Posted: 1/15/16 at 12:24am
I'm don't know why the show is titled Fiddler on the Roof apart from the reason that the fiddler might symbolize Jewish traditions and in some sense a conservative force. Do you guys think the fiddler is merely a metaphor or did I miss something and he is somewhat involved in the plot?
Posted: 1/15/16 at 12:27am
"Without our traditions, our lives would be as shaky as as…as a fiddler on the roof!"
Posted: 1/15/16 at 12:29am
Pretty much explains it all!
Posted: 1/15/16 at 12:31am
Also:
The title comes from a painting by Russian artist Marc Chagall called "The Dead Man" which depicts a funeral scene and shows a man playing a violin on a roof top.
Posted: 1/15/16 at 1:24am
"But in our little village of Anatevka, you might say every one of us is a fiddler on the roof, trying to scratch out a pleasant, simple tune without breaking his neck."
Posted: 1/15/16 at 8:37am
In most productions the fiddler has always struck me as a metaphor for the continuity of tradition.
In the current revival, his metaphorical value seems to be much more specific. And much more harmonious with the line about the fiddler trying to scratch out a pleasant tune without breaking his neck. Sher uses him as a symbol for the continuity of the more specific struggle (itself traditional and eternal) which the show is all about: the challenges of balancing the solace of traditional values with the realities of life in an ever-changing world.
"It isn't easy."
Updated On: 1/15/16 at 08:37 AM
Posted: 1/15/16 at 4:56pm
It was originally titled "The Pianist on the Roof", but it was just too hard to get the piano up there.
Posted: 1/15/16 at 5:51pm
In the first production of FIDDLER I did, the young man who was cast as the Fiddler was beyond jubilant. He called his mother from a pay phone (cells weren't around in those days) and blurted out, "Mom, I've got the LEADING ROLE!!!!" Only later did he learn he had a mute role and would spent most of the performance perched up there by the chimney.
Posted: 1/15/16 at 9:51pm
Don't forget - at the end, the Fiddler comes down off the roof and follows Tevye and his Family. They are bringing their traditions with them to America.
Posted: 1/16/16 at 11:17am
I won't forget, Jon. I've done numerous productions of FIDDLER and played a variety of roles. I know what the Fiddler does and doesn't do. Don't forget that.
Posted: 1/16/16 at 12:22pm
^^^ Gees Dollypop, I think Jon was addressing the OP and the thread as a whole and not disparaging you and your massive Fiddler experience.
