by Michael Ray Cantrell | photos courtsey Joan Marcus
“Tradition,” sings the cast so brilliantly as “Fiddler on the Roof” by Joseph Stein, Jerry Bock, and Sheldon Harnick opened at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center on Tuesday, June 25th. The show was nothing less than amazing, leaving the audience begging for more as the lights dimmed at the close of each scene.
“Fiddler on the Roof” follows Tevye, a poor Jewish milkman with five daughters living in the pale of settlement in Imperial Russia in 1905 as he attempts to maintain his Jewish religion and cultural traditions while outsiders invade his life and the lives of those he cares about the most. Show-goers witness traditions and beliefs betrayed as the services of the “matchmaker” are no longer needed. Men and women begin to dance together, children are marrying because of love and choosing their own partners, and people are falling in love outside of their Jewish faiths. The production is a story of finding out what love is, realizing traditions don’t matter, understanding that it’s okay to cross boundaries and break rules, and never being too proud to beg.
The Broadway touring production of “Fiddler on the Roof” features an all-star cast with Yehezkel Lazarov as Tevye, an amazing crew led by Director Bartlett Sher, creative designers including Michael Yeargan and a five-star performance of the musical that was the first in history to surpass 3,000 performances. This production is rich with musical hits we all know and love such as “To Life (L’ Chaim!)”, “If I Were a Rich Man” and “Matchmaker, Matchmaker.” This show contains comedy, tragedy, life, love and laughter all bundled into one night of musical magic. “Fiddler on the Roof” runs through Sunday, June 30, 2019, at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center. You may purchase tickets by calling 615-782-4040 or online at Tpac.org
