Fiddler on the Roof is a musical with music by Jerry Bock, lyrics by Sheldon Harnick, and book by Joseph Stein, set in Tsarist Russia in 1905. It is based on Tevye and his Daughters (or Tevye the Dairyman) and other tales by Sholem Aleichem. The story centers on Tevye, the father of five daughters, and his attempts to maintain his family and Jewish religious traditions while outside influences encroach upon their lives. He must cope both with the strong-willed actions of his three older daughters-each one's choice of husband moves further away from the customs of his faith-and with the edict of the Tsar that evicts the Jews from their village.
Miracle of miracles, indeed: Just when you think you know a classic musical backwards and forwards, along comes director Bartlett Sher to prove otherwise. Just as with his seminal 2008 staging of 'South Pacific' (and his less successful, but still laudable version of 'The King and I' from earlier this year), Sher's take on 'Fiddler on the Roof' feels at once bracingly modern and gloriously old school.
Mr. Burstein unleashes his rich baritone with roof-raising force when Tevye's emotion is at its height, bringing home the character's indomitable will, often hidden beneath his self-deprecating humor and sorely tried by his rebellious daughters. Mr. Burstein's way with a classic Jewish joke is assured but unforced, his performance affecting but not overscaled, in keeping with the production's emphasis on the musical's emotional underpinnings, rather than the frosting of shticky comedy.
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