Broadway Shows: Fiddler on the Roof

The musical Fiddler on the Roof is back on Broadway.  We recently saw Fiddler and were blown away by the production.  It far exceeded our high expectations.

The revival opened in December last year and will be a candidate for the 2016 Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical.  It faces stiff competition but a win would not be a surprise because the production is excellent.  Starting with a great story and great music is an advantage.  Add wonderful acting, singing and dancing and the revival might win the Tony.

What most struck us about the production are two brief, subtle scenes at the outset and end of the play.  The protagonist Tevye and the Fiddler appear on stage in a prologue where Tevye tells us we are all like a fiddler on a roof, trying to keep our balance while living our lives with all the twists and turns that life brings.  They wear costuming that evokes the setting, 1905 rural Russia, with one exception.  Tevye is wearing a red hooded jacket that looks like it came from the L.L. Bean catalog.

L.L. Bean, Men's Jacket

Plus, Tevye is carrying a book and his head is bare. 

Tevye the Milkman, Fiddler on the Roof  (2016)

Following the prologue, the jacket, book and Tevye's bare head disappear.  At the end of the play, Tevye's family is scattered and he and his wife and their two youngest daughters start a long trek to Brooklyn.  A red-jacketed, hatless Tevye reappears with book in hand. 

It turns out that the jacket, book and bared head have great meaning in the context of the musical.  They are intentional departures from 1905 custom to remind us that the story told on stage is not an old story.  Instead, it is a human story that repeats itself time and again, even today.  According to New York Times reporter Michael Paulson (click here), the jacket, book and missing hat refer to the ongoing refugee crises in the world--whether in Sudan, Syria or other troubled regions around the globe.   

In the final scene, Tevye trudges forward pulling his handcart.  It is a moving, thought-provoking scene. 

Final scene of Fiddler on the Roof (2016)

Refugees walking in Germany (2016)