Fiddler On The Roof
Fiddler On The RoofFiddler on the Roofwas made in to a musical by Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick in 1964. It was the fourth of their musicals to be produced by Harold Prince. Although the musical had no pretty scenery, no exotic costumes, average looking girls and no happy ending, the musical sends a clear message to the world. The story reveals the life of the Jewish people living in the Czarist Russia. In Russia and many parts of the world before World War II the Jews try effortlessly to keep alive the traditions that they have held on to for so long. But the Jews of this time are living in an alien and hostile land that will eventually impose so many hardships on the Jews that most would be forced to find refuge in other countries that would be more tolerant of their traditions. Unfortunately, at this time these places were not so easy to come by. Rare refuges were places like the land of Palestine, eternal home for the Jews, welcomed or not and America, the land of democracy that welcomed all. What is amazing about the play is that it does not only reach out to all Jews in history that have been exposed to persecution and being forced to leave their homes and lives but to any ethnic group who has ever faced the cruelty of others.
The melodrama is based on the book by Joseph Stein and stories by Shalom Aleichem. The music was written by Bock and the lyrics by Harnick. The play was directed by Jerome Robbins and B. Arthur. Masdel played the main character, Tevya the protagonist. Tevya is a Jew who lives strictly by the Jewish traditions. His two main dilemma's in the play are the pogroms that were taking place against the Jews by the Russians and his five daughters they each in their own way reject the traditions that he loves so much. The play begins with the overture, "fiddler", which is a display of imagery. At this point is considered to be the vamp which leads in to the rest of the musical. Tevya sings the prologue song, "tradition", in which he introduces the town he lives in and the traditions by which he Jews live. Then comes one of Tevya's many asides in the play, this one being an uptune song. In the song, Tevya delineates the jobs of all the members of his family and they all go along with he laws of the Jewish religion.
During the course of the play Tevya meets a tragic loss because of the whims of a flawed society. This is also the plot type in the play. The problem was that the Jews in Russia lived in isolation and they had no idea of the outside world. The character role is...
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