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24 – 26 July Bromley Churchill Theatre
29 July – 2 Aug Leeds Grand Theatre
5 – 9 Aug Belfast Grand Opera House
12 – 16 Aug Norwich Theatre
19 – 23 Aug Nottingham Concert Hall
26 – 30 Aug Bristol Hippodrome
9 – 13 Sept Edinburgh Festival Theatre
16 – 20 Sept High Wycombe Swan Theatre
23 – 27 Sept Liverpool Empire
30 Sept – 4 Oct Southend Cliffs Pavilion
7 – 18 Oct Dublin Bord Gáis Theatre
21 Oct – 1 Nov Manchester Palace Theatre
4 – 8 Nov Eastbourne Congress Theatre
11 – 15 Nov Canterbury Marlowe Theatre
18 – 22 Nov Cardiff New Theatre
25 – 29 Nov Sunderland Empire
9 Dec – 3 Jan Birmingham Alexandra Theatre
Every drama needs a protagonist and an antagonist. In Fiddler on the Roof, inspired by Sholem Aleichem’s 1894 Yiddish short story, and now a celebrated revival from the 1960s, we have to explore what this means today. Tevye, the milkman, is the central character. His fight is against the Tsarist antisemitic state and also the progressive views of his three daughters. The brilliance of this musical is how it seamlessly connects the two. Jordan Fein’s vision is the factor behind this success. His razor-sharp production pleases the eye, ear and brain. It removes any nostalgic vision of Eastern European Jewish life. After the pogrom of 7 October 2023, this Fiddler on the Roof offers a new resonance. And Fein lets it percolate on a subtle and subliminal level.
It is the central casting of Adam Dannheisser as Tevye the milkman, which makes the production so intriguing. Dannheisser’s Tevye has an American Jewish muscularity which defies any image of the victim-Jew. The casting of Lara Pulver as his wife Golde is equally as inspired. Both create multilayered and complex Jewish characters defying any stereotypes.
The original musical hit Broadway in 1964 and was made into a movie in 1971. Its longevity is thanks to the creative collaboration between book-writer Joseph Stein, composer Jerry Bock, and lyricist Sheldon Harnick. Jerome Robbins was the original Broadway director and choreographer, and it was originally produced on the New York stage by Harold Prince. All came from a Jewish tradition and the work, connected to their own family histories, paid tribute to a lost world of kabbalah, satire, self-mockery, jokes, wild singing and dancing and a strong sense of community. When this musical was born in the secular sixties the eponymous fiddler was certainly a portal into a lost Chassidic Eastern European community. Of course Aleichem could have prophesied that European Jewry was to be annihilated alongside the Yiddish culture that he represented in his writing. And as a kind of tribute to that murdered world the 1960s collaborators honoured a magical aesthetic that inspired so many great writers and artists. Looking at the poster for the production we might ask why is the musical called Fiddler on the Roof and not Tevye the Milkman? Afterall it is Tevye who is the protagonist not the must fiddler. But it is the Fiddler who brings us a Chagall painting on the move. He is a portal into the Chassidic mysticism which, according to Talmudic tradition, is forbidden to Jewish men under forty and certainly to women. Raphael Papo in the role had the audience gasping at the casual way he made his dance, musical skills and shift-shaping, look easy.
It is no shock to learn that this production is a prize-winner. The cast is faultless. There are crowd-pleasing numbers that are thrilling. Jerome Robbins’ original bottle dance is stand-out. But it is the director’s vision that continually excites. Fein’s use of the stage is constantly surprising and inventive. He often creates disturbing stage tableaux referencing the theatre practices of Tadeusz Kantor and Bertolt Brecht. His images are also drawn from Yiddish films of the early 20th century which use German Expressionist lighting techniques. A particular example is the hilarious ghost scene, where Tevye’s re-enacted monochromatic dream sequence animates female spirits who challenge patriarchal tradition.
Fein has gathered a strong ensemble of collaborators. Designer Tom Scutt gives us a geometric, Jewish village and Aideen Malone’s lighting designs are inventive. The synthesis of design, costume, choreography is pleasing. We feel the mood of Tsarist Ukraine, but we are also given theatrical anomalies which take us out of the shtetl and on to our own street. One effective moment is when the antisemites attack Jews wearing clothes that would not look out of place on our street. For a moment we think about the National Front/British National Party. Plastic pub crates and modern chairs takes us out of the 19th century and into the 21st. Historical antisemitism and today’s Jew-hatred are in direct conversation.
Also speaking to our times is the question of women’s rights. Within this musical most of the action concerns the control of women and their desire for freedom. Tevye’s three daughters’ struggle is not for intellectual freedom or career but the choice to marry who they want. The three young actors who take the central roles are magnetic. Hannah Bristow as Chava, Georgia Bruce as Hodel and Natasha Jules Bernard as Tzeitel, are charismatic. Lara Pulver, as their mother, is no traditional matriarch. Pulver’s gift is to suggest a strong hinterland. Similarly, Beverley Klein’s matchmaker Yente makes us realise that the loss of her job is not the fallout of female independence but is a financial catastrophe for a widow with no other income.
All these elements transcend the particularity of the Jewish Ashkenazi culture to offer a universal theatrical experience which stands out as one of the finest productions on the contemporary stage. The final moments offer no happy end, only a constant questioning about how Jews can never feel safe, wherever they are.
