{"id":3719,"date":"2020-10-12T19:12:26","date_gmt":"2020-10-12T19:12:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pashakespeare.org\/?p=3719"},"modified":"2021-01-13T19:04:26","modified_gmt":"2021-01-13T19:04:26","slug":"how-tevye-the-dairyman-became-an-international-superstar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pashakespeare.org\/press\/how-tevye-the-dairyman-became-an-international-superstar\/","title":{"rendered":"How Tevye the Dairyman Became an International Superstar"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Lisa Higgins<\/p>\n

Tevye the Dairyman leaps off the pages of Sholem Aleichem\u2019s collected stories with such exuberance that he seems destined for worldwide renown \u2013 like many other larger-than-life literary characters. But even the indomitable Tevye could have remained locked in history and near obscurity if\u00a0Fiddler on the Roof\u00a0<\/em>had never moved beyond its status as one of the world\u2019s most unlikely musicals.<\/p>\n

Sholem Aleichem, born Sholem Rabinovitz in Ukraine in 1859, was a highly regarded writer of Yiddish stories, novels, and plays prior to making his way to America in 1907.\u00a0 His first few plays in his new country were \u201cboth artistic and financial failures\u2026rejected by the New York Yiddish theater establishment.\u201d1<\/sup><\/p>\n

Nonetheless, Aleichem pursued adapting his Tevye stories and monologues into a play for the stage. In a letter to a fellow playwright he wrote: \u201cThe play contains both tragic and comic situations, jokes, songs, breathtaking scenes, and singing, but the main thing is that from the first act to the last curtain, Tevye pulls out all the stops, the audience laughs and gets to love him more and more.\u201d2<\/sup>\u00a0 He predicted that the role would bring him and the actor who played the role fame and fortune. In 1919, three years after Aleichem died, Tevye took the stage\u00a0 — and the play remains \u201ca classic of the Jewish stage to this day.\u201d<\/p>\n

The role of Tevye in the musical\u00a0Fiddler on the Roof<\/em>\u00a0did indeed bring fame and fortune to many actors, first and foremost was Yiddish actor and comic genius Zero Mostel, who originated the role on Broadway. Other great Broadway character actors such as Herschel Bernardi, Theodore Bikel and more recently Alfred Molina and Harvey Fierstein received acclaim for their portrayals. Israeli actor Chaim Topol, who portrayed Tevye in the London production and the 1971 Academy Award winning film, subsequently played the role in revivals and tours.<\/p>\n

Before\u00a0Fiddler on the Roof<\/em>\u00a0became an international phenomenon the team that adapted Aleichem\u2019s\u00a0Tevye\u00a0<\/em>stories into the Broadway musical\u00a0Fiddler on the Roof\u00a0<\/em>knew that they would have hard sell to investors and audiences. Joseph Stein, a Broadway veteran whose book won the Tony Award said: \u201cI couldn\u2019t conceive of going to a producer and saying, \u2018We have this idea of a show about a lot of Jews in Russia. They have a pogrom and get thrown out of their village.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Stein, along with Lyricist Sheldon Harnick and Librettist Jerry Bock \u2013 all successful Broadway artists \u2013 chose Jerome Robbins, the choreographic genius responsible for\u00a0West Side Story,<\/em>\u00a0to direct and choreograph the new musical. In\u00a0Broadway Song and Story,\u00a0<\/em>Harnick recalls:<\/em>
\n\u201cRobbins kept asking and hammering at us for months: \u2018What is this show about?\u2019 If we gave him an answer like, \u2018Well, it\u2019s about this dairy man, and he has three daughters,\u2019 he would reply, \u2018No\u2026. We have to find out what it is that gives these stories their power.\u2019 I don\u2019t know (who) finally said it: \u2018Do you know what this play is about? It\u2019s about the dissolution of a way of life.\u2019
\n\u2018If that\u2019s what it\u2019s about,\u201d Robbins said, \u2018then we have to show more of the way of life that is about to dissolve. We have to have an opening number about the traditions that are going to change. This number has to be like a tapestry against which the entire show will play.\u2019 And that was the beginning of \u2018Tradition.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

