Fiddler On The Roof Revival — Page 5

How is cutting a quarter of the show serving the original material? LOL i know AT LEAST 10 people who hated Porgy and Bess. Sondheim absolutely hated it as well. I personally loved it, however do i think it was true to the original material? Not really. I think they did what they had to to so people wouldn't be sleeping in the theatre after watching a show for a million hours which is perfectly logical. The Gershwin Estate probably just let them do whatever the **** they wanted to do for $$$$, but thats the biz.

As far as comparing a reimagined version of Fiddler on the Roof, and Porgy and Bess, i was talking about it in terms of being true to the original material. The last revival of Porgy and Bess is a perfect example of a successful show that made changes, and wasn't true to the original text. If Fiddler on the Roof isn't 100% true to the story by adding different cultures into the cast, well I'm sure people would get over that considering this is 2014. My point by adding different races to the show was to show off different traditions that different cultures have. You people asked how someone can reimagine Fiddler on the Roof and i gave you an example. Of course its hard to imagine something like that happening since it has never been done before.

"In a show specifically about racism (or anti-semitism), the last thing a show needs is some random casting choices to flag how color-blind the revival's director might be. Oh please, FIDDLER is a show ABOUT discrimination against Jews, just as PORGY is about racism aimed at Blacks, just as THE KING AND I is about the conflicts between Asians and Europeans."
Whatever that ****s about, Porgy and Bess is about RACISM. Fiddler on the Roof is about TRADITION. I would never recommend color-blind casting Porgy and Bess. In the last scene of Fiddler on the Roof when the town is leaving Anatevka, it would be cool to see other races too, which would show how other cultures have been forced to leave their lands too, not just the jews, and this would add to the show in a really great way.

"you boys don't understand that two different actors playing role are going to be different because they are different people. Each actor is going to see different things in the role which will influence their performance."
umm I'm fully aware of that, i said that like a million times. And I'm not even a director, just someone with an opinion who thinks it would be nice to see Fiddler get switched up. Thats all

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I'd venture to say "No," Kad.

Who said they wouldn't be in the rest of the show? And I'm a freshman in college with an opinion about theatre. What does it matter how old I am. You should be happy that there's a young theatre person who actually has an opinion and sticks with it

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Philly, stop beating a dead horse.

I can say the same exact thing about you guys. I am not immature for having a different opinion than yours. You have your opinion and I have mine.

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Lmao where have you been? This whole entire thread was a legitimate argument on both sides. Nobody ever said "because I said so"

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In the future, whenever people ask "Why don't they give a bunch of bored 17 year olds who've run out of things to dream cast complete creative control over classic Broadway musicals and $10 million budgets", I think I will refer them to this thread.

"Stick to your choices, but be willing to change them if they don't work. That's whether you end up being a director, an actor, a writer... or just a person living their life. Best of luck to you!" Thanks! And yea i know that Feste, I just think its ridiculous to me how barely anyone on this thread has an imagination, or open mind. You'd think they would when we are talking about a musical here.

FishermanBob, im 18 and your joke was really lame. And I don't really dream cast much either...



Fiddler on the Roof

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Updated On: 10/4/14 at 07:47 PM

Do we know what Sondheim thought of the recent production of PORGY AND BESS? His remarks to the NYT were made in response to an interview with Paulus, MacDonald, et al. He hadn't seen the revival at that point.

"FishermanBob, im 18 and your joke was really lame. And I don't really dream cast much either..."

17, 18 what's the difference. You're still obviously not old enough to understand why what you're suggesting is ridiculous despite the best attempts by a number of people to explain it to you. You're not old enough to understand that having an open mind doesn't mean that everything always has to be changed and that some things aren't just fine being left as they are. The maturity to understand when and why something NEEDS to be changed is what I hope you some day acquire.

FOTR is a show with deep meaning to a number of people. It's a show that many parents take their kids to, to introduce them to theater. Its message is timeless. It stands on its own. It doesn't need to be reimagined, reinvented, changed, altered just because you're not interested in seeing the "same" show you may have seen the last time it was on Broadway. Under the 2011 Federal "So Just Don't Go" Theater Act, you now have the right to simply not see a show if for whatever reason you don't want to see it. The producers will just have to live without the $37 in revenue from your rush ticket.

Updated On: 10/4/14 at 08:51 PM

Yes, the Sondheim letter was discussed here at length. But as I said, Sondheim was irked by published remarks that PORGY AND BESS "needed" a major overhaul and by the Gershwin Estate's de-emphasizing Heywood's contribution to the project.

IIRC, in the same article Sondheim said he was looking forward to seeing what they had done with the show, but I don't recall ever hearing if he saw it or what he thought.

Plenty of new work expands the boundaries of theatre. Plenty of existing work lends itself to such re-imagining, too.

Fiddler is neither.

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"nobody is gonna pay 100 bucks to see a show they have seen a million times."

Broadway tickets cost more than $100, btw, and people see Fiddler to see Fiddler, just like Phantom... it's sort of not important to have a name in the cast, as long as the production is good.