By: Scott Galbraith
Walton Arts Center Vice President of Programming & Executive Producer
Fiddler on the Roof is one of the most legendary and beloved American musicals of all time.
With music by Jerry Bock, lyrics by Sheldon Harnick and book by Joseph Stein, Fiddler was inspired by the writings of Sholem Aleichem, one of the most celebrated Yiddish authors of his day – or any. The title of the musical was inspired by the 1912 Marc Chagall painting “The Fiddler,” the subject of which is a metaphor for survival through joy in a state of imbalance.
Theatrical lore suggests that – with the possible exception of the pandemic – the show has played somewhere in the world every day since its premiere in 1964. Such lore may be rooted in the show’s original 10-year run on Broadway, the longest in history to that point. Or it may be rooted in the number of revivals it’s enjoyed, the frequency with which its staged in schools, who knows...it’s lore. Regardless, the mere presence of that lore speaks to the show’s enduring relevance.
On the one hand, the show’s relevance lives in its iconic songs which range from celebratory and defiant (“Tradition”), to poetic and poignant (“Sunrise, Sunset”) to sweet and simple (“Do You Love Me?”). On the other hand, its relevance lives in its richly human characters who are funny and flawed, vulnerable and vivacious, all at the same time. On the other hand (see what I did there?), it’s because world events that parallel the show’s principal plot just keep repeating.
The current war and humanitarian crisis in Ukraine is the most recent example. For context:
Fiddler centers on a milkman (Tevye) who is striving to save his religious and cultural traditions – if not the lives of his loved ones - in the face of change. To be fair, some of that change is posed by Tevye’s children who are simply pushing societal norms, as children will do. More to my theme, however, Tevye and his neighbors in the town of Anatevka are facing eviction if not death, change that is incited by the Russian Empire.
While Anatevka is a fictional town, it exists in the very real Pale of Settlement, an area within czarist Russia where Jews were permitted to live. Living “beyond the Pale,” was largely illegal. The Pale of Settlement included modern day Ukraine.
For those unfamiliar with Fiddler, take heart! While the show does allow us to see current events through a historical lens, it does so by focusing on people, not politics.
So, looking at more people-oriented parallels...both Chagall’s and Aleichem’s work relative to Fiddler draws upon their formative years living inside The Pale; Chagall in Belarus, Aleichem near Kyiv (Ukraine). Upon graduation, Aleichem was hired to tutor a wealthy landowner's daughter, Olga (Hodel) Loev. They later married, against her father’s wishes. In Fiddler, Tevye (who fantasizes about being a wealthy man) hires a student revolutionary from Kyiv (Perchik), to tutor his daughters, one of whom is named (you guessed it!) Hodel. You'll have to see the show to find out if that’s where the parallel stops!
Through his title character in Hamlet, Shakespeare urges artists "to hold as ‘twere the mirror up to nature,” to create fictional realities that parallel reality itself. Fiddler on the Roof has always done that and continues to, today. May we always be brave enough to look into that mirror and see...really see.
One last parallel—or perhaps just a “small world” moment. Early in my career, I acted in a production of Othello starring Austin Pendleton - who originated the role of Motel, the tailor, in Fiddler on the Roof.
Okay, I’ll stop now.
Fiddler on the Roof is appearing at Walton Arts Center May 10 - 15. Tickets can be purchased at waltonartscenter.org.