Krysta Michelle Smith as Hodel, Karin Hendricks as Tzeitel, and Jessica Chanliau as Chava in the Pacific Conservatory of the Performing Arts summer 2013 production of "Fiddler on the Roof." (Credit: Luis Escobar)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
To illustrate this, Solomon alludes to the arrival in Anatevka of Perchik, who will eventually marry Tevye\u2019s daughter Hodel, but early on mocks Tevye and his friends. When they ask where he is from, Perchik responds that he is from the university in Kiev. A townsman then asks, \u201cIs that where they teach you to speak to your elders like this?\u201d Solomon observed that, given the developing gap between parents and children in the early 1960s, the play\u2019s audiences \u201cknow why that was a joke in \u201964.\u201d<\/p>\n
Politics also affected the actors themselves during the first Broadway performances of \u201cFiddler.\u201d Joanna Merlin, who originated the role of Tzeitel, the eldest of Tevye\u2019s daughters, related the tension that remained between Zero Mostel, who played Tevye, and the show\u2019s director\/choreographer Jerome Robbins because of their different experiences with the House Un-American Activities Committee. Robbins had been a cooperative witness, eventually \u201cnaming names\u201d to the congressional committee that investigated allegations of communist activity in the U.S. during the early years of the Cold War, whereas Mostel had been blacklisted.<\/p>\n
Merlin was blunt about the two men\u2019s relationship. \u201cZero hated him but agreed to work with him because he respected him as a director, and he didn\u2019t hide his feelings,\u201d she said. \u201cJerry felt very guilty and humiliated. There was a lot of tension during rehearsals because of that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sheldon Harnick, the lyricist for \u201cFiddler on the Roof,\u201d had a different perspective. He recalled that on the first day of rehearsal, which is kind of a meet and greet among participants, the cast wondered what would happen when the two men met. Mostel arrived first. When Robbins walked in, said Harnick, \u201cZero said, \u2018Hi there, blabbermouth.\u2019 Luckily everyone in the cast and Robbins laughed.\u201d His perspective was that after that incident, Mostel kept his feelings to himself and worked very hard.<\/p>\n
According to Solomon, \u201cFiddler\u201d also got entwined in the 1968 controversy between the United Federation of Teachers, which was 90-percent Jewish and entirely white, and the experimental school districts over local control of schools. The conflict climaxed in a citywide public strike that shut down New York City schools through the fall of 1968. During the teachers\u2019 strike, the drama teacher in a middle school on the edge of Ocean Hill-Brownsville decided to present \u201cFiddler\u201d as the spring musical. Some Jews were against this for fear that black and Puerto Rican student actors would use it to make fun of Jews, although a clip shown by Solomon suggested that the actor and actress who played Tevye and Golde, ages 13 and 14, respectively, played their parts with great integrity and talent.<\/p>\n
Another \u201cpolitical\u201d use of \u201cFiddler\u201d has been in Eastern Europe, where the play has been used as a way to delve into the history of a locale\u2019s Jews. Its performances are accompanied by booklets that detail what happened to the area\u2019s Jews during World War II.<\/p>\n
In the end, the legacy of \u201cFiddler on the Roof\u201d may be its ability to reach both backward and forward. Joanna Merlin\u2019s favorite moment was the farewell scene. \u201cIt was very reminiscent for me of my grandmother leaving,\u201d she said, noting that the final scene was a prelude to an unknown future.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was kind of experiencing what they were looking forward to when they were leaving each other, in addition to having to say goodbye to each other, as they were all going to different parts of the world,\u201d Merlin added. \u201cIt was very close and personal for me.\u201d<\/p>\n
George Washington University\u2019s Joselit touched on Merlin\u2019s sentiments, but in a different way.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat the play is about, despite moments of wrenching loss, is possibility,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
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