Frequent patrons of Yiddish-language theater in New York are likely familiar with National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene, which has been mounting plays and musicals since 1915 (which makes it one of the longest continuously-operating theater companies in the nation). Fiddler on the Roof in Yiddish, for people who speak or at least understand that vanishing language, is a natural.
Our question today, though, is: What’s the worth of this new Fiddler on the Roof in Yiddish—directed by Joel Grey, of all people—to those of us who don’t speak the language? Yiddish, I’m afraid, is Greek to me and to the great portion of potential theatergoers. The quick answer is that the Folksbiene gives full value; that is, this production flavorfully brings out the full value of the material.
Now, this is no small victory. We get, here, a full impression of what the Messrs. Bock, Harnick, Stein and Robbins put on stage back in 1964. Broadway has seen two fairly recent revivals of the show, the David Leveaux version in 2004 and the Bartlett Sher version in 2015. Both in English, yes; but the warmth and heart of the musical was altogether absent in the first and somewhat struggling to stay afloat in the second. But down at the Museum of Jewish Heritage in Battery Park, we get Fiddler. The life and the joy of the musical are here, as well as the stripping away of Tevye’s soul as his beliefs are challenged by his beloved daughters and his existence is obliterated by the tsar. Director Grey and associates fit the show on a tiny stage, yes; but the abundance of this production is definitely full scale.
You will find several surprises as you take your seat. The program tells us that the choreographer of the occasion, Staś Kmieć—who has spent many years on the “roof” on stage and as choreographer—is reimaging the show in the Robbins tradition. This is all to the good, especially in comparison to prior post-Robbins Fiddlers.
There is also a real orchestra, which is not necessarily to be expected in a 350-seat theatre off-off-Broadway. The band is 12 pieces; half the original Broadway production, but larger than eight of Broadway’s current musicals (Hamilton, Dear Evan Hansen, Book of Mormon). It turns out that they are using the 2008 touring orchestration by Larry Blank, which meticulously captures all the colors of Don Walker’s original. So musically, we are getting precisely what Bock (and Robbins) had in mind.
We are also getting a cast of 26, which—again—is larger than the aforementioned Broadway hits. So while one goes in assuming the show must necessarily be on a small-scale, it turns out that it is full-sized in everything save production values. Even so, set designer Beowulf Borritt has provided a suitable unit (and the one trick he has up his sleeve is a powerful one). Peter Kaczoworski’s lighting is also a major asset.
That cast, stocked with mostly unknown players, is generally good. The one Broadway regular, billed on a line by herself in boldface type twice as large as the others, is inveterate scene-stealer Jackie Hoffman as Yente the Matchmaker. She is on her best behavior here, which means that she mines the role’s humor without yukking it up. Yente, over the years, has become a stereotype; Hoffman brings to the role a distinctiveness we haven’t seen since Bea Arthur left the cast in 1965.
Steven Skybell makes a sturdy Tevye; sympathetic, good-natured and at all times admirable. What he doesn’t have, at present, is the larger-than-life presence of many Tevyes past (Mostel, Bernardi, Topol). Of course, Skybell—a replacement butcher in the 2015 Broadway production—doesn’t have decades of stardom behind him. Tevye’s marriageable daughters (Rachel Zatcoff as Tsaytl, Stephanie Lynne Mason as Hodl, and Rosie Jo Neddy as Khave) are assets together and individually; they are assisted by good work from Daniel Kahn as Pertshik and Cameron Johnson as Fyedke. (If the characters look odd, that’s because the names have been Yiddishized.) Johnson also rings the rafters as the Russian soloist in “Lekhayim,“ which we know as “To Life.” Jodi Snyder provides amusement as the ghost of Frume-Sore, a character who rarely draws a chuckle from this viewer. The relatively weak link, here, is Mary Illes as Golde. Blame it on the casting, perhaps. Golde is intended to provide comic counterbalance to Tevye along with maternal affection; here, we sometimes have trouble picking her out from the other 25 actors.
I suppose something of a disclaimer should be added. These comments presuppose that you are generally familiar with the musical. If you’ve never heard “Tradition” or “If I Were a Rich Man” (here rejiggered to “Ven Ikh Bin a Rotshild”), you might spend undo energy trying to follow the surtitles. And Tevye’s nightmare of a dream could leave a newcomer confused altogether.
But this is a warm and wonderful Fiddler on the Roof, even in a foreign tongue. (It uses Shraga Friedman’s 1965 translation, which originated in Israel but has never been used here.) When the above-mentioned daughters, early on, start to dream about husbands and dread matchmakers, you suddenly realize: What a pleasure to see the “Matchmaker” number work, after the misguided staging of the song the last time we saw it on Broadway. Once you realize that, you’re in for an enchanted Fiddler.
Fiddler on the Roof opened July 15, 2018 at the Museum of Jewish Heritage and runs through December 30. Tickets and information: mjhnyc.org
