Thursday, May 26, 2011
Fiddler on the Roof at Brotherhood Synagogue
LOOKING AHEAD by Wally Dobelis
Suffering from an overkill of real life drama, wars and refugees, it was very pleasant to find relief in seeing a revival of Fiddler on the Roof, the really “things will work out” positive attitude musical, from the early 1960s. It is a tale of Tevye the milkman, father of seven daughters, in the little town of Anatevka in 1905 Tsarist Russia, amidst Cossacks, pogroms, and revolutionaries, trying to bring up and properly marry off his children. The play was presented by the children of the Hebrew School of Brotherhood Synagogue, on May 19 and 20, 2011, to overflow audiences.
Over the years we have had the pleasure of hearing the revivals of most great musicals in this school rich neighborhood, particularly at Friends’ \Seminary (great Gilbert and Sullivan) and Brotherhood. The Fiddler is an n especially good choice. A Broadway favorite, with longest original run record of 3,242 performances, starting in 1964, with at least half a dozen hummable melodies, the record held until Grease came along. Composed by Jerry Bock (he also did Fiorello), with lyrics by Sheldon Farnick and book by Joseph Stern, a Bronx boy of refugee parentage, Fiddler has historically accurate depictions of life in a forgotten shtetl in Czarist Russia (the rabbi, when asked by the children how the Czar should be blessed, answered “with long life, long distance from us”)
The action, in scenes led by songs, begins with the villagers declaring their devotion to tradition, and quickly diverts to marriage, the girls begging the matchmaker Yente (Sophia Messeca) to grant them a dream. It turns out that rich and elderly butcher Lazar Wolf, (Alexander Cohen) wants Tevye’s (Evan Neiden) oldest daughter, Tzeitel (Julie Eichner), which brings Tevye to the lament, If I were a Rich Man. He wants to educate his daughters, not shuttle them off to wealthy suitors, and has given room in the house for Perchik (Max Teirstein), who is a student and reformer, and can tutor. But Tzeitel loves Motel, a tailor (Peter Murzin),and Tevye, who has sealed the deal with Wolf by singing To Life , now shockedly realizes that the course of true love breaks the tradition, letting the daughter prevail (Miracle of miracles). He persuades his wife Golde (Nicolaia Rips) by a pretend dream nightmare sequence, in which the girl’s grandmother (Josie Ingall) chooses Motel. The wedding is happy, Sunrise, Sunset is sung.
But trouble is on the way, Perchik also wants to marry a daughter, Hodel (Sofia Southey). Tevye is happy (Now I have Everything), but the police arrest Perchik and he is sent to Siberia, Handel wants to follow him.
As it were not enough, daughter Chave ((Rowana Miller) elopes with a Russian Christian boy, Fyedka ((Milo Roth), While Tevye and family mourn their lost daughter, comes word that the Tsar has ordered al the Jews in Anatevka to abandon their homes and move elsewhere. Tevye and family affirm their love for each other, the villagers sing of their bellowed Anatevka, and they move on, upbeat, hoping for a future in America.
The Fiddler was part of the New York’s great musical play era, with meaningful themes and tuneful melodies. The original Tevye way Zero Mostel, and many school, summer theatre and regional revivals have tried to capture his magic, available in a movie adaptation, with British actor Chaim Topol, (Fiddler had 2,000 plus West End theatre performances). The actors of the Brotherhood production were 12 years old or younger, and substituted joy and performing pleasure for acting skills, all very successfully and joyfully, as it should be. The audiences were enchanted.
Credit for the successful performance is also due to the teachers, parents, religious leaders and staff of the Synagogue, as well as outside helpers. The producer of the musical was Judith Shapiro of the teaching staff, and director Barbara Simon, choreographer Clare Cook and musical director Scott Stein, providing piano accompaniment are theatre/ teaching professionals. Makeup artist Linda Eichner is a parent and costume designer Alice Roi ha s been member of the congregation since early childhood, Bonnie Fine of Publicity is a school graduate, and graphic designer Cary Block and violinist Sylvie Rosen are students. Rabbi Daniel Alder, quoted earlier, and Executive Director Phil Rothman, action commentator between scenes, were both members of the cast. A Broadway musical with a cast of dozens, and rented stage and decorations, is quite an undertaking for a synagogue, and there were a number of silent sponsors who made everything right. Given more time and space the Brotherhood Synagogue version of the musical could have carried on, spreading joy beyond the two performances – remember, the original version had 3,242 nights of glory. Zero Mostel and Marc Chagall, the painter whose Fiddler on the Roof gave the name to the musical, as a symbol of survival through tradition in an environment of imbalance and uncertainty, would have been pleased.
LOOKING AHEAD by Wally Dobelis
Fiddler on the Roof at Brotherhood Synagogue
Suffering from an overkill of real life drama, wars and refugees, it was very pleasant to find relief in seeing a revival of Fiddler on the Roof, the really “things will work out” positive attitude musical, from the early 1960s. It is a tale of Tevye the milkman, father of seven daughters, in the little town of Anatevka in 1905 Tsarist Russia, amidst Cossacks, pogroms, and revolutionaries, trying to bring up and properly marry off his children. The play was presented by the children of the Hebrew School of Brotherhood Synagogue, on May 19 and 20, 2011, to overflow audiences.
