By JULES SHINKLE
BG Independent News
The Toledo Repertoire Theatre is putting on “Fiddler on the Roof” over the next three weeks under the direction of Irina Zaurov. The show opens this weekend and will run for 11 performances until June 21. Their theater is located at 16 Tenth St., in Toledo. Visit their website to buy tickets.
It’s the turn of the 20th century in Imperial Russia, where antisemetic pogroms are running rampant and placing Jewish towns like Anatevka in deep precarity. The people here value tradition above all else, wishing for the tsar and the winds of change to leave them alone. Tevye (Micah Risher and Steve Smithberger), a poor milkman and father of five daughters, is blessed with exactly the opposite.
His three eldest get engaged to increasingly non-traditional men, testing Tevye’s faith and identity as a patriarch. For starters, none of them are interested in an arranged marriage, much to the grievance of his wife, Golde (Lydia Schafer), and Anatevka’s matchmaker, Yente (Jill Reinstein). Marrying for love confuses Tevye, but his easygoing nature makes him open to new ideas.
“Fiddler on the Roof” is all about the push and pull of progress. For the devout community of Anatevka, each tradition discarded feels like a threat to their way of life, even if said traditions aren’t serving them anymore. In light of Russian hostility and oppression against Jews, their protective attitude against the outside world is largely justified.
One such outsider is Perchik (Noah Archer), a fiery revolutionary and university student from Kyiv. He invites the town to reconsider their stances on educating women and dancing with the opposite sex. Though his Marxist convictions ruffle feathers, Perchik is welcomed into Tevye’s family as a man of upstanding virtue.
Tradition is chipped away gradually through the musical to varying consequences. Tevye is caught between wanting to grant autonomy to his children and relying on the stability tradition offers them. Because their family is poor, there is an unromantic logic to marrying the eldest daughter, Tzeitel (Elizabeth Reynolds), to a wealthy butcher many times her age.
On the other hand, Tzeitel is in love with her childhood friend Motel (Colin Thaler), also poor, and pleads with Tevye to cancel the arranged marriage. Tevye is faced with a question: which option would truly be best for his daughter?
Despite taking place over a century ago, the moral dilemmas facing Anatevka translate well in the modern age. The show’s tone is both morose and tirelessly funny. A charming cast of characters face great hardship, but Tevye’s jovial disposition is able to find humor in anything.
Risher is a fantastic lead. He plays Tevye with great comedic timing and has a powerful baritone singing voice. Also of special note is the production’s extraordinary choreography – each act features several dance sequences that the cast executes very well.
Experience a musical tradition with the Toledo Repertoire’s “Fiddler on the Roof.” This one might be worth holding on to.
