FIDDLER ON THE ROOF's Motel, Adam Kantor, Travels To The Land of Traditions

"What on God's green earth would convince a meshugeneh like me to travel halfway around the world to a land once filled with Jews and now almost completely populated by goyim? What was I looking for? I'll tell you. I don't know."

Eight times a week, Adam Kantor stands up for his right to happiness as the poor tailor Motel Kamzoil in the new Broadway revival of FIDDLER ON THE ROOF. It's a long way from his first encounter with Jerry Bock, Sheldon Harnick and Joseph Stein's adaptation of the stories of Sholem Aleichem.

At age 11, playing Mendel, the rabbi's son at Great Neck North Middle School, he had no clue he was involved with a theatre piece inspired by, as he calls him, "grandfather of Yiddish literature.'

As described in his humorous and informative essay for Forward, composed as though he were addressing Sholem Aleichem directly, the circumstances that led to his opportunity to visit the writer's Ukrainian homeland certainly seemed like a miracle of miracles.

"The first thing I found, before I even left, was this mensch who has a group called Yiddishkayt that I would follow through these lands. The mensch's name is Robby Peckerar and his tour is called Helix. According to his website (Yiddishkayt.org), there would be 24 artists, activists and scholars exploring the former shtetlekh of Eastern Europe - towns all over Belarus, Lithuania and Latvia, where our people lived and thrived - from Minsk to Dvinsk and many towns in between. And, can you believe this excursion would happen during the summer between receiving the offer to perform in the Broadway production and beginning rehearsals? And would you believe, Sholem Aleichem, that just three weeks before this excursion, the group lost its 24th traveler and a spot opened up for me? Can you imagine? So bashert! But wait, there's more...."

While the facts behind the existence of an actual village named Anatevka are inconclusive, Peckerar offered Kantor a post-trip extension to the areas of Ukraine where Sholem Aleichem resided and was no doubt inspired to create the characters of Tevye, Golde, their five daughters and, of course, Motel.

"We had come to Boyarka, this village outside Kiev, because we knew you had lived there once, knew you had a dacha (home) there, that surely you wrote some of your Tevye stories inside this dacha, and you changed the name of Boyarka in your stories to Boiberik - the town where Tevye goes door-to-door selling dairy products to the rich."

"And wouldn't you know it, the nice goyim who currently live there let us into the yard to have a closer look. I do have to say, the young couple seemed not nearly as excited about their residence as we were. (In fact, I wondered if they had even read your stories.) However, you'll be pleased to know that on the side of the house there's a little plaque with your name on it."

Wandering into a nearby Orthodox church, they found themselves in the middle of a wedding ceremony.

"A young bride, with blonde hair and eyes as blue as the painted church itself and wearing a sheer white dress and veil, stood beside her tall, handsome groom. Another pair, behind them, held crowns of gold and silver a few inches above the couple's heads... Perhaps this is where Tevye's daughter Chava married Fyedka?"

With an actor's imagination and a bit of childlike abandon, Kantor was determined that if Anatevka could not be located on a map, he could locate his own Anatevka within the environs.

First, he found his Tevye.

"There he was! Just on the path outside the blue wooden church in Boyarka, dragging his cart as he would have done on his way back home after delivering the dairy - panting and weary. Our guide asked him for some directions. He answered in Ukrainian, breaking through his tired veneer with an animated charm."

The nearby rural village of Tarasivka seemed as good a place for Anatevka as any. Knowing that Tevye and his family lived just outside of the village, they decided that the abandoned home they found must have been the one that the dairy man left on his way to America after discovering a horseshoe just outside.

It was decided that the old lady in a babushka who scolded them in Ukrainian for trespassing must be their Yente.

"In Bart Sher's staging of this revival," he explains to the author of long ago, "a man (the same man who plays Tevye), begins the story by entering the stage in contemporary dress, looking at what seems to be the remains of something that once was. Throughout the opening sequence, he becomes Tevye in 1905 accoutrement, and the Jews of Anatevka emerge."

After this experience, Kantor sees himself as that contemporary man wearing a red coat, looking to find his roots.

"I see myself now, more than I ever did before, as a descendant of immigrants. That is what it is to be an American, isn't it? I am that man in the red coat. As are we all."

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The Broadway revival of Fiddler on the Roof officially opened on December 20 at The Broadway Theatre (1681 Broadway). The production is directed by Tony Award winner Bartlett Sher, and choreographed by Hofesh Shechter.

Rediscover the joy as a Broadway tradition returns: Fiddler on the Roof. Tony-winning director Bartlett Sher and the team behind South Pacific and The King and I bring a fresh and authentic vision to this beloved theatrical masterpiece from Tony winner Joseph Stein and Pulitzer Prize winners Jerry Bockand Sheldon Harnick. The original production won ten Tony Awards including a special Tony for becoming the longest-running Broadway musical of all time-and now you can be there when the sun rises on this new production starring Tony nominees Danny BursteinandJessica Hecht with stunning movement and dance from acclaimed Israeli choreographer Hofesh Shechterbased on the original staging by Jerome Robbins.

A wonderful cast and a lavish orchestra tell this heartwarming story of fathers and daughters, husbands and wives, and the timeless traditions that define faith and family. Featuring the Broadway classics "To Life (L'Chaim!)," "If I Were A Rich Man," "Sunrise Sunset," "Matchmaker, Matchmaker," and "Tradition,"Fiddler on the Roof will introduce a new generation to this uplifting celebration that raises its cup to joy! To love! To life!