FIDDLER ON THE ROOF Reviews

I really wish Sher would have waited to do this production. He really could have done something great with a fiddler production. Oh well.

I predict a huge hit.

Note: I know I double posted this on two boards. I am curious to see how my prediction of the critics pan out and I admit it .... I want attention.

Motel and The Mischbucha

Caught this last night. It's a problem when the Motel character and his "Miracle of Miracle's" is the most exciting number in the show. The show was based on "Tevye and his Daughters" not "Motel and the Mischbucha." Focus on Tevye or lack of is a major problem here.

Too many odd directorial choices. Some good moments but overall not very effective. Most of the problems are in Act I, while Act 2 redeems itself to a degree. I predict the critics will rave because lets face it, show biz is a popularity contest and Bartlett Sher is a popular man. (see Emperor's New Clothes)

Bartlett Scher puts many of his own stamps on Fiddler, to make it differerent. Unfortunately, none of these stamps improve on Fiddler. For example, he adds a framing device which neither adds nor detracts--it just is. It doesn't ruin it but it doesn't help much either.

While the framing device doesn't hurt the show, it does hurt Tevye. Danny Burstein reading his first lines "A fiddler on the roof...sounds crazy no?" from a book which detracts from Tevye's immediate relationship to the audience. He prohibits Danny Burstein from showing any personality during the entire Act I. In fact most of the characters, with the exception of Adam Kantor as Motel, have little personality in the show.

Tzeitel, prior to Matchmaker, is directed to cry making Matchmaker a big downer. It takes a good ten minutes to recover from a somber "Matchmaker" number in which "Matchmaker" is so joylesss. "Matchmaker" should propel Fidder; not stop it in its tracks. Too much directorial hand here. You can't improve on perfection but Mr Sher tries mostly at the detriment to Fiddler in his showing off in a "look Ma I directed it differently fashion."

Danny Bursten, is a natural ham. I have been a fan of his since Drowsy Chaperone. He should be going to town with Tevye but he is directed to portray Tevye so real and restrained in Act I that he is devoid of any personality until act Two when he suddenly grows a pair of balls. It makes for a very uninteresting Tevye in Act I. "If I were a Rich Man" is not the show stopper it should be. Something is very off.

The opening number "Tradition" is lacking the circular motion of the original. It lacks the Jerry Robbins Magic. It's just kind of there. Not very exciting. "Sabbath Prayer" worked better with the Jerry Robbin's scrim with all of the town observing Shabbos coming to life one by one. He glosses over that moment and the result is it just kind of lies there. "Sunrise Sunset" has Tevye and Golde so far removed from the actual wedding canopy on that vast Broadway Stage that it took me a minute or so to locate the voices on the stage. Again, not very moving as it should be. They should be much closer to the bride and groom and the canopy.

There are some good moments. As I said "Miracle of Miracles" is the best number in the show.Motel is allowed to have personality. The Bottle Dance is quite enthralling.

This Fiddler is okay but has too much of Bartlett Sher's improvements. When I caught the Wiz on TV a few weeks ago, I thought it was missing the Geoffrey Holder/ George Faison Magic. This one is missing Jerome Robbins Magic. Did we really need to reinvent a perfect Fiddler?

A well-observed rave in Time Out that even makes a case for sets I kind of loathed in person.

Updated On: 12/20/15 at 06:33 PM

Wow that Bartlett Scher is a popular fella.

The gypsy robe ceremony is up on periscope.

So far is seems to be getting raves. Mazel Tov cast and crew!

http://www.marcchagall.net/images/paintings/the-fiddler.jpg

Updated On: 12/20/15 at 07:56 PM

Not a rave (but 30 photographs!)

http://newyorktheater.me/2015/12/20/fiddler-on-the-roof-review-danny-burstein-in-broadway-revival/

Not his belly I'd like to rub! :x

Isherwood is reviewing for the Times (surprised Brantley didn't take it) and is very positive!

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/21/theater/review-a-fiddler-on-the-roof-revival-with-an-echo-of-modernity.html

"The superb new production, which opened on Sunday at the Broadway Theater, certainly honors the show’s ebullience of spirit, as embodied in the central character of the Jewish milkman Tevye, living in a Russian shtetl in the early 20th century, eternally wagging his tongue, shaking his fist and cracking wise at an indifferent God."

JBroadway said: "Wow, I'm really surprised Brantley didn't take this one, particularly since he loved Sher's last 2 high-profile revivals."

Same. Isherwood's review made me very, very happy (and it's one of my favorite reviews of his, actually), but I was taken aback to see his name instead of Brantley's when I clicked the link—especially for a production of this magnitude.

"I predict the critics will rave because lets face it, show biz is a popularity contest and Bartlett Sher is a popular man. (see Emperor's New Clothes)."

Very true. The critics certainly adore their darlings, and are they ever faithful to them! But that's really only part of the problem. Far worse is that essentially, the critics are just plain bad, and have been for quite some time. With the results that we have seen, unfortunately, time and time again. As in these reviews.

Fiddler has a song called "To Life." Too bad they chose not to give us any here. It's a wan, doleful, unattractive production with an undersized performance by the lead.

So how could it not get raves?