Fiddler on the Roof (in Yiddish) – Stage 42, New York

Fiddler on the Roof (in Yiddish) continues at Stage 42, New York until 1 September 2019.

Star rating: five stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

The village of Anatevka is vibrantly alive again, and this time around, the inhabitants seem more at home than ever. They’re all speaking Yiddish.

This Yiddish-language production of Fiddler on the Roof has been mounted by the National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene, which has been producing Yiddish theatre in New York since 1915. Its Fiddler opened last July at the Museum of Jewish Heritage, on the southern tip of Manhattan, garnered four extensions and closed there on 30 December, with plans for a commercial transfer to Off-Broadway.

It now has reopened for an extended run uptown at Stage 42; the theatre, owned by the Shubert Organisation and boasting a comfortable 499-seat capacity, is probably the most Broadway-like of the Off-Broadway venues and provides a worthy domicile for this perennial Broadway blockbuster.

The production is top-notch in all respects. It has been directed by Broadway icon Joel Grey with a deep appreciation of the emotional wallop of Joseph Stein’s just-about perfect book, based on characters created by Sholem Aleichem, its celebration of tradition and family and community bonds, as well as its musical theatre pizzazz.

The rousing score by composer Jerry Bock and lyricist Sheldon Harnick – with orchestrations by Don Walker adapted by Larry Blank – is fully realized by the 12-piece orchestra conducted by Zalmen Mlotek, artistic director of the Folksbiene.

And while the stage may not have the expansiveness of the Broadway houses where Fiddler has played, it offers enough for the celebrated and integral Jerome Robbins choreography to register with thrilling impact, from the raise-the-roof exuberance of ‘To Life’ to the surreal comedy of Tevye’s made-up nightmare, the high spirits and tensions of the wedding celebration and its suspenseful bottle dance and finally, the quiet dignity of the closing tableau in its portrayal of diaspora, so relevant now in our mounting crises over immigration. (Additionally, Staś Kmieć is credited with musical staging and new choreography.)

The impeccable 29-person cast is led by Steven Skybell as the dairyman Tevye, whose hardscrabble life in early 20th-century Czarist Russia is held together by the traditions of his culture and religion and his comfort in frequently conversing with the Almighty.

His faith and good nature are well tested by his sometimes overbearing wife Golde, the tribulations of being a father to five daughters and the frequent ailments of his horse, which mean he himself has to pull his wagon. As the three eldest of his daughters find the loves of their lives in ways that increasingly veer from tradition, his challenges mount and are capped by pogrom and the governmental edict that forces the Jews of Anatevka from their homes and into exile.

Skybell makes a vigorous and virile Tevye, giving the character’s humour full range without resorting to shtick and filling the role’s more dramatic moments with an arresting power. His command of the stage is evident from the very moment he begins leading the company in the opening number ‘Tradition’.

Jennifer Babiak’s Golde underscores the homemaker harshness with hints of a womanly tenderness, and her ‘Do I Love You?’ duet with Tevye, exploring how their arranged marriage has evolved, is a delicious tug on your heartstrings. There’s even a hint of sexiness within its intermingling of comedy and poignancy.

Yente the matchmaker appears as a full-blown persona, rather than simply a comic busybody, getting our sympathy as well as laughs in the embodiment of Jackie Hoffman, eschewing the grimaces that have made her a Broadway staple.

That unmistakable pulse of life beats through the entire company. Tevye’s three eldest daughters fairly shimmer with youthful vivacity in the portrayals of Rachel Zatcoff as Tsaytl, Stephanie Lynne Mason as Hodl and Rosie Jo Neddy as Khave. (The character names are as given in the show’s programme, transliterated from the Yiddish.)

Equally appealing portrayals of the men in their lives are offered by Ben Liebert as the tailor Motl Kamzoyl, Drew Seigla as the revolutionary Perchik and Cameron Johnson as the Russian Fyedke.

The stage is further populated with a host of sharply drawn sketches of such people as Leyzer-Volf, the ageing butcher rejected as Tsaytl’s suitor, played by Bruce Sabath; Der Rov, or rabbi, ever-ready with an appropriate blessing, played by Adam B. Shapiro; and the spirited Der Fidler, the personification of tradition, who dwells in Tevye’s imagination, played by Lauren Jeanne Thomas.

Scenic design by Beowulf Boritt is striking if fairly minimal, marked by a series of large drops resembling yellow parchment. On the center drop in large Hebrew letters is the word for “Torah,” the name for written Jewish law – the five books of Moses – and the scrolls that contain them – and the bulwark of Tevye’s soul. Ann Hould-Ward’s costumes are shtetl-right, while taking a more fanciful turn – along with Peter Kaczorowski’s lighting – in the nightmare sequence.

The spoken Yiddish certainly gives the proceedings a heightened authenticity and may well link the actors even closer to their characters. The translation is the work of Shraga Friedman, an Israeli actor/director who died in 1970.

It was written and performed in Israel in 1965, just one year after the original production of Fiddler premiered on Broadway. For those not versed in the tongue, the Folksbiene production projects supertitles of English translations onto either side of the stage. And for good measure, there are also translations in Cyrillic Russian.

Whatever the effect of the Yiddish, we can be grateful that it provides the rationale for this superior and heartfelt production of an oft-produced treasure.

       Ron Cohen