Over the years we have had the pleasure of hearing the revivals of most great musicals in this school rich neighborhood, particularly at Friends’ \Seminary (great Gilbert and Sullivan) and Brotherhood. The Fiddler is an n especially good choice. A Broadway favorite, with longest original run record of 3,242 performances, starting in 1964, with at least half a dozen hummable melodies, the record held until Grease came along. Composed by Jerry Bock (he also did Fiorello), with lyrics by Sheldon Farnick and book by Joseph Stern, a Bronx boy of refugee parentage, Fiddler has historically accurate depictions of life in a forgotten shtetl in Czarist Russia (the rabbi, when asked by the children how the Czar should be blessed, answered “with long life, long distance from us”)
The action, in scenes led by songs, begins with the villagers declaring their devotion to tradition, and quickly diverts to marriage, the girls begging the matchmaker Yente (Sophia Messeca) to grant them a dream. It turns out that rich and elderly butcher Lazar Wolf, (Alexander Cohen) wants Tevye’s (Evan Neiden) oldest daughter, Tzeitel (Julie Eichner), which brings Tevye to the lament, If I were a Rich Man. He wants to educate his daughters, not shuttle them off to wealthy suitors, and has given room in the house for Perchik (Max Teirstein), who is a student and reformer, and can tutor. But Tzeitel loves Motel, a tailor (Peter Murzin),and Tevye, who has sealed the deal with Wolf by singing To Life , now shockedly realizes that the course of true love breaks the tradition, letting the daughter prevail (Miracle of miracles). He persuades his wife Golde (Nicolaia Rips) by a pretend dream nightmare sequence, in which the girl’s grandmother (Josie Ingall) chooses Motel. The wedding is happy, Sunrise, Sunset is sung.
But trouble is on the way, Perchik also wants to marry a daughter, Hodel (Sofia Southey). Tevye is happy (Now I have Everything), but the police arrest Perchik and he is sent to Siberia, Handel wants to follow him.
As it were not enough, daughter Chave ((Rowana Miller) elopes with a Russian Christian boy, Fyedka ((Milo Roth), While Tevye and family mourn their lost daughter, comes word that the Tsar has ordered al the Jews in Anatevka to abandon their homes and move elsewhere. Tevye and family affirm their love for each other, the villagers sing of their bellowed Anatevka, and they move on, upbeat, hoping for a future in America.
The Fiddler was part of the New York’s great musical play era, with meaningful themes and tuneful melodies. The original Tevye way Zero Mostel, and many school, summer theatre and regional revivals have tried to capture his magic, available in a movie adaptation, with British actor Chaim Topol, (Fiddler had 2,000 plus West End theatre performances). The actors of the Brotherhood production were 12 years old or younger, and substituted joy and performing pleasure for acting skills, all very successfully and joyfully, as it should be. The audiences were enchanted.
Credit for the successful performance is also due to the teachers, parents, religious leaders and staff of the Synagogue, as well as outside helpers. The producer of the musical was Judith Shapiro of the teaching staff, and director Barbara Simon, choreographer Clare Cook and musical director Scott Stein, providing piano accompaniment are theatre/ teaching professionals. Makeup artist Linda Eichner is a parent and costume designer Alice Roi ha s been member of the congregation since early childhood, Bonnie Fine of Publicity is a school graduate, and graphic designer Cary Block and violinist Sylvie Rosen are students. Rabbi Daniel Alder, quoted earlier, and Executive Director Phil Rothman, action commentator between scenes, were both members of the cast. A Broadway musical with a cast of dozens, and rented stage and decorations, is quite an undertaking for a synagogue, and there were a number of silent sponsors who made everything right. Given more time and space the Brotherhood Synagogue version of the musical could have carried on, spreading joy beyond the two performances – remember, the original version had 3,242 nights of glory. Zero Mostel and Marc Chagall, the painter whose Fiddler on the Roof gave the name to the musical, as a symbol of survival through tradition in an environment of imbalance and uncertainty, would have been pleased.
Wally Dobelis thanks Sara Rothman and internet sources
LOOKING AHEAD by Wally Dobelis
Fiddler on the Roof at Brotherhood Synagogue
Suffering from an overkill of real life drama, wars and refugees, it was very pleasant to find relief in seeing a revival of Fiddler on the Roof, the really “things will work out” positive attitude musical, from the early 1960s. It is a tale of Tevye the milkman, father of seven daughters, in the little town of Anatevka in 1905 Tsarist Russia, amidst Cossacks, pogroms, and revolutionaries, trying to bring up and properly marry off his children. The play was presented by the children of the Hebrew School of Brotherhood Synagogue, on May 19 and 20, 2011, to overflow audiences.
Over the years we have had the pleasure of hearing the revivals of most great musicals in this school rich neighborhood, particularly at Friends’ \Seminary (great Gilbert and Sullivan) and Brotherhood. The Fiddler is an n especially good choice. A Broadway favorite, with longest original run record of 3,242 performances, starting in 1964, with at least half a dozen hummable melodies, the record held until Grease came along. Composed by Jerry Bock (he also did Fiorello), with lyrics by Sheldon Farnick and book by Joseph Stern, a Bronx boy of refugee parentage, Fiddler has historically accurate depictions of life in a forgotten shtetl in Czarist Russia (the rabbi, when asked by the children how the Czar should be blessed, answered “with long life, long distance from us”)
The action, in scenes led by songs, begins with the villagers declaring their devotion to tradition, and quickly diverts to marriage, the girls begging the matchmaker Yente (Sophia Messeca) to grant them a dream. It turns out that rich and elderly butcher Lazar Wolf, (Alexander Cohen) wants Tevye’s (Evan Neiden) oldest daughter, Tzeitel (Julie Eichner), which brings Tevye to the lament, If I were a Rich Man. He wants to educate his daughters, not shuttle them off to wealthy suitors, and has given room in the house for Perchik (Max Teirstein), who is a student and reformer, and can tutor. But Tzeitel loves Motel, a tailor (Peter Murzin),and Tevye, who has sealed the deal with Wolf by singing To Life , now shockedly realizes that the course of true love breaks the tradition, letting the daughter prevail (Miracle of miracles). He persuades his wife Golde (Nicolaia Rips) by a pretend dream nightmare sequence, in which the girl’s grandmother (Josie Ingall) chooses Motel. The wedding is happy, Sunrise, Sunset is sung.
