Picture: Marc Brenner
Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre’s critically acclaimed and crowd-pleasing production of Fiddler on the Roof will transfer to London’s Barbican Theatre this summer ahead of a UK and Ireland tour.
Director Jordan Fein’s hit production will begin a strictly limited eight-week season on 24 May with the final performance scheduled for 19 July. The five-month tour, which will be the first UK tour of the classic musical in over 12 years, will open at the Churchill Theatre in Bromley on 24 July. The tour is currently due to end at the Sunderland Empire on 29 November.
Announcing the Barbican season and tour, producer Howard Panter said: “I saw this incredible production last summer and was immediately blown away. I’m delighted – with our partners – to bring this masterpiece to the Barbican and on tour for what will be one of the major cultural highlights of the year. It was completely sold out during its Regent’s Park run, so this new production will give many more people the chance to see musical theatre at its very best.”
Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre chief executives, Drew McOnie and James Pidgeon commented: “As part of an ongoing commitment to the touring of our work beyond Regent’s Park, we could not be more thrilled that our production of Fiddler on the Roof, created by a visionary team under the leadership of Jordan Fein, is getting a further life following its record-breaking run at the Open Air Theatre last summer. We’re really looking forward to working with our producing partners to take this wonderful production to even more audiences across the country.”
The Barbican’s head of theatre and dance, Toni Racklin added: “We are delighted to welcome Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre’s fantastic production of Fiddler on the Roof to the Barbican Theatre, continuing our wonderful relationship with Trafalgar Theatre Productions in offering our audiences another spectacular summer musical experience.”
The creative team for the production also includes choreographer Julia Cheng and designer Tom Scutt. Casting will be announced soon.
With a book by Joseph Stein, music by Jerry Bock and lyrics by Sheldon Harnick, Fiddler on the Roof is based on Tevye and his Daughters (Tevye the Dairyman), a series of stories by author and playwright Sholem Aleichem written in Yiddish between 1894 and 1914 about Jewish life in a village in Imperial Russia at the turn of the 20th century.
Debuting on Broadway in 1964, Fiddler on the Roof became the first musical theatre production to play over 3,000 performances and held the record for the longest-running Broadway musical for nearly ten years before losing the top spot to Grease. Featuring Zero Mostel in the iconic role of Tevye the milkman, the show collected nine Tony Awards and was followed by five successful Broadway revivals.
The show opened in the West End in 1967 with Israeli actor Topol as Tevye, the role he had previously played in the Tel Aviv production of the show. His performance in the role would lead to his casting in Norman Jewison’s Oscar-winning film version launching the star’s international career.
The show was first revived in London in 1983 for a four-week season at the Apollo Victoria Theatre with Topol reprising his performance as Tevye. The star would also return in 1994 for two months at the London Palladium before headlining the UK touring production.
Angela Thomas
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