by Michele Markarian
‘Fiddler on the Roof’ – Book by Joseph Stein. Music by Jerry Bock. Lyrics by Sheldon Harnick Original Direction by Bartlett Sher; Direction Recreated by Sari Ketter and Shirley Butler. Presented by NETworks Presentations, Emerson Colonial Theatre, 106 Boylston Street, Boston through December 26.
I love “Fiddler on the Roof”. I have seen this show more times than I can count, including a middle school production in Rhode Island with a then twelve-year old Andrew Burnap, winner of this year’s Tony award for his role in “Inheritance”, as a very convincing Tevye. It’s a great show, and it’s hard to imagine that any one production could make it even greater. But last night’s show at the Emerson Colonial did exactly that.
“Without our traditions, our lives would be as shaky as a fiddler on the roof,” Tevye the milkman (the magnetic Yehezkel Lazarov) tells us at the beginning of the show, where this excellent cast performs a rousing version of “Tradition”. Lazarov’s Tevye has some fire and spark; he has not sighed himself wearily into middle age. Tevye and wife Golde (Maite Uzal) have five daughters that they are expected to marry off with the help of matchmaker Yente (Brooke Wetterhahn, whose comic timing is impeccable). Tevye is poor and can’t afford dowries for his daughters, which means their chances of catching good (meaning rich) husbands are slim. When Tevye’s oldest daughter, Tzeitel (Kelly Gabrielle Murphy) and her childhood friend Motel (Daniel Kushner) ignore the tradition of arrangement and ask permission to be married, Tevye’s family life, as well as Jewish community life in the Russian settlement of Anatevka, starts to become unglued.
It’s a vibrant, exhilarating production, thanks to the remarkably talented cast of actors and singers. The reimagined choreography of Hofesh Shechter by Christopher Evans really shines, particularly in the lively “To Life”, which gets drunker and sloppier with the celebrating characters in the show, and the comically dramatic “Tevye’s Dream”, which takes place in the middle of the night. Catherine Zuber’s costumes are authentic and creative.
The strength of this production lies in its authenticity. In addition to being superb dancers and vocalists – essential to a musical, right? – the actors can also act, and really well at that. Kushner performs an earnest and heartfelt “Miracle of Miracles”; middle daughter Hodel, played by the magnificent Ruthy Froch, delivers with feeling a bittersweet “Far From the Home I Love”. Lazorov imbues “Chavaleh” with sorrowful reflection. The one song I was sort of dreading was “Do You Love Me?” which is usually performed with some sort of shrieky schtick by Golde. I can honestly say I liked this song for the first time, as Uzal and Lazarov played it straight, weighing the words carefully and thoughtfully, and responding to each other truthfully.
The ending of the play, typically a funereal, defeated exodus against the mournful notes of “Anatevka”, was, in this reviewer’s eyes, surprisingly upbeat. Yes, they are leaving their beloved village, where everything has been the same for years. Yes, they are headed towards the unknown – Tevye’s family to America, Motel and Tzeitel to Poland, Yente to Jerusalem. But there’s something in the energy and intelligence of this cast that makes you think, hey, they’re leaving Russia, where things are only going to get worse, but they’re going to better places! The diaspora will bring to whatever world they inhabit their hard work, cleverness and stamina, which is what is takes to leave behind the old word and embrace the new. For tickets and information, go to: https://www.emersoncolonialtheatre.com/Online/default.asp