After previews in Detroit and Washington, D.C.,\u00a0Fiddler\u00a0<\/em>opened on Broadway in 1964 and was the first musical ever to surpass 3,000 performances (a record that held for almost 10 years). According to the\u00a0New York Times<\/em>, \u201cBy 1971, when the production became Broadway\u2019s longest-running musical\u2026 it had already been produced in 32 countries in 16 languages.\u201d Nominated for ten\u00a0Tony Awards<\/a>, winning nine, including Best Musical, Score, Book, Direction and Choreography,\u00a0Fiddler<\/em>\u00a0has since spawned four Broadway revivals and a film adaptation that won three Academy Awards.<\/p>\n

PSF Director Dennis Razze reflects that: \u201cTevye\u2019s trademark is his humorous discussions with God throughout the play and his ability to see issues on \u2018one hand and the other hand.\u2019 Tevye talks with God as he talks with an old friend with familiarity and reverence at the same time.<\/p>\n

\u201cTevye is an everyman with whom we can easily identify \u2014a man who has five daughters, an irascible wife, and a partially lame horse.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe all see part of ourselves in Tevye. When things go wrong, when we hit a rocky road, we say \u2018why me?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Razze knows Tevye and the musical well: he directed\u00a0Fiddler<\/em>\u00a0at American University in 1983, and he later directed it for DeSales University’s Act 1 in 1990. Now 24 years later he is thrilled to being directing\u00a0Fiddler<\/em>\u00a0once again: \u201cEvery time I direct something I directed previously it\u2019s different because I\u2019m different \u2013 I have a lot more life experience to draw from. With the superb cast of professionals we have assembled, supplemented by stellar local talent and students, I expect this to be a deep, rich production.\u201d<\/p>\n

The production will feature the largest cast ever PSF has put on stage \u2013 35 actors, singers, and dancers.<\/p>\n

All professional productions are required to reproduce Jerome Robbins\u2019 original choreography \u2013 \u201cwhich is a great thing because it\u2019s some of the finest choreography ever created for a musical,\u201d Razze says.\u00a0 The famed \u201cTo Life\u201d number where the Jewish villagers of Anatevka face off against a group of Russian Cossacks is one of the strongest displays of stamina and athletic dancing in the show and represents two cultures pitted against each other. Robbins\u2019 famous choreography will be taught to the large cast of dancers by the talented Steven Casey, who choreographed last season\u2019s\u00a0Oklahoma!<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cFiddler on the Roof<\/em>\u00a0will be a great opening to our 24th season,\u201d says Casey Gallagher, PSF managing director. \u201cWith the creative team we have working on it and under Dennis\u2019 leadership, I think it will be a production our audiences will enjoy when they see it \u2013 and enjoy again in their memories for years after.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sources:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Weitzner, J. (1994).\u00a0Sholem Aleichem in the Theater<\/em>. (1st ed., Vol. 0, p. 5). Madison, N.J.: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press.<\/li>\n
  2. Ibid., 75.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    By Lisa Higgins Tevye the Dairyman leaps off the pages of Sholem Aleichem\u2019s collected stories with such exuberance that he seems destined for worldwide renown \u2013 like many other larger-than-life literary characters. But even the indomitable Tevye could have remained locked in history and near obscurity if\u00a0Fiddler on the Roof\u00a0had never moved beyond its status […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,31],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3719","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-2014-season","category-show-feature"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nHow Tevye the Dairyman Became an International Superstar - Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/pashakespeare.org\/press\/how-tevye-the-dairyman-became-an-international-superstar\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How Tevye the Dairyman Became an International Superstar - Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Lisa Higgins Tevye the Dairyman leaps off the pages of Sholem Aleichem\u2019s collected stories with such exuberance that he seems destined for worldwide renown \u2013 like many other larger-than-life literary characters. 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