A Fiddler on the Roof. Sounds crazy, no? But in our little village of ....
If I close my eyes I can hear Zero Mostel as Tevye, reciting the opening monologue of Fiddler on the Roof . Anyone who grew up Jewish in the 1960's knew all the words to all the songs of (as Harvey Fierstein calls it) "the sacred Fiddler ." It opened September 22, 1964 and ran for over 3,000 performances. I was fortunate to see the original production on Broadway, at the tail end of its run, in 1972. I was 12 years old, and it was the first live musical I ever saw. I went with my grandmother, who'd grown up in a shtetl and who once had dreams of being an actress in the Yiddish theater. I've seen the movie, of course. I own it on DVD, and I've got the soundtrack as well as cast albums from several productions in my CD collection. I was delighted to take my children to see the revival a few years ago, where Alfred Molia played Tevye. (Becca walked out of the theater saying "I'm proud to be Jewish" -- mission accomplished!) Would have ...