‘Fiddler on the Roof’ opens on Grove City College stage

The Grove City College Theater Department will perform the classic musical “Fiddler on the Roof” at 7 p.m. nightly from Wednesday, Nov. 6 through Saturday, Nov. 9 in Ketler Auditorium of Pew Fine Arts Center on campus. 

The show is free and open to the public, but tickets are required. For tickets, visit www.gcc.edu/tickets.

The musical portraying Jewish life in Imperial Russia at the turn of the 20^th century features hits like “Matchmaker,” “If I Were a Rich Man,” and the famous bottle dance from “Wedding Celebration.”“Fiddler is considered one of the greatest, maybe by some, the greatest musical of all time in the United States," Professor of English and Theater Betsy J. Craig ’77 said.

The musical by Jerry Bock, Sheldon Harnick and Jerry Stein debuted on Broadway in 1964 and was a massive hit, inspiring a classic film and many revivals. The story follows the life of Tevye, a milkman in the village of Anatevka, who holds tightly to his Jewish heritage and tradition despite the pull from the surrounding Russian culture that threatens to take it away.

Craig, who is directing the show, said the production was inspired by her reading of the Sholem Aleichem stories that the musical is based on and research into the cultural and historic context of “Fiddler on the Roof.” Aleichem’s tragicomic hero Teyve “is a character who is in constant conversation with God—the kind of intimate relationship I think all of us aspire to,” she said.

“What makes this show extraordinary is that it covers so many of humanity’s concerns,” Craig said. She cited researcher and author Alisa Solomon’s take on the musical: “The show is a global touchstone for an astonishing range of concerns: identity, American immigrant narratives, generational conflicts, communal cohesion, ethnic authenticity, and interracial bridge building, among them.”

Tradition is another theme woven into the show, Craig noted. “When are traditions important to hold on to, and when and how or should we let go of them? While many at first limit the play to a ‘Jewish’ story, even the creators realized and wanted to tell a story that was far larger than simply that of a single ethnic group. The questions asked during the show are universally human ones with which all of us can connect,” she said.

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