AISLE SAY Berkshires
FIDDLER ON THE ROOF
Book by Joseph Stein
Music
by Jerry Bock
Lyrics by Sheldon Harnick
Directed and Choreographed by Gary John La Rosa
(Jerome Robbins’ original
choreography reproduced)
Starring Brad Oscar and Joanna Glushak
Barrington Stage Company
June
13- July 14
413-236-8888
Fiddler on the Roof is one of the
handful of musicals cursed by its fame and familiarity. Perhaps among a trio or
quintet of classics that people talk about having seen too many times, even if
they have never seen it once. A real shame, this, since Fiddler, which I saw in a warm and embracing production at Barrington Stage, in
Pittsfield MA, is possibly the greatest of the traditional (and not at all
traditional, to which I will return) musicals ever written. It lacks the
glamour and sophistication of My Fair Lady, of course, and it resists the
earnest goodness characterized by the major works of Rodgers and Hammerstein. Fiddler precedes the era of cynicism
that Stephen Sondheim revealed in his breakthrough, Company, and which he continues to explore. The writing team of Bock
and Harnick (Joseph Stein, the book writer tends to be lost in the discussion
for no good reason) came along at the time that musicals were transforming from
pure entertainment to a major voice addressing social and political injustices
and corruption. Fiddler was also
running parallel to the entirely traditional Mame, among others, that helped audiences to separate it from
the pack. All this by way of saying that a return visit to Fiddler was well timed for me: I’d seen it twice, in London in
1970 and at the Stratford Festival in Ontario about 10-15 years ago. The former
version was part of the international franchise at the time, Alfie Bass playing
Tevye, and the latter as part of the Stratford repertory season, starring Brent
Carver in a much-lauded production that I found entirely lacking in anything
Jewish, European or anything else that might add flavour to the piece.
The Barrington
Stage production reproduces Jerome Robbins’ original choreography, which is
part of the contract theatres sign for any professional production, but there
is nothing slavish about its application by director-choreographer, Gary John La Rosa. The iconic
imagery that Robbins imprinted remains smart, often mesmerizing (the entrance
of the company and throughout “Tradition”, the opening number) and
unapologetically drawn from other sources (the final image of Tevye pulling his
cart as the company circles the stage to represent their expulsion is surely
some kind of nod to Brecht’s final image in Mother
Courage, albeit the latter doesn’t draw upon the ensemble –
Courage drags her life’s work and baggage without anyone to assist). In between
there are those glimpses that conjure the previous stagings – in
particular, the three daughters dancing with their mops during “Matchmaker,
Matchmaker”.
But the
current production is not itself a franchise lease-out. It is a staging of its
own and brings an emotional weight that both informs and satisfies. In a
musical that examines a world changing in ways that will challenge ideas,
values and mores, Fiddler is anything
but traditional. And this is where its long-running history (both in the initial
Broadway run and the decades since) is fascinating and important. Yes, there is
plenty in the script and score that belongs to its time and place: scene-song
or scene-song-punch line-blackout was a familiar and predictable structure that
audiences expected. But the essence of the work is its themes of traditional
lives, family values (when that phrase wasn’t a political slogan), the new
voice of youth that would not be silenced or summarily overruled by parents or
elders and an acknowledgement that, hard as it might be, change is inevitable
and, occasionally, staggeringly so. That is absolutely not what musical had
been before.
Rodgers and
Hammerstein had certainly aimed their hefty sights on human themes in their
major works, “South Pacific” perhaps most of all. And there is no doubt a
legacy from that work that inspired others. “West Side Story” had certainly
determined to change the rules, and there’s no surprise, then, to know that
Robbins had led that particular charge, more than ably assisted by producer
Harold Prince, who also produced “Fiddler”. And Prince, it must be added,
started his own directing career soon after the Tevye clan took over the
Broadway scene, most definitely influenced by his earlier years with the
very-greats of the Broadway tradition. (The act one closer in “Fiddler” is his
template for the act one closer to “Cabaret”, which followed a few years later
and was another groundbreaking achievement in terms of form and especially in
terms of content that could go against expectation without sacrificing its
commercial appeal.)
But back to
Barrington Stage.
This company
dedicates itself to quality work in a wide range of styles. They do musicals
very well and ground them in the lovely main stage venue that is their
principal home. Jack
Mehler has wisely learned from the original Boris Aronson design
without co-opting it. The abstract images on the backdrop are enough for us to
recognize the painterly world of the village of Anatevka and the few set pieces
that represent houses (interior and exterior) are moved about the stage and
suggest storybook imagery. The costumes (Michael Bottari/Ronald Case), perhaps too
neat and tidy, ably delineate characters and social groups. The efficiency of
this large company and the even larger story they are connected to moves with
precision and spritely tempo – this is true of both the spoken and
musical components – and La Rosa generates a forward momentum that
overtakes the story’s characters in the right proportions.
Ultimately,
any production of Fiddler will look to
its Tevye for leadership and strength, and Brad Oscar is both smart and canny
casting. Oscar is possessed of a large and warm voice that he exploits without
ever boasting. His personal ease, charm and willingness to throw away what
others might (and have) hammered home, draws us closer to the man who, by the
end of the play, must provoke us to consider our own ethical rules. He does
this and he does this with honest restraint. In the early scenes, he seemed
less emotionally weighed down than most other Tevyes, but that served him and
the entire production by growing into the man he was becoming – a man
with a large family, a man who rightly assumed that he was consumed with daily
living rather than with matters of deciding what the rules for daily living
might have to be. Oscar’s scenes with his daughters, Hodel and Chana, are the
tough ones, of course, and they play with a simplicity that avoids the
sentiment that could so easily overwhelm them.
Joanna Glushak is a
commanding Golde, a presence to match her Tevye without resorting to shtick or
theatrics. “Do You Love Me?” is a surprisingly poignant moment in this
production – surprising because it is played with utter simplicity and
without a coyness that I’ve seen tacked on in other incarnations. Stephanie Lynne Mason, as Hodel, is
splendid both in acting and singing. Her strengths
embolden the character and never shift into self-conscious presentation.
So, yes, I am
very glad to have seen this production of “Fiddler on the Roof” and very
pleased to add another Barrington Stage experience to my Berkshires itinerary.
I do have one
caveat about the show’s staging, and I have no idea of this is aimed at Robbins
or La Rosa: in at least three or four musical duets, the leading singer moves
from the character to whom, and with whom, he/she has been playing to downstage
center. The move makes no sense and, worse, breaks whatever relationship has
been established between characters. As the actors are all wearing microphones,
they needn’t come closer to us so we can hear. What the director loses in the
process is the power he has succeeded in establishing just moments before. And
one other, minor too – the singing of “Anatevka”, like may of the
costumes and especially the men’s hats, was much too clean, carefully phrased
and flawlessly executed – “Fiddler on the Roof” is best when the rough
edges are given their full worth.
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