This famous show is set in a Jewish village in Czarist Russia that is stifled from within by its own suffocating traditions and threatened from without by the ever-imminent possibility of racial persecution.
Strong stuff – and yet Fiddler on the Roof has a deserved reputation as a wryly humorous musical, not least because of the whimsical yearning in its best -known song.
It also depends – possibly more than any show – on a strong central performance in the role of Tevye, the impoverished local dairyman with five daughters to marry off and who regularly holds exasperated one-to-one conversations with his god. Almost constantly on stage he carries most of the songs, is the fulcrum of the plot and embodies the contradictions of a village that it utterly set in its ways and yet is always ready to move on in the face of edict and persecution.
This generally excellent production from the Longwood AOS certainly has a fine Tevye, in the person of Gerard Marescaux. It is a good piece of sustained acting – amusing at first when he bends to the wilfulness of two daughters who want to marry for love rather than from parental choice – but moving and tragic when he disowns a daughter who marries out of the faith. There is a good rendition of If I Were a Rich Man and the show’s most poignant song, Sunrise Sunset. Marescaux’s singing voice is most attractive, especially when he ascends into the tenor reaches of his register.
Accents wandered here and there among the large cast, but plenty of the performers take their chances well, including Sharon Whitehead as the matriarchal Golde and Suzy Hellawell as Yente, the Matchmaker. There is touching chemistry between Tzeital (Gemma Clarkson) and the meek tailor Motel (Richard Armstrong, who reveals a strong singing voice when his opportunity comes).
The big ensemble scenes are well marshalled by producer Colin Harris and choreographer Lynn Clarkson – with an elaborate dream sequence and a wedding dance particularly well done. Musical director Caroline Kelly has assembled a good band which handles the ethnic stylings of the score very well.
The use of face mics is now standard in musicals and it must be said that the technology and the know-how has improved massively. In this show, for which the technical director is Chris Brearley, there is a notable use of reverb which adds an effective dimension to Tevye’s monologues and verbal duels with his deity.
The actual Fiddler on the Roof is portrayed by the dancer Amy Woodhead, and the character symbolises the fragility of the existence led by Jewish communities who live in fear of the next pogrom or eviction. But this is a very solid production of a show that is entertaining and thought-provoking.
It runs until Saturday, when there is also a matinee.