But trouble is on the way, Perchik also wants to marry a daughter, Hodel (Sofia Southey). Tevye is happy (Now I have Everything), but the police arrest Perchik and he is sent to Siberia, Handel wants to follow him.
As it were not enough, daughter Chave ((Rowana Miller) elopes with a Russian Christian boy, Fyedka ((Milo Roth), While Tevye and family mourn their lost daughter, comes word that the Tsar has ordered al the Jews in Anatevka to abandon their homes and move elsewhere. Tevye and family affirm their love for each other, the villagers sing of their bellowed Anatevka, and they move on, upbeat, hoping for a future in America.
The Fiddler was part of the New York’s great musical play era, with meaningful themes and tuneful melodies. The original Tevye way Zero Mostel, and many school, summer theatre and regional revivals have tried to capture his magic, available in a movie adaptation, with British actor Chaim Topol, (Fiddler had 2,000 plus West End theatre performances). The actors of the Brotherhood production were 12 years old or younger, and substituted joy and performing pleasure for acting skills, all very successfully and joyfully, as it should be. The audiences were enchanted.
Credit for the successful performance is also due to the teachers, parents, religious leaders and staff of the Synagogue, as well as outside helpers. The producer of the musical was Judith Shapiro of the teaching staff, and director Barbara Simon, choreographer Clare Cook and musical director Scott Stein, providing piano accompaniment are theatre/ teaching professionals. Makeup artist Linda Eichner is a parent and costume designer Alice Roi ha s been member of the congregation since early childhood, Bonnie Fine of Publicity is a school graduate, and graphic designer Cary Block and violinist Sylvie Rosen are students. Rabbi Daniel Alder, quoted earlier, and Executive Director Phil Rothman, action commentator between scenes, were both members of the cast. A Broadway musical with a cast of dozens, and rented stage and decorations, is quite an undertaking for a synagogue, and there were a number of silent sponsors who made everything right. Given more time and space the Brotherhood Synagogue version of the musical could have carried on, spreading joy beyond the two performances – remember, the original version had 3,242 nights of glory. Zero Mostel and Marc Chagall, the painter whose Fiddler on the Roof gave the name to the musical, as a symbol of survival through tradition in an environment of imbalance and uncertainty, would have been pleased.
LOOKING AHEAD by Wally Dobelis
Fiddler on the Roof at Brotherhood Synagogue
Suffering from an overkill of real life drama, wars and refugees, it was very pleasant to find relief in seeing a revival of Fiddler on the Roof, the really “things will work out” positive attitude musical, from the early 1960s. It is a tale of Tevye the milkman, father of seven daughters, in the little town of Anatevka in 1905 Tsarist Russia, amidst Cossacks, pogroms, and revolutionaries, trying to bring up and properly marry off his children. The play was presented by the children of the Hebrew School of Brotherhood Synagogue, on May 19 and 20, 2011, to overflow audiences.
Over the years we have had the pleasure of hearing the revivals of most great musicals in this school rich neighborhood, particularly at Friends’ \Seminary (great Gilbert and Sullivan) and Brotherhood. The Fiddler is an n especially good choice. A Broadway favorite, with longest original run record of 3,242 performances, starting in 1964, with at least half a dozen hummable melodies, the record held until Grease came along. Composed by Jerry Bock (he also did Fiorello), with lyrics by Sheldon Farnick and book by Joseph Stern, a Bronx boy of refugee parentage, Fiddler has historically accurate depictions of life in a forgotten shtetl in Czarist Russia (the rabbi, when asked by the children how the Czar should be blessed, answered “with long life, long distance from us”)
The action, in scenes led by songs, begins with the villagers declaring their devotion to tradition, and quickly diverts to marriage, the girls begging the matchmaker Yente (Sophia Messeca) to grant them a dream. It turns out that rich and elderly butcher Lazar Wolf, (Alexander Cohen) wants Tevye’s (Evan Neiden) oldest daughter, Tzeitel (Julie Eichner), which brings Tevye to the lament, If I were a Rich Man. He wants to educate his daughters, not shuttle them off to wealthy suitors, and has given room in the house for Perchik (Max Teirstein), who is a student and reformer, and can tutor. But Tzeitel loves Motel, a tailor (Peter Murzin),and Tevye, who has sealed the deal with Wolf by singing To Life , now shockedly realizes that the course of true love breaks the tradition, letting the daughter prevail (Miracle of miracles). He persuades his wife Golde (Nicolaia Rips) by a pretend dream nightmare sequence, in which the girl’s grandmother (Josie Ingall) chooses Motel. The wedding is happy, Sunrise, Sunset is sung.
But trouble is on the way, Perchik also wants to marry a daughter, Hodel (Sofia Southey). Tevye is happy (Now I have Everything), but the police arrest Perchik and he is sent to Siberia, Handel wants to follow him.
As it were not enough, daughter Chave ((Rowana Miller) elopes with a Russian Christian boy, Fyedka ((Milo Roth), While Tevye and family mourn their lost daughter, comes word that the Tsar has ordered al the Jews in Anatevka to abandon their homes and move elsewhere. Tevye and family affirm their love for each other, the villagers sing of their bellowed Anatevka, and they move on, upbeat, hoping for a future in America.
The Fiddler was part of the New York’s great musical play era, with meaningful themes and tuneful melodies. The original Tevye way Zero Mostel, and many school, summer theatre and regional revivals have tried to capture his magic, available in a movie adaptation, with British actor Chaim Topol, (Fiddler had 2,000 plus West End theatre performances). The actors of the Brotherhood production were 12 years old or younger, and substituted joy and performing pleasure for acting skills, all very successfully and joyfully, as it should be. The audiences were enchanted.
