Theater review: Fiddler on the Roof

by Dennis Sloan of John Garcia's The Column

Through May 24, Dallas Summer Musicals will be presenting stage and screen star Topol in his farewell tour of Fiddler on the Roof at Music Hall at Fair Park. Despite a few moments that seem outdated, this excellently paced production offers a great night at the theatre and a solid reminder that Topol himself is a formidable actor and musical theatre performer.

When Fiddler on the Roof opened on Broadway in 1964, it was not Topol who played Tevye, a poor Jewish milkman struggling to keep his family, his faith, and his way of life intact in early 20th century Tsarist Russia. Topol did, however, open London’s 1967 West End production and star in the 1971 Norman Jewison film; consequentially, Topol and Tevye have become forever linked in the minds of musical theatre audiences.

Nearly 40 years after the Fiddler film was released, Topol does not disappoint. From the moment he appears on the Music Hall stage, we are transported into the world of Tevye and His Daughters, the Sholem Aleichem story that inspired what has become one of America’s most beloved musicals. With his gruff voice, clever comedic timing, and commanding stage presence, Topol is an easy match for the poor patriarch living in the small town of Anatevka during a time of great political and cultural change. With Jews being evacuated from entire towns and villages and with young Jewish adults bucking the tradition of arranged marriages, Tevye has a good deal on his plate; in 2009, Topol proves just as much a master of Tevye’s subtle complexities as he did in the 1970’s. Whether daydreaming about wealth and happiness (“If I Were a Rich Man”), recovering from a night of celebratory vodka (after “To Life”), discovering his love for his wife for the first time in twenty years (“Do You Love Me?”) or disowning with great difficulty a daughter whose disobedience has finally gone too far (“Chava Sequence”), he communicates with his audience, inviting them to take a peek into his world and into his mind and heart. At the same time, he moves and sings with as much gusto as one could want from a Tevye of any age. Most importantly, Topol is quite clearly having a fantastic time performing the role; one senses that he loves this Tevye, and it’s the kind of love the audience immediately responds to and comes to share over the course of the evening.

Susan Cella’s Golde is a good match to Topol’s Tevye. Cella gives Golde a firm and demanding edge that is borne of a deep love for her family; it is never, as it so easily could be, shrill or overdone. Moreover, Cella handles the key moments between Golde and her disowned daughter with a subtle and contained clarity that speaks volumes about the intricacies of family dynamics in Fiddler’s given time and environment. As the three eldest daughters, Rena Strober (as Tzeitel), Jamie Davis (as Hodel), and Alison Walla (as Chava) are also nicely matched – so nicely matched in roles as sisters, in fact, that it is at times difficult to remember which character is speaking unless she is addressed by name. Their voices are pleasing, however, and one wishes while watching Walla’s delicately layered performance that the musical included a song for Chava.

Among the three love interests, Eric Van Tielen is a standout as Fyedka, the compassionate Christian boy who nonetheless drives Tevye over the edge. Van Tielen’s first appearance comes midway through the rousing “To Life,” with soaring tenor notes that command the audience’s full attention. Van Tielen is not, however, just a pretty voice; his scenes with Walla are some of the most driving and believable of the evening.

Director Sammy Dallas Bayes, who directed the Tony Award-winning 1990 Broadway revival of Fiddler (also starring Topol), recreates Jerome Robbins’ original staging and choreography for the current tour. While most of it still holds up, there are moments here and there that seem a bit outdated or awkward. Erik Liberman (as Motel) skips and claps like a school child during “Miracle of Miracles,” an ode to his passage into manhood, for instance, and the great spectacle of the much loved “Dream Sequence” seems rather flat and uninventive given the technological feats that are now regularly accomplished on stages across the country and around the world. Still, Bayes makes great contributions in character interpretations and pacing. Strober, for example, seems slightly more modern and cynical than Tzeitels past in “Matchmaker, Matchmaker.” Too, Bayes moves the action swiftly along with such great skill that the revelation that one hour and fifty minutes have passed when the house lights come up at intermission is genuinely shocking. The overall presentation, however, may rely a little too heavily on the comedy and the usual stereotypes; several of the more poignant moments felt slightly awkward and elicited a laugh or two that may not have been fully appropriate.

All of this unfolds amidst well-realized design concepts. Steve Gilliam’s set does a great deal to keep the action moving along with a number of reversible pieces; Tevye’s house, for instance, can be viewed from three exterior angles or opened up within seconds for an interior scene. Most pieces slide on and off either mechanically or with the aid of unseen actors, which allows scenes to continue even as the scenery is changed.

Tony Ray Hicks’ costumes are not stunning, nor should they be – they are entirely appropriate for a rural town in early twentieth century America. Ken Billington and Jason Kantrowitz provide a classic musical theatre lighting design, alternating between the peppy brightness of a lively chorus number and the understated yet dynamic color wash that accompanies the spot-lit solos and Tevye’s inner monologues.

In all, this Fiddler is worth the trip to Music Hall, but even if the production were less than stellar, it might be worth the opportunity to see Topol on his final tour as Tevye. Luckily, one doesn’t have to suffer in order to enjoy such a historical moment; the work at Fair Park is of a high enough caliber that, though it may be long, the evening is well spent.