Fiddler on the Roof
Updated: 5/24/2026, 7:22:41 PM Wikipedia source
Fiddler on the Roof is a musical with music by Jerry Bock, lyrics by Sheldon Harnick, and book by Joseph Stein, set in the Pale of Settlement of Imperial Russia in or around 1905. It is based on "Tevye the Dairyman" and other short stories by Sholem Aleichem. The story centers on Tevye, a milkman in the fictional village of Anatevka, who attempts to maintain his Jewish traditions as outside influences encroach upon his family's lives. He must cope with the strong-willed actions of his three older daughters who wish to marry for love; their choices of husbands are successively less palatable for Tevye. An edict of the tsar eventually evicts the Jews from their village. The original Broadway production of the show, which opened in 1964, had the first musical theatre run in history to surpass 3,000 performances. Fiddler held the record for the longest-running Broadway musical for almost 10 years until Grease surpassed its run. The production was extraordinarily profitable and highly acclaimed. It won nine Tony Awards, including best musical, score, book, direction and choreography. It spawned five Broadway revivals and a highly successful 1971 film adaptation and has enjoyed enduring international popularity. It has also been a popular choice for school and community productions.
Infobox
Tables
| Role | Broadway (1964) | West End (1967) | 1976 Broadway Revival | 1981 Broadway Revival | 1983 West End Revival | 1990 Broadway Revival | 1994 West End Revival | 2004 Broadway Revival | 2007 West End Revival | 2015 Broadway Revival | 2019 West End Revival |
| Tevye | Zero Mostel | Chaim Topol | Zero Mostel | Herschel Bernardi | Chaim Topol | Alfred Molina | Henry Goodman | Danny Burstein | Andy Nyman | ||
| Golde | Maria Karnilova | Miriam Karlin | Thelma Lee | Maria Karnilova | Thelma Ruby | Marcia Lewis | Sara Kestelman | Randy Graff | Beverley Klein | Jessica Hecht | Judy Kuhn |
| Tzeitel | Joanna Merlin | Rosemary Nicols | Elizabeth Hale | Lori Ada Jaroslow | Jane Gurnett | Sharon Lawrence | Jacquelyn Yorke | Sally Murphy | Frances Thoburn | Alexandra Silber | Molly Osborne |
| Hodel | Julia Migenes | Linda Gardner | Christopher Callan | Donalyn Petrucci | Andrea Levine | Tia Riebling | Jo John | Laura Michelle Kelly | Alexandra Silber | Samantha Massell | Harriet Bunton |
| Chava | Tanya Evertt | Caryl Little | Nancy Tomkins | Liz Larsen | Lisa Jacobs | Jennifer Prescott | Adi Topol-Margalith | Tricia Paoluccio | Natasha Broomfield | Melanie Moore | Nicola Brown |
| Motel Kamzoil | Austin Pendleton | Jonathan Lynn | Irwin Pearl | Michelan Sisti | Peter Whitman | Jack Kenny | Neil Rutherford | John Cariani | Gareth Kennerley | Adam Kantor | Joshua Gannon |
| Perchik | Bert Convy | Sandor Elès | Jeff Keller | James Werner | Steven Mann | Gary Schwartz | Peter Darling | Robert Petkoff | Damian Humbley | Ben Rappaport | Stewart Clarke |
| Fyedka | Joe Ponazecki | Tim Goodman | Rick Friesen | Joel Robertson | Christopher Snell | Ron Bohmer | Kieran Creggan | David Ayers | Michael Conway | Nick Rehberger | Matthew Hawksley |
| Lazar Wolf | Michael Granger | Paul Whitsun-Jones | Paul Lipson | David Jackson | Mark Zeller | David Bacon | David Wohl | Victor McGuire | Adam Dannheisser | Dermot Canavan | |
| Yente | Beatrice Arthur | Cynthia Grenville | Ruth Jaroslow | Maria Charles | Ruth Jaroslow | Margaret Robertson | Nancy Opel | Julie Legrand | Alix Korey | Louise Gold | |
| Preceded byLife with Father | Longest-running Broadway show 1972–1979 | Succeeded byGrease |
References
- The 2004 revival featured a song for Yente and some women of the village (Rivka and Mirala) titled "Topsy Turvy", discus
- Most likely, this refers to the Saint Vladimir Imperial University of Kiev, where some Jews were permitted to study unde
- Paulson, Michael. "Fiddler on the Roof Gets a Debated Update", The New York Times, December 18, 2015, accessed March 6,https://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/19/theater/fiddler-on-the-roof-gets-a-debated-update.html
- Joselit, Jenna Weissman. "Fiddler on the Roof Distorted Sholem Aleichem", The New Republic, June 7, 2014, accessed Novemhttps://newrepublic.com/article/117621/wonder-wonders-and-worlds-sholem-aleichem-reviewed
- Solomon, Alisa. "How Fiddler Became Folklore", The Jewish Daily Forward, September 1, 2006, accessed January 29, 2015http://forward.com/articles/1710/how-efiddlere-became-folklore
- Brustein, Robert. "Fiddle Shtick", The New York Review of Books, December 18, 2014, vol. 61, No. 20, pp. 82–83
- Fiddler on the Roof. Additional Facts, MTI, accessed May 6, 2010http://www.mtishows.com/show_detail.asp?showid=000036
- Wecker, Menachem. "Marc Chagall: The French painter who inspired the title Fiddler on the Roof", The Washington Post, Ochttps://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/theater_dance/marc-chagall-the-french-painter-who-inspired-the-title-fiddler-on-the-roof/2014/10/23/0230b382-5480-11e4-ba4b-f6333e2c0453_story.html
- Progressive Lawyers under Siege: Moral Panic during the McCarthy Yearshttps://books.google.com/books?id=Q5zlCAAAQBAJ&pg=PA16
- Khiterer, Victoria. "Jewish Education in the Ukrainian People’s Republic", Harvard Ukrainian Studies, Vol. 38, No. 3/4 (https://www.jstor.org/stable/48733665
- Bloom and Vlastnik, p. 98
- Fiddler on the Roof, The Guide to Musical Theatre, accessed April 29, 2018http://www.guidetomusicaltheatre.com/shows_f/fiddler_on_the_roof.htm
- Playbillhttps://www.playbill.com/production/fiddler-on-the-roof-imperial-theatre-vault-0000006051
- Overturhttp://ovrtur.com/recording/178947112
- Playbillhttps://www.playbill.com/production/fiddler-on-the-roof-winter-garden-theatre-vault-0000011538
- Playbillhttps://www.playbill.com/production/fiddler-on-the-roof-new-york-state-theatre-vault-0000012977
- Playbillhttps://www.playbill.com/production/fiddler-on-the-roof-george-gershwin-theatre-vault-0000011040
- Overturhttp://ovrtur.com/production/2891004/credits
- Playbillhttps://www.playbill.com/production/fiddler-on-the-roof-minskoff-theatre-vault-0000002329
- Overturhttp://ovrtur.com/production/2897726/credits