Fiddler on the Roof

Forty-two years after he first played the role on the London stage and thirty-eight years after he reprised the role on film, Topol is once again starring in Fiddler on the Roof. He is heading a company of thirty-six in a first-rate national tour, which is being billed as his "farewell tour." He is 74, seems 50-ish from the house (as witnessed at a recent performance at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark, NJ). He is giving a performance to remember—rich, human, funny, and touching. His resonant amber voice has lost none of its beauty; it's a joy to hear him sing the Bock and Harnick score. And he exploits the full range of his voice, sometimes shifting abruptly in speech from his lower tones to his higher ones for comic effect. He is well aware he can get a laugh almost any time he wants one, simply from his vocal inflections, and occasionally over-indulges. I wished director Sammy Dallas Bayes had reined him in at a few points; but when a performer has this much star quality, some excesses are forgiven.

Nothing has been compromised on this tour. The production values are top-drawer. Jerome Robbins' original choreography has been faithfully recreated. And Topol is supported solidly by Susan Cella as Golda and Mary Stout as Yente. Newcomer Eric Van Tielen impresses strongly as Fyedka. Sean Patrick Doyle carries off the part of Fruma-Sarah as well as it can be done. I wished they had found a "Perchik" with a lovelier voice to sing "Now I Have Everything," but it's a minor flaw. Joseph Stein's book (based on Sholem Aleichem's stories) is a model of musical theater construction—never less than entertaining, and at times, profound. This first-class revival makes much of what is being offered on Broadway at present seem trivial by comparison.

(Pictured: Topol. Phot by Patrick Riviere)

Chip Deffaa
Cabaret Scenes
March 15, 2009
www.cabaretscenes.org