Program – Fiddler on the Roof
We picked up Betsy at 5:45 p.m. yesterday. Plenty of time to get to the Fort Columbia Theater from Oysterville in time to stand in the ticket line for the 7:00 performance of “Fiddler on the Roof.” We had no trouble finding a parking place and we joined others in the line in a timely manner.
Then two things happened at once. I was enveloped in a huge hug from LeeAnne Campos, director of Lyrica Ladies Chorale Ensemble of Puget Sound – the musical group that will be doing Vespers on Sunday. And, out of the corner of my eye I saw the ticket lady strolling along the line and stopping beside Nyel.
“They’re sold out,” Nyel told us. “Not a ticket or a seat to be had.”
That fact had hardly registered when LeeAnne said, “I have three extra tickets! I bought a block of 20 for the Lyrica Ladies but three of our members couldn’t make it.” Talk about serendipity!
We bought the tickets on the spot and waltzed into the theater in time to get seats in the third row, center – surely the best show in the house. The next few hours went by like a flash. I loved every memorable minute and had a hard time not singing along – or even mouthing lines with Yenta, the matchmaker. It’s a role I played back in 1985 when it was presented on the Peninsula for the first time.
I had been anxious about seeing the show so soon after its success six or seven years ago when Mike Campellone played Tevye. No, not really “played.” He WAS Tevye (and has been ever since in my mind.) But from the minute Dave Immel walked on stage, I knew that the role was now his. Two Tevyes on one little Peninsula in the space of a decade! Fabulous!
It was a wonderful production. So many talented singers and dancers! And, at the intermission, I was astounded to see Brooke Flood-Brown, flawless in her role as Hodel, walking on crutches! She said, “something happened” to her foot a week or so ago but “it was getting better” and she was using the crutches off stage to give it a rest. Wow! Talk about “The show must go on!”
I did miss Jeffrey Reynolds, though. He was the Fiddler in the last production of the musical – a real fiddler on a real roof. But Mike Tuell’s innovative performance – sans fiddle and sans roof – worked wonderfully. Leave it to Director Barbara Poulshock to find an enchanting way to solve what could be a big casting dilemma.
As we headed home, I couldn’t help thinking how fortunate we all are here in our own little village – a village full of strong characters like the Anatevka of “Fiddler” but with the threats to our traditions being so much less serious than theirs. Such a good choice by PAPA! Thank you to the entire ensemble!
Okay, I was debating taking Amy, but you’ve sold me!
Dear Sydney, I enjoyed you’re review of “Fiddler on the Roof”! So glad you were able to squeeze in. Thank you for the bit of history about Jeffrey Reynolds as the fiddler himself, in the prior on-peninsula production of the play. I have seen a video of that show (no, it’s not available to “the public” 🙁 but I remember enjoying his actual fiddling on stage, in character (elsewhere, he could have been relegated to the orchestra pit! A sad idea, that); but I can’t recall any “actual roof”! Maybe I just missed it.
Soon after that viewing, our rehearsals began. We started thinking about the kind of violin to use, and how? Note: My last violin lesson was in the 4th grade. About 10 kids from three different grade school were DRAFTED to fill the first ever violin class in our suburb of Browns Point and NE Tacoma. We were place under the control of a very stern, very German , and -to us- a very OLD Master. The class was short lived; after all our induction into the project was just that. Back to the play —
Rehearsals w/o a fiddle proceeded nicely, with Barbara’s blessing; and with her astute direction that typically focuses on what her actors CAN do, what they bring to the production that is special, and genuine. She helps her actors and singers bloom. As for me, with little or no dialogue and no music to play, I was really tickled to feel a real connection with Tevye gradually emerge. Kudos to David Immel, and Barbara, and the other cast members for staying in character in and out of rehearsals for collectively they contribute so much to the intrinsic cohesion of Anatevka and even my own little fiddler. Mike.
Could it be that Jeffrey was so convincing that I actually dreamed up that ‘real roof’? Even better!
Thanks for writing about your experience with director and cast. It’s good to hear from ‘the inside’ that things are as cohesive as you all make them look from the audience!