Fiddler on the roof program notes

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My Account. About Musicnotes. Subscribe to our Newsletter Stay Connected. Although they lose their homes and land, Tevye and his fellow villagers persist, preparing to restart their lives in new places.

One of the most popular musicals in the American musical theatre canon, Fiddler on the Roof has successfully appealed to cultures all over the world. The themes speak to subjugated and oppressed minorities, both Jewish and otherwise. In the s, the musical connected to those who were waging the battle for Civil Rights. Since it opened on Broadway, Fiddler has seen five Broadway revivals and many U. It was the first Broadway musical to play more than 3, performances.

Even in countries without a prominent Jewish population, the musical expresses and reassures the anxieties of intergenerational conflict over tradition and the fear of cultural erasure through persecution. And within the old-fashioned traditional familial structures, Fiddler offers a proto-feminist rebellion through women characters who, in Russia at the turn of the 20th century, are beginning to break free to exert their own free will.

Fiddler on the Roof presents a Jewish community from a pre-Holocaust moment to a post-Holocaust world. The culture that is preserved and re-enacted in the musical looks nostalgically to that which was destroyed when 6 million Jews were murdered in Europe and millions more displaced.

The musical stages the quaint, rich life of Tevye the dairy farmer as he toils and sacrifices for his family, never losing his sense of humor. Through Tevye, Fiddler shows what is lost when that family and community are forced apart. While Tevye often opts to make allowances in practicing traditions in response to what he decides is best for his family, he also chooses to preserve their religious customs rather than assimilate into the larger Russian community—an act that might have saved their land but destroyed their history.

The guide themes, chapter outlines and character summaries are more detailed than other sites.