Fiddler on the Roof: Douglas Sills and Jeremy Radin – Photo: Daniel Rader
As director Joe Calarco put it to the press night audience at Signature Theatre’s Fiddler on the Roof, he had a simple pitch for what would become his twentieth Signature production.
For his Fiddler, Calarco — whose 2017 Jesus Christ Superstar at the Northern Virginia theater still ranks as tops among the handful I’ve seen — envisioned a table in the round. The family table, the community table, where so much that matters in life happens, would serve as the center for this telling of the musical composed by Jerry Bock, with lyrics by Sheldon Harnick, and book by Joseph Stein.
Realized handsomely in Misha Kachman’s woody scenic design, the table, actually multiple tables in various configurations, also serves as stage and floor and tavern bar, depending on the scene. Meals, meetings, toasts, dances, fateful reckonings all sit down at — or spring from — this earthy center of the tiny village Anatevka, home to dairyman Tevye, his hard-working wife Golde, their five daughters, and community of fellow Jews.
Calarco and Signature nabbed a commanding performer to head the table: Douglas Sills, Broadway staple, Tony nominee, and, of late, a Gilded Age chef gracing the finest tables in 1880s New York. A far cry from Fifth Avenue, Tevye and family endure a life of scarcity in 1905 Russia, and, though Sills looks a bit dashing for a poor milkman, he conveys Tevye’s appreciation for the treasures he does possess: his family and his traditions.
The entire cast of villagers extol those virtues in “Tradition,” the first of the show’s opening trifecta of well-known tunes, and our first chance to take in the smooth staging of this large, active cast, and fetching choreography set for them by Sarah Parker.
Fiddler on the Roof: Rosie Jo Neddy – Photo: Daniel Rader
“Tradition” also spells out the strict expectations for women in this culture of arranged marriages. The three eldest of Tevye’s daughters — Tzeitel (Beatrice Owens), Hodel (Lily Burka), and Chava (Rosie Jo Neddy) — sing of romance and resistance in “Matchmaker, Matchmaker,” a fine showcase for Burka’s lovely voice and Owens’ spunky Tzeitel.
The first of Tevye’s daughters to defy tradition, Tzeitel turns up her nose at a proposed union with wealthy town butcher Lazar Wolf (Jeremy Radin) arranged by the village matchmaker, Yente (Susan Rome, a fast-talking delight). One after the other, Tevye’s children will similarly defy him. He sees the balance of his whole world under threat, from within and without.
In his household, he has to deal with willful daughters, and the men they attract or bring home. Beyond his front door, the village of Anatevka, and the peaceful lives of Jews there, are threatened by the forces of the tsar, expelling Jews from their villages throughout the region.
The production hits its most resonant notes, however, when evoking the joy and celebration rooted in home and community, and religion. From the tender blessing of the Tevye-led “Sabbath Prayer,” to the boisterously danced “To Life,” the cast shines when it’s all hands on deck for uplifting occasions.
It’s wine bottles perched atop hats for the spirited quartet dancing the first-act showstopper “The Wedding,” a number epitomizing the show’s dynamite combo of cast, score, set, costumes, and choreography, especially when the mood’s upbeat.
The dancing throughout — to my surprise, at least — impresses in ways that the singing doesn’t, with a few exceptions, including the robustly romantic act two opener “Now I Have Everything,” sung by Burka’s devoted Hodel and Ariel Neydavoud’s revolutionary Perchik.
A modern free-thinker and, per Neydavoud’s impassioned performance, an appealing foil for Tevye, student Perchik is branded a radical by the men in the village. He turns out to be a key agent of change, both welcome and not, in the lives of Tevye and his family. Along with their community, they all suffer persecution, are brutalized by pogroms, and, ultimately, expelled from their homes, one passage in the show that feels played by rote, unfortunately.
“We don’t bother them, and so far they don’t bother us,” Tevye offers at the start, unaware what tremendous change awaits. Sills marks the man’s fight against — and yielding to — those battering winds with a genuine vulnerability which permeates Tevye’s duet with Golde, “Do You Love Me?”, informs his sometimes harsh methods of parenting, and solidifies his seat at the head of this table, both strong and sturdily built.
Fiddler on the Roof (★★★☆☆) runs through Jan. 25 at Signature Theatre, 4200 Campbell Ave., Arlington, with a Pride Night performance on Dec. 5. Tickets are $47 to $172. Call 703-820-9771, or visit sigtheatre.org.
You just can't keep a creative powerhouse down. Synetic may labor on without a dedicated performance space, but their Frankenstein; or, the Modern Prometheus simply soars. A beautifully-orchestrated feast for the senses, this is a classic Synetic-style spectacle of sound, movement and inventive story-telling.
Under the vision of director Paata Tsikurishvili Frankenstein has got it all: a striking and original score by composer Konstantine Lortkipanidze; rich and extraordinary projections and lighting from Zavier Augustus Lee Taylor and Brian Allard; physics-defying set pieces from Phil Charlwood; and an ensemble that brings everything they've got to the movement, mime, and heart-felt reimagining of this tale.
Given how often today's news outlets distort the truth or report outright lies, it's almost comical that E.L. Doctorow's 1975 novel Ragtime was once dismissed by The New Yorker's editor William Shawn. Because Doctorow's tale, set in the early twentieth century, wove real historical figures into fictional lives, Shawn refused to publish a full-length review, calling the book "immoral."
Now, the musical adaptation returns with forceful, spectacular splendor at Lincoln Center's Vivian Beaumont Theatre. And this second revival of the beloved story arrives on Broadway at just the right time.
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As the playwright points out in the production's program notes, Shakespeare's drama of the betrayal and assassination of the political leader in ancient Rome overlaps pretty effectively, plot-wise and thematically, with an account of the betrayal and assassination of the civil rights leader in Harlem 1965.
Accordingly, for Letson's modernized mashup, stylishly staged by Nicole Brewer, the conspirators carry daggers not pistols to slay Julius X inside the Audubon Ballroom. Instead of robes and togas, they rock natty suits, courtesy of costume designer Danielle Preston, who keeps the cast dripping in Harlem swag.
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