Picture: Marc Brenner
Fiddler on the Roof continues at the Barbican Theatre, London until 19 July 2025. The production then tours from 24 July to 3 January 2026.
Star rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ✩
Before his staging of Fiddler on the Roof opened at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre last summer, American director Jordan Fein was already getting a reputation for bringing a refreshing, contemporary vision to musical theatre classics. Recent London credits include being Prologue director and associate on Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club and co-director on the groundbreaking Oklahoma! which transferred from Broadway to the Young Vic and then on to the West End. In December this year he will take on Sondheim and Lapine’s Into the Woods at London’s Bridge Theatre.
In the meantime, Fein’s now Olivier Award-winning production of Joseph Stein, Sheldon Harnick and Jerry Bock’s ever timely 1964 masterpiece has moved indoors, specifically to the Barbican Theatre for a limited season, before heading off on an extensive tour.
There will be no comparisons from me between the two very different theatrical locations, as I didn’t catch the Open Air version. What I can report is that Fein, along with an innovative creative team and excellent cast, skilfully pays great respect to the piece while subtly giving the material a contemporary energy and edge.
At the heart of the narrative is the importance of home, of community, kindness, love and friendship, played out in the Russian shtetl of Anatevka at the turn of the century. We meet the milkman Tevye, a man as poor in earnings as he is rich in platitudes about what the ‘Good Book’ says – much to the amusement/irritation of his wife Golde.
Life for Tevye and his fellow Ashkenazi Jews is, he explains, as precarious as a fiddler on the roof, but faith and tradition keep life on an even keel. A vital tradition is arranged marriages, but Tevye’s three oldest daughters (he has five in all) have their own ideas about who they want to spend the rest of their lives with – whatever the opinions of their parents and resident matchmaker Yente (a lively Beverley Klein).
There is a huge amount to savour here, particularly in the set pieces that involve the whole ensemble (many members sit onstage to the side of the action), whether that be in the exquisite, powerfully poignant harmonising of ‘Tradition’, ‘Sabbath Prayer’, ‘Sunrise, Sunset’ and ‘Anatevka’ or the uplifting joy of ‘To Life’ and ‘The Wedding’ (where Julia Cheng’s choreography is something to behold).
The staging of ‘The Dream’ during which Tevye calls on the whole community to convince Golde that her daughter Tzeitel would be better off marrying young, poverty-stricken tailor Motel rather than elderly, wealthy butcher Lazar Wolf, speaks to the witty humour throughout the show and is an absolute triumph.
It is a little harder to emotionally invest in the romances that take place between the younger characters, perhaps because they seem to zip along at such a pace, and some of the male performers are much stronger actors than they are singers. However, Natasha Jules Bernard (Tzeitel), Hannah Bristow (Chava) and Georgia Bruce (Hodel) all impress, both together (‘Matchmaker’) and individually – Bruce’s rendition of ‘Far From the Home I Love’ is particularly memorable. Their attitude towards the society in which they live (‘why does a girl have to read?’) has a modern sensibility that gives the characterisations an added vitality.
Also rather touching is a moment of intimacy between Adam Dannheisser’s Tevye and his long-suffering wife Golde (Lara Pulver) as they ponder their love for each other after more than 20 years of marriage, having only met for the first time on their wedding day.
It takes a hugely talented and versatile actor to play the role of Tevye and make it their own. Dannheisser does that, inviting us into his world, warts and all. We feel the depth of his love for his family, his community, his God and his values. Some societal changes he does his best to adapt to, others are impossible to accept. He demonstrates both vulnerability and anger; when the people of Anatevka are forced to move on from their homes, he demands the Russian Constable gets off his land. The exchange leaves quite an impact. Songs like ‘If I Were a Rich Man’ serve the portrayal too, rather than being turned into huge showstoppers, just for the sake of an ovation.
Right from the opening note, Raphael Papo’s Fiddler is a constant presence, a musical conscience perhaps to Tevye, or a companion to whom he can share his thoughts. It’s inspired storytelling, made even more significant when the snubbed Chava (playing the clarinet) begins to make her musical mark alongside Papo. The score sounds stunning too, with lyrics sounding crystal clear, thanks to sound designer Nick Lidster, musical director Dan Turek and the fine orchestra he leads (new violin arrangements are by Papo and musical supervisor Mark Aspinall).
I’m sure Tom Scutt’s design amidst a genuine sunset at the Open Air was stunning, but the artistry on view at the Barbican can be quite exquisite too. The metal roof layered with grass (plus the crops on either side of the stage) evokes the significance of the land to this close community, a landscape which can signify freedom and imprisonment. Coupled with Aideen Malone’s atmospheric lighting design, exquisite tableaux are created, not least in the ‘Sabbath Prayer’ and at the closing of both acts.
Despite all of the above, the production failed to really pull on my heartstrings, but it still remains a staggeringly beautiful revival of a musical that celebrates the human spirit amidst a world that continues to vilify communities on account of their religious beliefs and culture. When I reviewed the revival at London’s Playhouse Theatre in 2019, I called the show ‘a musical for our time’. Sadly, 60 years after its Broadway premiere, with anti-semitism rife and millions of innocent people still being displaced by tyranny, Fiddler on the Roof continues to be as resonant now as it ever was.
Lisa Martland
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