FIDDLER ON THE ROOF
BOOK: JOSEPH STEIN
MUSIC:JERRY BOCK
LYRICS:SHELDON HARNICK
Chagall's The Fiddler
QUICK NAVIGATION
Fiddler on the Roof is a musical, an adaption of Sholem Aleichem's stories of Tevye der Milkhiker (Tevye the Dairyman). The Musical takes its name inspiration from Marc Chagall's painting, to the left.
The musical is set in Anatevka, a shtetl in the Pale of Settlement, in Imperial Russia. It is a story of family life, and trying to maintain Jewish values in a household under pressure from external influences from the Tsar. Tevye, the father of five daughters, is forced to contend with his eldest daughters' desires to marry for love, despite the fact that their choices take them farther away from traditional Jewish homes.
But why is something set more than a century ago worthwhile doing today? First, this is a wonderful adaption of groundbreaking, but ultimately not mainstream, stories into a hit Broadway Musical. But, more importantly, this musical is a reminder of the fact that across time, and across cultures, the uniting force that many of us rely on is love, as "cheesy" or "schmaltzy" as it is. And, not only is love a uniting force, it is a sustaining one.
Like the people of Anatevka, we are living in uncertain times, where what we are used to, like weddings, funerals, and daily life, are being stretched to their limits as we are forced to isolate. But, like the people of Anatevka, we still have each other-- if we're able to relinquish some of the hold we have on tradition, and hold onto each other (Emotionally! From a distance!) instead.
Introduction
&
Why This Play Now
A Note from the Dramaturg:
This production happens to be one that I have particular interest and prior knowledge in. As such, I have attempted to find sources as much as I can think of, but much of this feels redundant due to the amount of prior knowledge I had. Therefore, this site is not static and is intended to be collaborative: with your feedback, I hope to know what you need to know, what you want to know, and what you already know. This site is therefore a living site, and I invite you to check back regularly in case there's new information that might help you!
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THE WRITERS
Sholem Aleichem was the pen name of Sholem (Solomon) J. Rabinowitz, who adopted the pen name to express ideas he felt restrained from without the comfort of a pseudonyms, as well as to write in Yiddish; at the time, Russian and Hebrew were considered the prestigious languages for Russian Jews to write in. Amongst his stories are those of Tevye der Milkhiker, Tevye the Dairyman, a collection of Yiddish language stories exploring daily life. This video covers just a small portion of who Sholem Aleichem was.
The creative team behind the musical adaption to Fiddler on the Roof consisted of Joseph Stein, Jerry Bock, and Sheldon Harnick. While they decided to leave much of the Yiddish behind, and smooth out the edges of the characters, they also added depth of character that Sholem Aleichem didn't.
To read about all the authors more in depth, please see this link.
To read just about the creative process of adapting the stories of Tevye to the stage, with specific focus on what to keep and what to leave behind, see this link.
YIDDISH REVIVAL
One of the things most exciting with Fiddler on the Roof, is that it's undergoing a revival - in Yiddish! The soundtrack can be found here, if you have Spotify! A montage of some highlights can be found here.
Our production doesn't contain as much Yiddish as perhaps it should, but a brief coverage of Yiddish can be found here.
THE SONGS
Analysis of the songs can be found here. Context, socially and religiously, is discussed within the relevant analysis.
It may be useful to have the glossary, found here, open at the same time as reading analysis, if you are unfamiliar with some of the terms.