Fiddler on the Roof
London’s Barbican Theatre
24 May – 19 July
UK & Ireland Tour 2025
29 July – 2 Aug Leeds Grand Theatre
5 – 9 Aug Belfast Grand Opera House
12 – 16 Aug Norwich Theatre
19 – 23 Aug Nottingham Concert Hall
26 – 30 Aug Bristol Hippodrome
9 – 13 Sept Edinburgh Festival Theatre
16 – 20 Sept High Wycombe Swan Theatre
30 Sept – 4 Oct Southend Cliffs Pavilion
7 – 18 Oct Dublin Bord Gáis Theatre
21 Oct – 1 Nov Manchester Palace Theatre
4 – 8 Nov Eastbourne Congress Theatre
11 – 15 Nov Canterbury Marlowe Theatre
18 – 22 Nov Cardiff New Theatre
25 – 29 Nov Sunderland Empire
9 Dec – 3 Jan Birmingham Alexandra Theatre
Every drama needs a protagonist and an antagonist. In Fiddler on the Roof, inspired by Sholem Aleichem’s 1894 Yiddish short story, and now a celebrated revival from the 1960s, we have to explore what this means today. Tevye, the milkman, is the central character. His fight is against the Tsarist antisemitic state and also the progressive views of his three daughters. The brilliance of this musical is how it seamlessly connects the two. Jordan Fein’s vision is the factor behind this success. His razor-sharp production pleases the eye, ear and brain. It removes any nostalgic vision of Eastern European Jewish life. After the pogrom of 7 October 2023, this Fiddler on the Roof offers a new resonance. And Fein lets it percolate on a subtle and subliminal level.
It is the central casting of Adam Dannheisser as Tevye the milkman, which makes the production so intriguing. Dannheisser’s Tevye has an American Jewish muscularity which defies any image of the victim-Jew. The casting of Lara Pulver as his wife Golde is equally as inspired. Both create multilayered and complex Jewish characters defying any stereotypes.
The original musical hit Broadway in 1964 and was made into a movie in 1971. Its longevity is thanks to the creative collaboration between book-writer Joseph Stein, composer Jerry Bock, and lyricist Sheldon Harnick. Jerome Robbins was the original Broadway director and choreographer, and it was originally produced on the New York stage by Harold Prince. All came from a Jewish tradition and the work, connected to their own family histories, paid tribute to a lost world of kabbalah, satire, self-mockery, jokes, wild singing and dancing and a strong sense of community. When this musical was born in the secular sixties the eponymous fiddler was certainly a portal into a lost Chassidic Eastern European community. Of course Aleichem could have prophesied that European Jewry was to be annihilated alongside the Yiddish culture that he represented in his writing. And as a kind of tribute to that murdered world the 1960s collaborators honoured a magical aesthetic that inspired so many great writers and artists. Looking at the poster for the production we might ask why is the musical called Fiddler on the Roof and not Tevye the Milkman? Afterall it is Tevye who is the protagonist not the must fiddler. But it is the Fiddler who brings us a Chagall painting on the move. He is a portal into the Chassidic mysticism which, according to Talmudic tradition, is forbidden to Jewish men under forty and certainly to women. Raphael Papo in the role had the audience gasping at the casual way he made his dance, musical skills and shift-shaping, look easy.
It is no shock to learn that this production is a prize-winner. The cast is faultless. There are crowd-pleasing numbers that are thrilling. Jerome Robbins’ original bottle dance is stand-out. But it is the director’s vision that continually excites. Fein’s use of the stage is constantly surprising and inventive. He often creates disturbing stage tableaux referencing the theatre practices of Tadeusz Kantor and Bertolt Brecht. His images are also drawn from Yiddish films of the early 20th century which use German Expressionist lighting techniques. A particular example is the hilarious ghost scene, where Tevye’s re-enacted monochromatic dream sequence animates female spirits who challenge patriarchal tradition.
Fein has gathered a strong ensemble of collaborators. Designer Tom Scutt gives us a geometric, Jewish village and Aideen Malone’s lighting designs are inventive. The synthesis of design, costume, choreography is pleasing. We feel the mood of Tsarist Ukraine, but we are also given theatrical anomalies which take us out of the shtetl and on to our own street. One effective moment is when the antisemites attack Jews wearing clothes that would not look out of place on our street. For a moment we think about the National Front/British National Party. Plastic pub crates and modern chairs takes us out of the 19th century and into the 21st. Historical antisemitism and today’s Jew-hatred are in direct conversation.
Also speaking to our times is the question of women’s rights. Within this musical most of the action concerns the control of women and their desire for freedom. Tevye’s three daughters’ struggle is not for intellectual freedom or career but the choice to marry who they want. The three young actors who take the central roles are magnetic. Hannah Bristow as Chava, Georgia Bruce as Hodel and Natasha Jules Bernard as Tzeitel, are charismatic. Lara Pulver, as their mother, is no traditional matriarch. Pulver’s gift is to suggest a strong hinterland. Similarly, Beverley Klein’s matchmaker Yente makes us realise that the loss of her job is not the fallout of female independence but is a financial catastrophe for a widow with no other income.
All these elements transcend the particularity of the Jewish Ashkenazi culture to offer a universal theatrical experience which stands out as one of the finest productions on the contemporary stage. The final moments offer no happy end, only a constant questioning about how Jews can never feel safe, wherever they are.
Julia Pascal © 2025.
By Julia Pascal • music, musicals, theatre, year 2025 • Tags: Julia Pascal, music, musicals, theatre