Fiddler on the Roof Previews- Page 26

[Hamilton22]

Posted: 12/19/15 at 12:04pm

Is it just me or is broadway worldtv the most crappiest thing ever?  I've been trying to watch this highlight video for 20 minutes and the damn thing keeps buffering at the lord of dance ad. Just put your crap on Youtube and be done with it already.

[SNAFU]

Posted: 12/19/15 at 12:08pm

Hmmmmm I didn't have a problem, could it be your browser? I will definitely be going to this over the Christmas Break. It was great to see the brief scene with my dead ancestor masks!

[StageStruckLad]

Posted: 12/19/15 at 12:09pm

Very surprised to read in the Times that Sheldon Harnick finally okayed keeping that godawful framing device in this production. He said he changed his mind because so many people wrote in to say how much they loved it. Were all the letters written by Sher?

[Hamilton22]

Posted: 12/19/15 at 12:33pm

Hmmmmm I didn't have a problem, could it be your browser?

 

Snafu. I don't think so. This has been happening for months whenever I try to watch one of their videos. No matter where I am at or what computer I am on, it's always a hassle to try and watch their videos. I'll just wait for the youtube video.

 

 It was great to see the brief scene with my dead ancestor masks!

 

Did you work on this show too? Congrats.  Busy year for you. 

 

.

Updated On: 12/19/15 at 12:33 PM

[Kad]

Posted: 12/19/15 at 12:34pm

StageStruckLad said: "Very surprised to read in the Times that Sheldon Harnick finally okayed keeping that godawful framing device in this production. He said he changed his mind because so many people wrote in to say how much they loved it. Were all the letters written by Sher?"

 

There are are numerous people in this thread alone- myself included- who thought the framing device was very effective. 

 

[SNAFU]

Posted: 12/19/15 at 12:35pm

I'm not sure it's the site's fault, I have no problems viewing their videos. Maybe it is an encoding problem...

 

[Hamilton22]

Posted: 12/19/15 at 12:38pm

True, Kad. But there are just as many  people in this thread that didn't care for the framing device also. I liked the framing device but I don't think it added anything all that special to the show. Certainly not surprising that Sheldon was very hesitant to sign off on it. I think the framing device will get mixed reactions from critics.

[bunnie3]

Posted: 12/19/15 at 2:13pm

Snafu,  sent you a PM.

 

 

[goldenboy]

Posted: 12/19/15 at 3:07pm

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?

 

 

Updated On: 12/19/15 at 03:07 PM

[Mike66]

Posted: 12/19/15 at 4:22pm

Hello.  I am a new name -- finally having gotten up the courage to write something to all of you.  Thank you for all of your insights and knowledge and love of theatre.  I enjoy reading your posts and have learned more than a little.

I am writing to weigh in just a little on Fiddler -- I have not seen the new production, and I am waiting to hear the "professional" critics tomorrow night.  But from all of your comments, I am thinking that I might want to just rest on my memories.

I saw Zero Mostel as the original Tevye when I was in high school.  I went with friends once and sat in the rear of the balcony, and then with my mother.  We splurged and sat in the front of the balcony.  That was very rare.  But I remember she cried from the moment the orchestra started to play until the lights came up after curtain calls.  (She had a sister who married outside the faith, and yes, they tore their clothes, sat shiva, and "buried" her out of their lives.  That's how it was -- even in the middle of the 20th century in New York, and no, we were not ultra orthodox).

What I remember the most is Mostel.  I had read the Aleichem books many times as a child, and there had been educational television adaptations, so the character was not unknown to us.  There is little that is perfect in life or art.  Mostel was perfect.

Mostel was Tevye.  In every way, from the moment he came on stage, he was the show -- and the story was his. No disrespect to the other actors -- you never took your eyes off Zero.  And when he left the stage, you watched the wings to see him return.  Every move, every gesture was consumed.   Yes, they danced, yes they sang, but you were always fixed on Mostel.  Some of you have noted that Tevye is a man who "talks tradition" but then doesn't follow it.  Perhaps that is one way to look at it.