Credit for the successful performance is also due to the teachers, parents, religious leaders and staff of the Synagogue, as well as outside helpers. The producer of the musical was Judith Shapiro of the teaching staff, and director Barbara Simon, choreographer Clare Cook and musical director Scott Stein, providing piano accompaniment are theatre/ teaching professionals. Makeup artist Linda Eichner is a parent and costume designer Alice Roi ha s been member of the congregation since early childhood, Bonnie Fine of Publicity is a school graduate, and graphic designer Cary Block and violinist Sylvie Rosen are students. Rabbi Daniel Alder, quoted earlier, and Executive Director Phil Rothman, action commentator between scenes, were both members of the cast. A Broadway musical with a cast of dozens, and rented stage and decorations, is quite an undertaking for a synagogue, and there were a number of silent sponsors who made everything right. Given more time and space the Brotherhood Synagogue version of the musical could have carried on, spreading joy beyond the two performances – remember, the original version had 3,242 nights of glory. Zero Mostel and Marc Chagall, the painter whose Fiddler on the Roof gave the name to the musical, as a symbol of survival through tradition in an environment of imbalance and uncertainty, would have been pleased.
Wally Dobelis thanks Sara Rothman and internet sources
LOOKING AHEAD by Wally Dobelis
Fiddler on the Roof at Brotherhood Synagogue
Suffering from an overkill of real life drama, wars and refugees, it was very pleasant to find relief in seeing a revival of Fiddler on the Roof, the really “things will work out” positive attitude musical, from the early 1960s. It is a tale of Tevye the milkman, father of seven daughters, in the little town of Anatevka in 1905 Tsarist Russia, amidst Cossacks, pogroms, and revolutionaries, trying to bring up and properly marry off his children. The play was presented by the children of the Hebrew School of Brotherhood Synagogue, on May 19 and 20, 2011, to overflow audiences.
Over the years we have had the pleasure of hearing the revivals of most great musicals in this school rich neighborhood, particularly at Friends’ \Seminary (great Gilbert and Sullivan) and Brotherhood. The Fiddler is an n especially good choice. A Broadway favorite, with longest original run record of 3,242 performances, starting in 1964, with at least half a dozen hummable melodies, the record held until Grease came along. Composed by Jerry Bock (he also did Fiorello), with lyrics by Sheldon Farnick and book by Joseph Stern, a Bronx boy of refugee parentage, Fiddler has historically accurate depictions of life in a forgotten shtetl in Czarist Russia (the rabbi, when asked by the children how the Czar should be blessed, answered “with long life, long distance from us”)
The action, in scenes led by songs, begins with the villagers declaring their devotion to tradition, and quickly diverts to marriage, the girls begging the matchmaker Yente (Sophia Messeca) to grant them a dream. It turns out that rich and elderly butcher Lazar Wolf, (Alexander Cohen) wants Tevye’s (Evan Neiden) oldest daughter, Tzeitel (Julie Eichner), which brings Tevye to the lament, If I were a Rich Man. He wants to educate his daughters, not shuttle them off to wealthy suitors, and has given room in the house for Perchik (Max Teirstein), who is a student and reformer, and can tutor. But Tzeitel loves Motel, a tailor (Peter Murzin),and Tevye, who has sealed the deal with Wolf by singing To Life , now shockedly realizes that the course of true love breaks the tradition, letting the daughter prevail (Miracle of miracles). He persuades his wife Golde (Nicolaia Rips) by a pretend dream nightmare sequence, in which the girl’s grandmother (Josie Ingall) chooses Motel. The wedding is happy, Sunrise, Sunset is sung.
But trouble is on the way, Perchik also wants to marry a daughter, Hodel (Sofia Southey). Tevye is happy (Now I have Everything), but the police arrest Perchik and he is sent to Siberia, Handel wants to follow him.
As it were not enough, daughter Chave ((Rowana Miller) elopes with a Russian Christian boy, Fyedka ((Milo Roth), While Tevye and family mourn their lost daughter, comes word that the Tsar has ordered al the Jews in Anatevka to abandon their homes and move elsewhere. Tevye and family affirm their love for each other, the villagers sing of their bellowed Anatevka, and they move on, upbeat, hoping for a future in America.
The Fiddler was part of the New York’s great musical play era, with meaningful themes and tuneful melodies. The original Tevye way Zero Mostel, and many school, summer theatre and regional revivals have tried to capture his magic, available in a movie adaptation, with British actor Chaim Topol, (Fiddler had 2,000 plus West End theatre performances). The actors of the Brotherhood production were 12 years old or younger, and substituted joy and performing pleasure for acting skills, all very successfully and joyfully, as it should be. The audiences were enchanted.
Credit for the successful performance is also due to the teachers, parents, religious leaders and staff of the Synagogue, as well as outside helpers. The producer of the musical was Judith Shapiro of the teaching staff, and director Barbara Simon, choreographer Clare Cook and musical director Scott Stein, providing piano accompaniment are theatre/ teaching professionals. Makeup artist Linda Eichner is a parent and costume designer Alice Roi ha s been member of the congregation since early childhood, Bonnie Fine of Publicity is a school graduate, and graphic designer Cary Block and violinist Sylvie Rosen are students. Rabbi Daniel Alder, quoted earlier, and Executive Director Phil Rothman, action commentator between scenes, were both members of the cast. A Broadway musical with a cast of dozens, and rented stage and decorations, is quite an undertaking for a synagogue, and there were a number of silent sponsors who made everything right. Given more time and space the Brotherhood Synagogue version of the musical could have carried on, spreading joy beyond the two performances – remember, the original version had 3,242 nights of glory. Zero Mostel and Marc Chagall, the painter whose Fiddler on the Roof gave the name to the musical, as a symbol of survival through tradition in an environment of imbalance and uncertainty, would have been pleased.
