Negative pre-opening publicity triggered by a negative commentary in the Los Angeles Times and the
firing of Barbara Barrie, who played Yente the Matchmaker, has already put producers of the "Fiddler
on the Roof" revival at the Minskoff Theater, which opens Thursday, on the defensive. After seeing the show in preview last week, their concerns are justified. I'll be surprised if critics do not vilify this ethnically
cleansed version of the classic show. It pains me to give my second favorite play ever (behind Les Miserablés) a negative review. It pained me even more to see a great play
destroyed by a flagrantly misguided director and miscast performers.
Alfred Molina, as Tevye, has a more than agreeable voice and stage presence, but from his first
words, it's clear the director, David Leveaux, decided to exclude virtually all ethnic influences except those absolutely required by the script.
Tevye speaks with perfect English diction and his conversations with God are devoid of any sense of spirituality or even sincerity. As townspeople prepare for their solemn Shabbat
dinners, they leave each other with wishes of "Good Sabbath," on the assumption, it seems, that Broadway theater-goers either don't know the
Hebrew "Shabbat" or might be offended by the use of a Jewish sounding word. In the wonderfully upbeat "l'Chaim, To Life," Tevye and the
men of the Russian village Anatevka consistently pronounce it "Lihyim," avoiding the challenge of producing the definitively guttural and
ethnically correct "ch" sound. The emotionally beautiful "Sabbath Prayer" has been stripped of its pleading, prayerful and mournful
overtones, and is left with only a shell of its intended impact. The emotionally compelling high point of the play, "Sunrise, Sunset" fails to be as poignant as it should be. And the first
act should end with audiences horrified, shocked, and angered by the pogrom that is the play's essential dramatic moment and turning point. Those
who have seen the play or movie several times recoil with the very knowledge of what is about to occur, but the actual event in this production
leaves us unaffected and uninvolved. These failures are primarily caused by a lack of emotional connectivity between the audience and the characters, who fail to pull the audience into
their lives in the little Russian village. Again, I blame this more on casting and direction than on the performers.
Fiddler even opens on a sour note with the symbolic fiddler on the roof looking like a cross between
Santana and Chuck Mangione, wearing a strange hat that can best be described as a 1970s
downtown Detroit fedora. For some unknown reason, the director has decided to have the fiddler constantly accompanied by a young boy
dressed in costume of uncertain origin. The boy inserts himself as a quiet but obtrusive observer of the
ongoing proceedings in Anatevka, and he is handed the fiddle at the show's end. Apparently, Leveaux has determined that audiences simply will not understand the symbolic role of the
fiddler so he has created a more easily understood image that, in reality, further distracts and confuses the audience.
If any role requires a strongly Yiddish performance, it is Yente the Matchmaker, which is written to
allow the actor to steal every scene in which she is featured. Barrie, although apparently Jewish, played it
more like a properly WASPish grandmother. She was replaced earlier this week by Nancy Opel, but its unlikely Leveaux will allow Opel the freedom
to insert the essential ethnic overtones that are required to bring Yente to life. While they are at it, the
producers should also consider replacing Stephen Lee Anderson, who plays the Russian Constable as a sweetly gay Chelsea
bar-hopper. Not only is the lack of Russian accent distracting, but the insertion of clearly gay
intonations is disconcerting.
The Fiddler story and music are so powerful that the show's impact as a musical and value as a historic time capsule are retained. But
have Broadway and America become so ethnically correct that the leading characters in the most Jewish
Broadway show in history must primarily be cast with non-Jews? It really would not have surprised me if Leveaux had cast Asians, Blacks and
Hispanics as the Russian Jews and townspeople. It would have been only slightly more distracting than the casting of Sally Murphy as
Tzeitel, Laura Michelle Kelly as Hodel, and Tricia Paoluccio as Chava (Tevye's three daughters). Randy Graff, whose ethnicity is unclear,
underplays Golde, Tevye's wife. The stage was initially so devoid of anyone Jewish that when the cute
daughter #4 (Shprintze, played engagingly by Molly Ephraim) entered, I muttered to myself, "Finally a Jew." Molina, in the lead role, makes no
attempt to capture any Yiddish dialect or ethnically appropriate mannerisms. I'm not advocating, at all, that only actors of Jewish descent should
have been cast, but it should not feel as if a village in Ireland had been picked up and set down in the Russian countryside. All three daughters and
Graff have more than adequate voices and do justice to the extraordinary music and lyrics. But the performers rarely displayed any real emotional
commitment to the lyrics and I kept expecting to hear a bit 'o the Irish brogue.
Most fans of Fiddler are familiar with the performance of Israeli actor Topol, who starred in both
the movie version and the last revival on Broadway. Since audiences embraced Fiddler as a clearly Jewish and ethnically correct show in its
first three Broadway engagements and accepted Topol's heavy Hebrew accent in the film, it's
unfathomable why this version needs to be so purified and Americanized.
Only four other performances are worthy of note: Robert Petkoff as Perchik the teacher is especially
effective, bringing a well-defined point-of-view and presence; John Cariani, as Motel the tailor is
captivating and memorable, if somewhat over the top; Tom Titone as Nachum the Beggar brings sincere emotion and personality to a
non-speaking role; and David Ayers as the Russian student
Fyedka is convincing and personable. Finally, the dream sequence featuring Lazar Wolf's deceased first wife Fruma Sarah, is incredibly poorly
executed. The dead Fruma Sarah is more comic than frightening and the ridiculous masks worn by the
characters in the dream are a misguided attempt to bring some fantasy-like qualities to the scene.
Perhaps the pre-opening criticism will result in changes, but the directorial flaws run so deep that it's
unlikely they can be overcome in a week. It's unfortunate, but I cannot recommend this production of "Fiddler on the Roof."
Jack Myers Entertainment Report's entertainment rating system is based on a
maximum of five jacks and a minimum of zero jacks. 0 = awful; 1 = pretty bad; 2 = okay but don't go out of your way to see it; 3 = reasonably good but not special; 4 = very
good and worth paying attention to; 5 = exceptional. Opinions are based on my own likes, dislikes and preferences.