Mostel, from the moment the curtain rose, told the audience -- I am a simple man, a poor man, but I am the equal of the Lord.  Not in an arrogant sense at all -- in a kind respectful sense -- but nonetheless, an equal.  That is why he speaks to him as an equal -- but respectfully always.  He asks God for favors, just as friends ask him.  He is not angry when the favors are not granted.  But he is not a stupid or cruel man.

And mostly he is a man in love -- with everything around him -- even though he would never -- at least until deep in the second act -- even think of that word as meaning anything in his life.  Most of all, he understands that tradition is a guide to life -- but it cannot become a trap.  That is why, in my mind, he is always willing to leave the tradition to follow his heart.  And he believes that God understands and will accept.

The most wonderful/heart breaking moment in the show, and I still cannot hear the line with tearing up -- is the moment where his daughter says to him "Father, God knows when we will see each other again"  And he replies "Then we will leave it in His hands."  Tevye trusts his love -- for her, and for God -- to protect her against ridiculous odds.

Zero Mostel was able to carry this role, and with due respect to all who have put on the hat since then -- I have not yet heard or seen anyone who can match his creation. 

(And again, I have no seen the framing device, although the newspapers yesterday pretty well seemed to lay it out -- this is why it doesn't "work for me"  -- who is this "new man" -- a great great grandson? -- of who -- why is he interested in Anatevka? -- is he from Tevye's line? -- he must be if he picks up Tevye's cart and wheels it off stage.  I have no doubt that my mother, of blessed memory would be furious if she saw this.  Tevye, and my grandparents, never wanted to go back or look back. They came to America, as many in Anatevka hope in the final scene, to make a world for their children and their children's children -- not so we would go back to Anatevka, not to live, not to gawk, not to poke around.  If this is merely intended to connect the Jews of the Pale to the refugees of the 21st century -- well, respectfully -- it doesn't work.  It's not the same.)

I appreciate that people who have been born in all these years shouldn't be denied the story and the music and the dance because they cant see the Master at work.  But I think, in this one case, that any actor granted the privilege to play this most wonderful of roles would think twice, and twice again before trying to recreate what we were so lucky to have seen all those years ago.

Thank you for listening.  I hope to continue to read your thoughts on a never ending range of topics.

m

Updated On: 12/19/15 at 04:22 PM

[goldenboy]

Posted: 12/19/15 at 5:39pm

If you rely on memories of the wonderful original with Zero Mostel or even Paul Lipson, Hershel Bernardi or Harry God---, I'd recommend you stay away from this mostly misguided production. The director has done this Fiddler a total misservice.

[StageStruckLad]

Posted: 12/19/15 at 6:33pm

Lovely post, Mike66. Welcome and keep posting!

[SweetLips]

Posted: 12/19/15 at 6:48pm

I loved reading your background story Mike66-thank you for your passionate first entry.

No need to be nervous, says he who was very timid to type at first. MOST on here are very learned,kind and funny-the others are also the same--they just say it differently.

Welcome.

SL...x

[DAME]

Posted: 12/19/15 at 7:45pm

@Mike66 I loved reading your post,  I saw Zero as well when I was very young.  We went as a family on a visit to NYC.  Nothing has ever come close to that for me.  

[Theater_Nerd]

Posted: 12/19/15 at 7:57pm

Wow at that great post Mike66...it's great to read from the board members who were lucky enough to see these now legendary performers and performances! I am looking forward to reading more from you! Thanks for sharing!!! 

Updated On: 12/19/15 at 07:57 PM

[ljay889]

Posted: 12/20/15 at 2:49am

Saw the final preview tonight it was shockingly my first time ever seeing Fiddler. I really enjoyed it a lot!  The framing device didn't bother me. Burstein is giving a commanding and touching performance. This is the best I've ever heard him vocally. Hecht is stunning in the role. Full of strength and emotion. There are touches of her Beatrice from View from the Bridge, but she delivers a very powerful performance. There was not a weak link in the cast.
I was impressed with Sher's natural and simplistic staging throughout. I thought Tevye's Dream was absolutely magical. 

 

The production is very long, it ended at 10:58. But I really enjoyed it and I think many critics are going to write some very positive reviews. Also, the audience was enthusiastic and extremely respectful/well behaved. It was a nice treat not to be surrounded by disruptions.

Updated On: 12/20/15 at 02:49 AM