Photo Flash! Bette Midler in FIDDLER ON THE ROOF (circa 1968)

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 11/5/08 at 8:05pm

For those interested... here are photos of Bette Midler when she was a replacement Tzeitel during the original Broadway run of FIDDLER ON THE ROOF.

Bette made her Broadway debut in 1966 when she joined the cast playing Rivka. She was later promoted to the role of Tzeitel, which she played until 1969.

Playbill Bio:

BETTE MIDLER (Tzeitel)

Miss Midler is a Hawaiian born and bred lass who calls Honolulu home. After participating in high school dramatics and attending the University of Hawaii, she came to New York to study acting with Herbert Berghof. Her professional acting debut began in films in Honolulu where she portrayed a surf bunny in a bikini beach movie called Surf-a-Go-Go. Her first New York engagement was off-off Broadway at Café La Mama where she played the lead in Miss Nefertiti Regrets. She also played in Cinderella Revisited down on Second Avenue and appeared in a Catskill revue called An Evening of Tradition, an adaptation of Sholom Aleichem and Paddy Chayefsky stories.

NOTE: There is no SURF-A-GO-GO film (an obvious joke on her part). Her feature film debut was as an extra in the 1966 film HAWAII (filmed on location). The money she earned as an extra on that film allowed her to make the NYC trip... and create history.

Bette as Tzeitel:


Performing "Matchmaker, Matchmaker" with Adrienne Barbeau (as Hodel) and Tanya Everett (as Chava):


Here's Bette and 2 other cast members performing "Matchmaker, Matchmaker" at the 1969 Tony Awards:

LINK: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Y1sDh0_krg

[sondheimgeek]

Posted: 11/5/08 at 8:11pm

Aw thanks for the information! Bette certainly is wonderful!

[BroadwayBound062]

Posted: 11/5/08 at 8:13pm

Thanks so much great photos...

[PiraguaGuy2]

Posted: 11/5/08 at 8:40pm

I had no idea she did this.

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 11/5/08 at 8:49pm

I wish she would come back to Broadway.

She'd be an awesome Dolly Levi.

[Smaxie]

Posted: 11/5/08 at 8:52pm

I can't tell - is Bette the one responsible for mangling the final chord?

[Mildred Plotka]

Posted: 11/5/08 at 9:00pm

I thought the same thing, Smaxie.

I've played it back a few times and it would appear that Ms. Midler is indeed the culprit.

[sondheimgeek]

Posted: 11/5/08 at 9:08pm

But her voice got better as time went on, I swear!

[Paul W. Thompson]

Posted: 11/6/08 at 12:07am

Wow, Adrienne Barbeau, who knew?

[once a month]

Posted: 11/6/08 at 8:15am

Thank you for sharing! I was given a rather short 'Bette compilation' DVD, which includes her and her 'sisters' doing Matchmaker- my guess is on the Tonys, but I'm probably wrong. It then segues into a more current AIDS benefit where she appears to be the headliner (FUNNY-AND TOUCHING), and then on to the 'farewell to Johnny Carson' tribute. I've loved Bette since the early 1970's and was lucky enough to catch her in Divine Madness on Broadway. I'm hoping to check out her Vegas show over the next year. I can never get enough of her.

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 11/6/08 at 9:23am

If you look at my original post... at the bottom I included a link to Bette and 2 other cast members performing "Matchmaker, Matchmaker" at the 1969 Tony Awards.



For ****s and giggles... here's the link again: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Y1sDh0_krg

[Wanna Be A Foster]

Posted: 11/6/08 at 9:25am

Brody'll take his ****s and giggles where he can get 'em.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 11/6/08 at 9:48am

I was 13 and my parents took me and my sister to see it Harry Goz in Fiddler. I distinctly remember being offended by one of the daughters because she kept cracking up on stage. Even at 13, I felt such behavior was "unprofessional"!

A few years later, after she started performing as the Divine Miss M, she related a story about cracking up onstage during Fiddler. I went home and checked my old programs and there was her name.

Updated On: 11/6/08 at 09:48 AM

[SweeneyPhanatic]

Posted: 11/6/08 at 12:32pm

What struck her as being so funny? I've done "Fiddler" twice; it's not exactly an LOL show when you're in-the-moment.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 11/6/08 at 2:35pm

That's just it. She wasn't.

[Mildred Plotka]

Posted: 11/6/08 at 6:23pm

Ms. Midler is probably too much of a free spirit for replacement work. I imagine if she'd created the role from scratch, or been allowed her own input, she'd have been a bit more in the moment.

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 11/6/08 at 6:30pm

Well... she managed to fool many during her run as she was in the show from 1966 to 1969. It was more than just a replacement job -- she was in the damn show for almost 4 years!

[DAME]

Posted: 11/6/08 at 6:31pm

She has talked about having a difficult time during that run. Also her sister was killed when she came to NYC to see her in the show.

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 11/6/08 at 7:01pm

Yup. Her sister Judy was killed (by a taxi) while visiting Bette in 1969. That was the turning point in Bette's life and she never went back to FIDDLER ON THE ROOF. This is when she chose to start singing in cabarets and everything else fell into place, career-wise (The Continental Baths, Barry Manilow, Arista Records, etc.).

[Scripps2]

Posted: 11/7/08 at 5:48pm

Very interesting - thanks for posting everyone!

[gvendo2005]

Posted: 11/7/08 at 6:45pm

Other fun facts: in 1971, Bette was offered the role of Mary Magdalene in JCS, as Robert Stigwood had been trying to come up with a vehicle for her (and would continue to do so--RACHAEL LILY ROSENBLOOM was originally written with her in mind, and in fact she sang the love letter to Streisand number at a backer's audition for - of all people - John and Yoko). She turned down the role, but a certain Barry Manilow went on to become the OBC rehearsal pianist.