Review: FIDDLER ON THE ROOF at Moorestown Theater Company

Mendl:  Is there a proper blessing for the Tsar?

Rebbe:  A blessing for the Tsar? Of course.

May God bless and keep the Tsar far away from us!

Moorestown Theater Company (“MTC”) marks its 230th production with this splendid and moving production of Fiddler on the Roof with a book by Joseph Stein, music by Jerry Bock and lyrics by Sheldon Harnick.  Based on stories by Sholem Aleichem originally written in Yiddish, the original Broadway incarnation of the story opened in 1964 with Zero Mostel in the lead and was nominated for nine Tony Awards, winning several (including one for Mostel).  The award-winning MTC alternates Gold and Black casts (Moorestown’s school colors) and the cast I was privileged to see was the Gold one.  Mark Morgan, Producing Artistic Director, is director and producer with Carol Ann Murray as Managing Director and Producer and Beverly Bennett as Music Director.

Fiddler on the Roof is a play of ironies.  One of the key lines in the play is when Tevye says, “Because of tradition, everyone knows who he is and what God expects him to do.”  Actually, the history of the Jews has eternally been one of persecution and therefore, uncertainty, a continual uprooting and displacement, a struggle of a people trying to keep their balance in the midst of constant upheaval.  The unrest continues to date.  Set in 1905 in Czarist Russia in the small Jewish village (“shtetl”) of Anatevka, it concerns an impoverished, devout dairyman Tevye who struggles to maintain his Jewish traditions and religious beliefs as the outer world encroaches and three of his five daughters buck marital tradition by choosing their own husbands.  (As a historical note, the Pale of Settlement existed from 1791 to 1917 in the Russian Empire as the only area where Jews were allowed to live; Jewish merchants also could not do business outside the region which kept it economically bleak.  When Tevye is told money is the world’s curse, he responds, “May the Lord smite me with it.  And may I never recover!”)

The fiddler on the roof, trying to “scratch out a simple tune” without “breaking [his] neck” is a symbol of the plight of a people trying to preserve their livelihoods and traditions in a hostile and shifting landscape, Jews driven from their land who proudly try to cling on to whatever they have left.  The fiddler also represents Tevye who, like the village elders, is facing the shift from the old ways to modernity as his daughters and local youth begin to defy tradition.

The production is filled with terrific, catchy songs like the haunting “Sunrise, Sunset”; “Do You Love Me?”; and of course, the iconic “If I Were a Rich Man.”  Tevye’s three eldest daughters all reject matchmaking attempts in favor of love and choice to Tevye’s puzzlement.  Tzeitel (Maureen Garafano) marries Motel the tailor (Alex Kiernan), not the much-older and wealthy butcher Lazar Wolf (Ken Ambs) her father chose; Hodel (Hannah Brodt) chooses Perchik (Mason Ambs), a poor radical who gets exiled to Siberia; and worst disappointment of all, Chava (Giovanna Barcia) chooses a non-Jew Fyedka (Dylan Wilson) which crosses too great a line with Tevye who declares her dead to the family.   It all culminates in the Constable (Dan Drechsler) announcing that the Villagers have three days to leave the town, leading to another long and sad exodus for the Jews.

Whenever I see a show from Moorestown Theater Company, the production values and performances are so stellar, I’m always moved into declaring that this production is my favorite yet (the exact thing I’ve said at the previous outing).  It’s rewarding when something is done meticulously well and entertains so thoroughly.  MTC’s Fiddler has a 51-member cast, 34 members of which come from just 14 families, and a live 14-piece orchestra.  The beautiful story with beautiful and haunting music is brought to its full potential through stark and simple sets; equally simple and beautiful peasant costumes; and moody lighting, all of which focus the story like a laser beam.  Also a highlight is the wonderful and well-executed choreography by Lizi Baldwin which conveys the unique culture of the villagers.  Some of the numbers are quite tricky, in fact, such as the Bottle Dance, and the dancers acquit themselves nicely.  Gifted and well-trained dancers like Giovanna Barcia who plays Tevye’s daughter Chava (and marks her 27th MTC show with this production) lend the dances elegance and verve and even the youngest cast members pull them off.

The characters are colorful and meaty and this cast gives them nuances.  There are many standouts.  Maxine Pinzur as Yente, the gossipy Matchmaker, is possibly my favorite; she is authentic and charismatic and very funny.  When the bookseller Avrum (Tom Hilliard) is told by Yente that the shoemaker’s daughter is a great match for his son and he retorts that the girl is almost blind, she says, “Is your son so much to look at?  The way she sees and he looks, it’s a perfect match.”  Mark Pinzur (who also happens to be the Musical Director at MTC) is perfect as the gentle, quietly wise and calm Rabbi.  Andrea Dreschler, who has been wonderful in every MTC production I’ve seen, is again wonderful and well-cast as the fiery and sharp-tongued Golde, a role she played previously.  Lovely and emotionally resonant are Maureen Garafano, Hannah Brodt and Giovanna Barcia as the three eldest daughters and as their love interests, Alex Kiernan, Mason Ambs, and Dylan Wilson respectively are superb actors as well as adept at song and dance.  Most delicious are Carol Ann Murray as Grandma Tzeitel and Rhoda Harrison, who is a Rabbi/Cantor in real life and astoundingly marking her first production, as Fruma-Sarah, both wildly fun in perhaps my favorite number in the show, “The Dream” (in which Tevye concocts a nightmare to make Golde believe that Tzeitel’s marriage to Lazar will lead to Tzeitel’s death at the hands of the butcher’s first wife Fruma-Sarah).  At the core of it all is Richard Fischer, moving as the reflective Tevye.

What makes a show like Fiddler on the Roof so enduring and great?  It could be the timeless message regarding the corrosiveness of hate.  Its undying appeal may also be more basic than that.  Fiddler is a great show with great music, a great story and great characters who are trying to stay true to themselves, relatable to everyone.  It also takes a company like Moorestown Theater Company to take the message and magic of this amazing work and bring it all to life to enable it to endure for generations to come.  And that’s just what they do.

Fiddler on the Roof ran from July 17 to July 25 at the First Methodist Church of Moorestown, 446 E. Camden Avenue.  Upcoming productions from the Moorestown Theater Company to look forward to include Rent and Beauty and the Beast.  

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