Suffering from an overkill of real life drama, wars and refugees, it was very pleasant to find relief in seeing a revival of Fiddler on the Roof, the really “things will work out” positive attitude musical, from the early 1960s. It is a tale of Tevye the milkman, father of seven daughters, in the little town of Anatevka in 1905 Tsarist Russia, amidst Cossacks, pogroms, and revolutionaries, trying to bring up and properly marry off his children. The play was presented by the children of the Hebrew School of Brotherhood Synagogue, on May 19 and 20, 2011, to overflow audiences.
Over the years we have had the pleasure of hearing the revivals of most great musicals in this school rich neighborhood, particularly at Friends’ \Seminary (great Gilbert and Sullivan) and Brotherhood. The Fiddler is an n especially good choice. A Broadway favorite, with longest original run record of 3,242 performances, starting in 1964, with at least half a dozen hummable melodies, the record held until Grease came along. Composed by Jerry Bock (he also did Fiorello), with lyrics by Sheldon Farnick and book by Joseph Stern, a Bronx boy of refugee parentage, Fiddler has historically accurate depictions of life in a forgotten shtetl in Czarist Russia (the rabbi, when asked by the children how the Czar should be blessed, answered “with long life, long distance from us”)
The action, in scenes led by songs, begins with the villagers declaring their devotion to tradition, and quickly diverts to marriage, the girls begging the matchmaker Yente (Sophia Messeca) to grant them a dream. It turns out that rich and elderly butcher Lazar Wolf, (Alexander Cohen) wants Tevye’s (Evan Neiden) oldest daughter, Tzeitel (Julie Eichner), which brings Tevye to the lament, If I were a Rich Man. He wants to educate his daughters, not shuttle them off to wealthy suitors, and has given room in the house for Perchik (Max Teirstein), who is a student and reformer, and can tutor. But Tzeitel loves Motel, a tailor (Peter Murzin),and Tevye, who has sealed the deal with Wolf by singing To Life , now shockedly realizes that the course of true love breaks the tradition, letting the daughter prevail (Miracle of miracles). He persuades his wife Golde (Nicolaia Rips) by a pretend dream nightmare sequence, in which the girl’s grandmother (Josie Ingall) chooses Motel. The wedding is happy, Sunrise, Sunset is sung.
But trouble is on the way, Perchik also wants to marry a daughter, Hodel (Sofia Southey). Tevye is happy (Now I have Everything), but the police arrest Perchik and he is sent to Siberia, Handel wants to follow him.
As it were not enough, daughter Chave ((Rowana Miller) elopes with a Russian Christian boy, Fyedka ((Milo Roth), While Tevye and family mourn their lost daughter, comes word that the Tsar has ordered al the Jews in Anatevka to abandon their homes and move elsewhere. Tevye and family affirm their love for each other, the villagers sing of their bellowed Anatevka, and they move on, upbeat, hoping for a future in America.
The Fiddler was part of the New York’s great musical play era, with meaningful themes and tuneful melodies. The original Tevye way Zero Mostel, and many school, summer theatre and regional revivals have tried to capture his magic, available in a movie adaptation, with British actor Chaim Topol, (Fiddler had 2,000 plus West End theatre performances). The actors of the Brotherhood production were 12 years old or younger, and substituted joy and performing pleasure for acting skills, all very successfully and joyfully, as it should be. The audiences were enchanted.
Credit for the successful performance is also due to the teachers, parents, religious leaders and staff of the Synagogue, as well as outside helpers. The producer of the musical was Judith Shapiro of the teaching staff, and director Barbara Simon, choreographer Clare Cook and musical director Scott Stein, providing piano accompaniment are theatre/ teaching professionals. Makeup artist Linda Eichner is a parent and costume designer Alice Roi ha s been member of the congregation since early childhood, Bonnie Fine of Publicity is a school graduate, and graphic designer Cary Block and violinist Sylvie Rosen are students. Rabbi Daniel Alder, quoted earlier, and Executive Director Phil Rothman, action commentator between scenes, were both members of the cast. A Broadway musical with a cast of dozens, and rented stage and decorations, is quite an undertaking for a synagogue, and there were a number of silent sponsors who made everything right. Given more time and space the Brotherhood Synagogue version of the musical could have carried on, spreading joy beyond the two performances – remember, the original version had 3,242 nights of glory. Zero Mostel and Marc Chagall, the painter whose Fiddler on the Roof gave the name to the musical, as a symbol of survival through tradition in an environment of imbalance and uncertainty, would have been pleased.
LOOKING AHEAD by Wally Dobelis
Fiddler on the Roof at Brotherhood Synagogue
Suffering from an overkill of real life drama, wars and refugees, it was very pleasant to find relief in seeing a revival of Fiddler on the Roof, the really “things will work out” positive attitude musical, from the early 1960s. It is a tale of Tevye the milkman, father of seven daughters, in the little town of Anatevka in 1905 Tsarist Russia, amidst Cossacks, pogroms, and revolutionaries, trying to bring up and properly marry off his children. The play was presented by the children of the Hebrew School of Brotherhood Synagogue, on May 19 and 20, 2011, to overflow audiences.
