when the movie was made. Although the tickets were given to us on the condition that we would not sing along, it was a difficult pact to keep. Does humming count?

Fiddler on the Roof is a story with timeless themes running through it and the main character, Tevye is one with whom most of us can identify. Set in the village of Anatevka, Russia, the play speaks of political bigotry and revolution, cultural tradition and modernity, family love and turmoil. Above all, Tevye embodies the dynamic faith and humor of a parent seeking to understand and meet the challenges of the world and God’s perceived will while holding his family together the best he can, balancing determinedly like that fiddler on the roof. (Tradition!)

Besides the performances, it was also fascinating to see how a minimum of stage props, effective lighting, and transitional background music could be smoothly manipulated into a handful of scene changes with very little distraction. I am in awe of the seamlessness of the entire operation that managed to draw us right into Tevye’s very life. And, although this play has been running off and on since the sixties, with Topol playing Tevye since his twenties, I felt as though this was only the 25th performance instead of the 2500th. What a privilege for us, and what a joy!

http://www.fiddlerontour.com/index.html
http://www.oregonlive.com/performance/index.ssf/2009/08/topol_isnt_saying_farewell_to.html