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Fiddler on the Roof Heading Back to Broadway

Tradition, Tradition

by
Stephanie Butnick
March 07, 2014
Fiddler on the Roof cast on the show's first-ever opening night, Sept. 22, 1964, featuring Zero Mostel, Maria Karnilova, Tanya Everett, Julia Migenes, and Joanna Merlin. (AP)
Fiddler on the Roof cast on the show's first-ever opening night, Sept. 22, 1964, featuring Zero Mostel, Maria Karnilova, Tanya Everett, Julia Migenes, and Joanna Merlin. (AP)

Though it seems like the sun just set on the last Broadway incarnation of Fiddler on the Roof, it looks like Tevye, Golde, Tzeitel, Hodel, Chava, Shprintze, and Bielke are heading back to the stage one more time. While it may seem a bit formulaic to revive the shtetl classic for the fifth time on Broadway, it’s not really a surprise—Fiddler has become one of the most ubiquitous shows around. (You can hear Alisa Solomon, author of the new book, Wonder of Wonders: A Cultural History of Fiddler on the Roof, discuss the musical’s enduring legacy with Vox Tablet host Sara Ivry here.) Plus, with attention newly being paid to Tevye and his daughters in light of their upper-crust Edwardian simulacra on the PBS hit Downton Abbey, the timing is actually pretty smart.

ArtsBeat reports that the new musical will feature choreography by Israeli-born Hofesh Shechter, who was profiled in Tablet last summer. “My movement is 360 degrees, like being encapsulated in a bubble—everything moves in any direction,” he said at the time.

“As an Israeli, I think movement is really natural for me, it is such a part of our culture,” Schechter added. “The country has so much emotion, from politics to religion. That type of pressure leads to art, and it shows up in my work all the time.”

Now that we’ve seen Josh Groban’s high school take on Tevye, the stakes for the show’s male lead have risen considerably. Though theater veteran Danny Burstein has reportedly been approached informally about the role, can I pretty pretty please nominate Mandy Patinkin? He played Tevye one time at summer camp, so he knows the drill.

Now if there was a only part for Idina Menzel, too.

Stephanie Butnick is chief strategy officer of Tablet Magazine, co-founder of Tablet Studios, and a host of the Unorthodox podcast.