Over the years we have had the pleasure of hearing the revivals of most great musicals in this school rich neighborhood, particularly at Friends’ \Seminary (great Gilbert and Sullivan) and Brotherhood. The Fiddler is an n especially good choice. A Broadway favorite, with longest original run record of 3,242 performances, starting in 1964, with at least half a dozen hummable melodies, the record held until Grease came along. Composed by Jerry Bock (he also did Fiorello), with lyrics by Sheldon Farnick and book by Joseph Stern, a Bronx boy of refugee parentage, Fiddler has historically accurate depictions of life in a forgotten shtetl in Czarist Russia (the rabbi, when asked by the children how the Czar should be blessed, answered “with long life, long distance from us”)
The action, in scenes led by songs, begins with the villagers declaring their devotion to tradition, and quickly diverts to marriage, the girls begging the matchmaker Yente (Sophia Messeca) to grant them a dream. It turns out that rich and elderly butcher Lazar Wolf, (Alexander Cohen) wants Tevye’s (Evan Neiden) oldest daughter, Tzeitel (Julie Eichner), which brings Tevye to the lament, If I were a Rich Man. He wants to educate his daughters, not shuttle them off to wealthy suitors, and has given room in the house for Perchik (Max Teirstein), who is a student and reformer, and can tutor. But Tzeitel loves Motel, a tailor (Peter Murzin),and Tevye, who has sealed the deal with Wolf by singing To Life , now shockedly realizes that the course of true love breaks the tradition, letting the daughter prevail (Miracle of miracles). He persuades his wife Golde (Nicolaia Rips) by a pretend dream nightmare sequence, in which the girl’s grandmother (Josie Ingall) chooses Motel. The wedding is happy, Sunrise, Sunset is sung.
But trouble is on the way, Perchik also wants to marry a daughter, Hodel (Sofia Southey). Tevye is happy (Now I have Everything), but the police arrest Perchik and he is sent to Siberia, Handel wants to follow him.
As it were not enough, daughter Chave ((Rowana Miller) elopes with a Russian Christian boy, Fyedka ((Milo Roth), While Tevye and family mourn their lost daughter, comes word that the Tsar has ordered al the Jews in Anatevka to abandon their homes and move elsewhere. Tevye and family affirm their love for each other, the villagers sing of their bellowed Anatevka, and they move on, upbeat, hoping for a future in America.
The Fiddler was part of the New York’s great musical play era, with meaningful themes and tuneful melodies. The original Tevye way Zero Mostel, and many school, summer theatre and regional revivals have tried to capture his magic, available in a movie adaptation, with British actor Chaim Topol, (Fiddler had 2,000 plus West End theatre performances). The actors of the Brotherhood production were 12 years old or younger, and substituted joy and performing pleasure for acting skills, all very successfully and joyfully, as it should be. The audiences were enchanted.
Credit for the successful performance is also due to the teachers, parents, religious leaders and staff of the Synagogue, as well as outside helpers. The producer of the musical was Judith Shapiro of the teaching staff, and director Barbara Simon, choreographer Clare Cook and musical director Scott Stein, providing piano accompaniment are theatre/ teaching professionals. Makeup artist Linda Eichner is a parent and costume designer Alice Roi ha s been member of the congregation since early childhood, Bonnie Fine of Publicity is a school graduate, and graphic designer Cary Block and violinist Sylvie Rosen are students. Rabbi Daniel Alder, quoted earlier, and Executive Director Phil Rothman, action commentator between scenes, were both members of the cast. A Broadway musical with a cast of dozens, and rented stage and decorations, is quite an undertaking for a synagogue, and there were a number of silent sponsors who made everything right. Given more time and space the Brotherhood Synagogue version of the musical could have carried on, spreading joy beyond the two performances – remember, the original version had 3,242 nights of glory. Zero Mostel and Marc Chagall, the painter whose Fiddler on the Roof gave the name to the musical, as a symbol of survival through tradition in an environment of imbalance and uncertainty, would have been pleased.
Wally Dobelis thanks Sara Rothman and internet sources
LOOKING AHEAD by Wally Dobelis
Fiddler on the Roof at Brotherhood Synagogue
Suffering from an overkill of real life drama, wars and refugees, it was very pleasant to find relief in seeing a revival of Fiddler on the Roof, the really “things will work out” positive attitude musical, from the early 1960s. It is a tale of Tevye the milkman, father of seven daughters, in the little town of Anatevka in 1905 Tsarist Russia, amidst Cossacks, pogroms, and revolutionaries, trying to bring up and properly marry off his children. The play was presented by the children of the Hebrew School of Brotherhood Synagogue, on May 19 and 20, 2011, to overflow audiences.
Over the years we have had the pleasure of hearing the revivals of most great musicals in this school rich neighborhood, particularly at Friends’ \Seminary (great Gilbert and Sullivan) and Brotherhood. The Fiddler is an n especially good choice. A Broadway favorite, with longest original run record of 3,242 performances, starting in 1964, with at least half a dozen hummable melodies, the record held until Grease came along. Composed by Jerry Bock (he also did Fiorello), with lyrics by Sheldon Farnick and book by Joseph Stern, a Bronx boy of refugee parentage, Fiddler has historically accurate depictions of life in a forgotten shtetl in Czarist Russia (the rabbi, when asked by the children how the Czar should be blessed, answered “with long life, long distance from us”)
The action, in scenes led by songs, begins with the villagers declaring their devotion to tradition, and quickly diverts to marriage, the girls begging the matchmaker Yente (Sophia Messeca) to grant them a dream. It turns out that rich and elderly butcher Lazar Wolf, (Alexander Cohen) wants Tevye’s (Evan Neiden) oldest daughter, Tzeitel (Julie Eichner), which brings Tevye to the lament, If I were a Rich Man. He wants to educate his daughters, not shuttle them off to wealthy suitors, and has given room in the house for Perchik (Max Teirstein), who is a student and reformer, and can tutor. But Tzeitel loves Motel, a tailor (Peter Murzin),and Tevye, who has sealed the deal with Wolf by singing To Life , now shockedly realizes that the course of true love breaks the tradition, letting the daughter prevail (Miracle of miracles). He persuades his wife Golde (Nicolaia Rips) by a pretend dream nightmare sequence, in which the girl’s grandmother (Josie Ingall) chooses Motel. The wedding is happy, Sunrise, Sunset is sung.
