New Repertory Theatre’s FIDDLER ON THE ROOF (extended through
Jan 11th) is not the same FIDDLER you may remember from years ago.
Director Austin Pendleton adds lovely symbolic touches to the “traditional”
staging for timely effect. For one, the fiddler isn’t on the actual roof
(generally visible at the start and the end of the musical), he’s omnipresent—in Tevye’s imagination, perhaps—or ours. He follows the milkman
around and once, even nudges him to look toward the heavens. He constantly
reminds us of Tevye’s opening words about the difficulty of keeping one’s
balance in changing times—something
we’re about to experience politically and very personally in our own country.
Pendleton gets even
more resonance from the storyline as we watch a whole community becoming
refugees, dispersing in all directions. Tevye’s family stands in for every Jewish
family in Anatevka just as the open set (designed by Stephen Dobay) stands in
for the whole village. (It’s framed high above by adjoining rooftops out of
which grow leafless, wintering trees reminiscent of THE CHERRY ORCHARD.) The
musical itself is so beautifully rendered, (book by Joseph Stein; songs by
Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick) that the residents of Anatevka stand in for any
persecuted people and Tevye’s strained relationship with his daughters reflects
any child’s struggle to separate from a previous generation.
The New Rep production features Jeremiah Kissel as a
longsuffering Tevye, a little more prone to depression than some, with Amelia
Broome plenty feisty as his wife, Golde. Bobbie Steinbach, too, makes Yente,
the matchmaker pretty cagey. The daughters are all delightful with each
completely different from the other. Of the suitors, Patrick Varner as Motel,
the tailor stands out for his joyous transformation from mouse to lion. Kelli
Edwards’ choreography is effervescent, with the requisite thrill from the
bottle dance. Music director Wade Russo gets wonderful singing all around, with
an exquisitely moving “Sabbath Prayer” one of the many reasons to see New Rep’s
striking, rewarding production.
