Uneven FIDDLER

A friend and I saw the current revival of FIDDLER last night and were disappointed. The material itself remains wonderful--probably the best of Broadway's musicals. However, this is so poorly conceived and awkwardly cast that it isn't always easy to sit through.

First off, Alfred Molina is NOT Tevye. From the very moment he stepped on stage, I knew he wasn't embodying the role. His gait was much too energetic for a character who is burdened by woes and cares of life in a small Russian village. Randy Graff is only a bit better as his wife. The actress who annoyed the living daylights out of me was Nancy Opel as Yente the Matchmacker. Holy good God, this is the WORST performance I've ever seen on Broadway. She's totally out of sync with the character, the setting and the mood of the piece. I might also add that she's too young for the part and her every gesture is too contemporary and youthful. The costumes she is forced to wear are downright ugly--even by Anatevka's standards. Are those shtetl versions of Bendel bonnets on her head?

Where was the director? He creates some beautiful stage pictures, but the production lacks an understanding of what's going on. Was he completely out of touch with the script?
The dramatic tension is missing here. The "Jewishness" is lacking. As a result, the show suffers big time.

Still, the production boasts some excellent voices and it was a treat to see Jerome Robbins' "Bottle Dance" again. In fact, most of the musical staging was quite good--although I wonder why Tevye and Golde keep a distance of 10 feet apart throughout all of "Do You Love Me?". Hello, Mr. Leveraux--these two characters finally realize that they've got a loving relationship and you don't even have them make physical contact? The ARE husband and wife!

Despite all this, the audience was full--mostly tourists. They rose to their feet for a standing ovulation at the end. I can't understand why.

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Here I have to strongly disagree. My sister and I took our 85 year old father last week and even he said it was one of the best productions of Fiddler he has seen. Take that from an elderly Jewish man who has seen the show about 20 times - from the originial B'way production to now. I, myself, liked the different spin on the story: I thought the orchestration magnificent and we all loved Alfred Molina. My dad kept remarking that he has never heard such beautiful voices. The audience gave a standing ovation and I felt it was very deserved.

Funny, I was not looking forward to going (have seen too many other productions that seemed to be all the same) but went only because my dad wanted to go so badly. I have to say, I was more than pleasantly surprised. I hope others are not discouraged by your critique and see for themselves if they like this particular production or not.

The show was good and it was a uniquely intriguing take on the classic musical. When it first came out though, the director made the same statement about the show in every interview he was in. He said "This production of Fiddler on the Roof is NOT a revival. Go into the show with the idea in your mind that this production is a re-birth and a re-imagining. We all wanted to take a look at the show from a never before seen and more intamate angle."

"This production of Fiddler on the Roof is NOT a revival. Go into the show with the idea in your mind that this production is a re-birth and a re-imagining. We all wanted to take a look at the show from a never before seen

I thought that was what a revival was.

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Herschel Bernardi was a wonderful Tevye. Warm, human and touching. Also effective were Harry Goz, Jerry Jarret and Jan Peerce. Mostel was too arrogant in the role. Molina just isn't Tevye. I'd like to see him do a different part and then judge his talents.

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An interesting bit of information about this revival is that, according to Joe Stein, there are actually more Jewish actors in this production than there were in the original cast.

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Barbara Barrie was fired. They claimed she was all wrong for the part. Now Nancy Opel is a good comic actress and she should be settled into the role at this point. However she hasn't.

I actually looked into my Playbill to see if an understudy was playing the role last night. I would have been far more forgiving had I known I was seeing an understudy or standby.

I stand by my comment that her performance is the WORST I have ever seen on Broadway--that included Mitzie Welch when she was subbing for Carol Burnett in FADE OUT-FADE IN.

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well, the carriage is on the right hand side and then tevye turns it around and just starts walking towards the back of the stage while pulling the carriage. then he walks off stage left. then the fiddler gives the little boy his fiddle and that's how it ends.

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yeah i didn't really remember. i saw it a while ago.

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o0o yeah. question for you though. how did you like the rest of the cast. specifically laura shoop and robert petkoff and john cariani.

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I saw this show yesterday and surprisingly loved it. To each their own.

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John Cariani's Motel made me cringe. It's hard to believe any girl would find him appealing with all that head movement going on.

Cariani's Motel was "over the top" and completely inappropriate for the production. It was the Marx Borothers type humor--or even one of the Three Stooges.

Where was the director to reel him in?

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