But trouble is on the way, Perchik also wants to marry a daughter, Hodel (Sofia Southey). Tevye is happy (Now I have Everything), but the police arrest Perchik and he is sent to Siberia, Handel wants to follow him.
As it were not enough, daughter Chave ((Rowana Miller) elopes with a Russian Christian boy, Fyedka ((Milo Roth), While Tevye and family mourn their lost daughter, comes word that the Tsar has ordered al the Jews in Anatevka to abandon their homes and move elsewhere. Tevye and family affirm their love for each other, the villagers sing of their bellowed Anatevka, and they move on, upbeat, hoping for a future in America.
The Fiddler was part of the New York’s great musical play era, with meaningful themes and tuneful melodies. The original Tevye way Zero Mostel, and many school, summer theatre and regional revivals have tried to capture his magic, available in a movie adaptation, with British actor Chaim Topol, (Fiddler had 2,000 plus West End theatre performances). The actors of the Brotherhood production were 12 years old or younger, and substituted joy and performing pleasure for acting skills, all very successfully and joyfully, as it should be. The audiences were enchanted.
Credit for the successful performance is also due to the teachers, parents, religious leaders and staff of the Synagogue, as well as outside helpers. The producer of the musical was Judith Shapiro of the teaching staff, and director Barbara Simon, choreographer Clare Cook and musical director Scott Stein, providing piano accompaniment are theatre/ teaching professionals. Makeup artist Linda Eichner is a parent and costume designer Alice Roi ha s been member of the congregation since early childhood, Bonnie Fine of Publicity is a school graduate, and graphic designer Cary Block and violinist Sylvie Rosen are students. Rabbi Daniel Alder, quoted earlier, and Executive Director Phil Rothman, action commentator between scenes, were both members of the cast. A Broadway musical with a cast of dozens, and rented stage and decorations, is quite an undertaking for a synagogue, and there were a number of silent sponsors who made everything right. Given more time and space the Brotherhood Synagogue version of the musical could have carried on, spreading joy beyond the two performances – remember, the original version had 3,242 nights of glory. Zero Mostel and Marc Chagall, the painter whose Fiddler on the Roof gave the name to the musical, as a symbol of survival through tradition in an environment of imbalance and uncertainty, would have been pleased.
LOOKING AHEAD by Wally Dobelis
Fiddler on the Roof at Brotherhood Synagogue
Suffering from an overkill of real life drama, wars and refugees, it was very pleasant to find relief in seeing a revival of Fiddler on the Roof, the really “things will work out” positive attitude musical, from the early 1960s. It is a tale of Tevye the milkman, father of seven daughters, in the little town of Anatevka in 1905 Tsarist Russia, amidst Cossacks, pogroms, and revolutionaries, trying to bring up and properly marry off his children. The play was presented by the children of the Hebrew School of Brotherhood Synagogue, on May 19 and 20, 2011, to overflow audiences.
Over the years we have had the pleasure of hearing the revivals of most great musicals in this school rich neighborhood, particularly at Friends’ \Seminary (great Gilbert and Sullivan) and Brotherhood. The Fiddler is an n especially good choice. A Broadway favorite, with longest original run record of 3,242 performances, starting in 1964, with at least half a dozen hummable melodies, the record held until Grease came along. Composed by Jerry Bock (he also did Fiorello), with lyrics by Sheldon Farnick and book by Joseph Stern, a Bronx boy of refugee parentage, Fiddler has historically accurate depictions of life in a forgotten shtetl in Czarist Russia (the rabbi, when asked by the children how the Czar should be blessed, answered “with long life, long distance from us”)
The action, in scenes led by songs, begins with the villagers declaring their devotion to tradition, and quickly diverts to marriage, the girls begging the matchmaker Yente (Sophia Messeca) to grant them a dream. It turns out that rich and elderly butcher Lazar Wolf, (Alexander Cohen) wants Tevye’s (Evan Neiden) oldest daughter, Tzeitel (Julie Eichner), which brings Tevye to the lament, If I were a Rich Man. He wants to educate his daughters, not shuttle them off to wealthy suitors, and has given room in the house for Perchik (Max Teirstein), who is a student and reformer, and can tutor. But Tzeitel loves Motel, a tailor (Peter Murzin),and Tevye, who has sealed the deal with Wolf by singing To Life , now shockedly realizes that the course of true love breaks the tradition, letting the daughter prevail (Miracle of miracles). He persuades his wife Golde (Nicolaia Rips) by a pretend dream nightmare sequence, in which the girl’s grandmother (Josie Ingall) chooses Motel. The wedding is happy, Sunrise, Sunset is sung.
But trouble is on the way, Perchik also wants to marry a daughter, Hodel (Sofia Southey). Tevye is happy (Now I have Everything), but the police arrest Perchik and he is sent to Siberia, Handel wants to follow him.
As it were not enough, daughter Chave ((Rowana Miller) elopes with a Russian Christian boy, Fyedka ((Milo Roth), While Tevye and family mourn their lost daughter, comes word that the Tsar has ordered al the Jews in Anatevka to abandon their homes and move elsewhere. Tevye and family affirm their love for each other, the villagers sing of their bellowed Anatevka, and they move on, upbeat, hoping for a future in America.
The Fiddler was part of the New York’s great musical play era, with meaningful themes and tuneful melodies. The original Tevye way Zero Mostel, and many school, summer theatre and regional revivals have tried to capture his magic, available in a movie adaptation, with British actor Chaim Topol, (Fiddler had 2,000 plus West End theatre performances). The actors of the Brotherhood production were 12 years old or younger, and substituted joy and performing pleasure for acting skills, all very successfully and joyfully, as it should be. The audiences were enchanted.
Credit for the successful performance is also due to the teachers, parents, religious leaders and staff of the Synagogue, as well as outside helpers. The producer of the musical was Judith Shapiro of the teaching staff, and director Barbara Simon, choreographer Clare Cook and musical director Scott Stein, providing piano accompaniment are theatre/ teaching professionals. Makeup artist Linda Eichner is a parent and costume designer Alice Roi ha s been member of the congregation since early childhood, Bonnie Fine of Publicity is a school graduate, and graphic designer Cary Block and violinist Sylvie Rosen are students. Rabbi Daniel Alder, quoted earlier, and Executive Director Phil Rothman, action commentator between scenes, were both members of the cast. A Broadway musical with a cast of dozens, and rented stage and decorations, is quite an undertaking for a synagogue, and there were a number of silent sponsors who made everything right. Given more time and space the Brotherhood Synagogue version of the musical could have carried on, spreading joy beyond the two performances – remember, the original version had 3,242 nights of glory. Zero Mostel and Marc Chagall, the painter whose Fiddler on the Roof gave the name to the musical, as a symbol of survival through tradition in an environment of imbalance and uncertainty, would have been pleased.
Wally Dobelis thanks Sara Rothman and internet sources
LOOKING AHEAD by Wally Dobelis
Fiddler on the Roof at Brotherhood Synagogue
Suffering from an overkill of real life drama, wars and refugees, it was very pleasant to find relief in seeing a revival of Fiddler on the Roof, the really “things will work out” positive attitude musical, from the early 1960s. It is a tale of Tevye the milkman, father of seven daughters, in the little town of Anatevka in 1905 Tsarist Russia, amidst Cossacks, pogroms, and revolutionaries, trying to bring up and properly marry off his children. The play was presented by the children of the Hebrew School of Brotherhood Synagogue, on May 19 and 20, 2011, to overflow audiences.
Over the years we have had the pleasure of hearing the revivals of most great musicals in this school rich neighborhood, particularly at Friends’ \Seminary (great Gilbert and Sullivan) and Brotherhood. The Fiddler is an n especially good choice. A Broadway favorite, with longest original run record of 3,242 performances, starting in 1964, with at least half a dozen hummable melodies, the record held until Grease came along. Composed by Jerry Bock (he also did Fiorello), with lyrics by Sheldon Farnick and book by Joseph Stern, a Bronx boy of refugee parentage, Fiddler has historically accurate depictions of life in a forgotten shtetl in Czarist Russia (the rabbi, when asked by the children how the Czar should be blessed, answered “with long life, long distance from us”)
The action, in scenes led by songs, begins with the villagers declaring their devotion to tradition, and quickly diverts to marriage, the girls begging the matchmaker Yente (Sophia Messeca) to grant them a dream. It turns out that rich and elderly butcher Lazar Wolf, (Alexander Cohen) wants Tevye’s (Evan Neiden) oldest daughter, Tzeitel (Julie Eichner), which brings Tevye to the lament, If I were a Rich Man. He wants to educate his daughters, not shuttle them off to wealthy suitors, and has given room in the house for Perchik (Max Teirstein), who is a student and reformer, and can tutor. But Tzeitel loves Motel, a tailor (Peter Murzin),and Tevye, who has sealed the deal with Wolf by singing To Life , now shockedly realizes that the course of true love breaks the tradition, letting the daughter prevail (Miracle of miracles). He persuades his wife Golde (Nicolaia Rips) by a pretend dream nightmare sequence, in which the girl’s grandmother (Josie Ingall) chooses Motel. The wedding is happy, Sunrise, Sunset is sung.
But trouble is on the way, Perchik also wants to marry a daughter, Hodel (Sofia Southey). Tevye is happy (Now I have Everything), but the police arrest Perchik and he is sent to Siberia, Handel wants to follow him.
As it were not enough, daughter Chave ((Rowana Miller) elopes with a Russian Christian boy, Fyedka ((Milo Roth), While Tevye and family mourn their lost daughter, comes word that the Tsar has ordered al the Jews in Anatevka to abandon their homes and move elsewhere. Tevye and family affirm their love for each other, the villagers sing of their bellowed Anatevka, and they move on, upbeat, hoping for a future in America.
The Fiddler was part of the New York’s great musical play era, with meaningful themes and tuneful melodies. The original Tevye way Zero Mostel, and many school, summer theatre and regional revivals have tried to capture his magic, available in a movie adaptation, with British actor Chaim Topol, (Fiddler had 2,000 plus West End theatre performances). The actors of the Brotherhood production were 12 years old or younger, and substituted joy and performing pleasure for acting skills, all very successfully and joyfully, as it should be. The audiences were enchanted.
Credit for the successful performance is also due to the teachers, parents, religious leaders and staff of the Synagogue, as well as outside helpers. The producer of the musical was Judith Shapiro of the teaching staff, and director Barbara Simon, choreographer Clare Cook and musical director Scott Stein, providing piano accompaniment are theatre/ teaching professionals. Makeup artist Linda Eichner is a parent and costume designer Alice Roi ha s been member of the congregation since early childhood, Bonnie Fine of Publicity is a school graduate, and graphic designer Cary Block and violinist Sylvie Rosen are students. Rabbi Daniel Alder, quoted earlier, and Executive Director Phil Rothman, action commentator between scenes, were both members of the cast. A Broadway musical with a cast of dozens, and rented stage and decorations, is quite an undertaking for a synagogue, and there were a number of silent sponsors who made everything right. Given more time and space the Brotherhood Synagogue version of the musical could have carried on, spreading joy beyond the two performances – remember, the original version had 3,242 nights of glory. Zero Mostel and Marc Chagall, the painter whose Fiddler on the Roof gave the name to the musical, as a symbol of survival through tradition in an environment of imbalance and uncertainty, would have been pleased.
# posted by Wally Dobelis @ 7:49 AM 
