It's pretty telling how the Chava/Fyedka story ends in the books versus how it ends in the musical--and very reflective of each writer's mindset. Chava's marriage HAD to fail in Aleichem's telling, because for it to be successful would be the same as saying it's all right to marry outside the faith--something that was intolerable in Aleichem's eyes and in the eyes of the audience he was writing for. But in Fiddler, it turns out far more happily (Chava leaves the area with her husband, who is unwilling to remain among bigots who persecute his wife's people, and there is a hint that Tevye might reconcile with them), because the script for Fiddler was written in a time when interfaith marriages had become much more mainstream.
Something I loved from the revival of Fiddler on the Roof is that they show what a Jewish wedding looks like. The themes of this musical are still VERY relevant!
As a Jew, Fiddler on the Roof has always had a special place in my heart. Not to mention I played Lazer Wolf in the sixth grade and really hammed it up.
I once came in for a job after the company had done Fiddler in the spring. The run time at the beginning of the production compared to the end was about fifteen minutes: their Tevye loved playing to the audience.
I have always liked this musical! I never saw Fiddler performed on Broadway, but I've seen the movie version at least twice. I also saw this show performed a couple of years ago in a regional theater production (St. Mark's Players). I have to see if I can find the original stories and read them for myself. In the 1970's, a writer named Leo Rosten wrote a book called "The Joys of Yiddish" which I would like to find on the shelves as well. It defines various Yiddish terms, like Nebbish. Followed by various jokes about the featured word. I remember reading in "Joys" about Groucho Marx, when told the swim club he was interested in joining didn't admit Jews, "My wife isn't Jewish, so can my son go up to his knees?"
I LOVED seeing this musical live & not knowing much about it except from what my then living grandma told me. & the film was pretty good too, its definitely a musical much more enjoyed in live form tho! Loved getting to know about the source of this one! :3
I feel like you're watching every show I'm in and putting out these videos at the same time. I've seen 3 at the source and 2 musical hell videos about shows that I have been in that have come out around the same time I've been performing
I was in a summer-camp production of FIDDLER ON THE ROOF when I was ten and I've loved it ever since, but only in high school did I start reading the short stories (and even then, I still haven't gotten around to "Tevye Strikes It Rich", "Tevye Blows a Small Fortune", or "Tevye Leaves for the Land of Israel"). Also, I've been watching a ton of ALL IN THE FAMILY lately (it's one of my father's favorites) and your comparison of Tevye to Archie Bunker just clicks perfectly. Makes me wonder what kind of Tevye Carroll O'Connor would have made.
This would have been nice to have when I wrote a college essay about this same thing which was essentially about the intentions of the original text vs. the stage play and movie and how they reflected the changing times of their eras.
I’ve loved this musical since I was in it as a child, which is weird because I went to catholic school, lol. Still boggles my mind we were allowed. Also, the All In The Family reference made me laugh because they do reference Fidler on the show!
There's at least some connection to the Tevye stories--in "The Roof Falls In," after Tevye hands over his savings for investment he imagines what is life will be like as a man of wealth, including picturing a plump double-chinned Golde ordering servants about. (The distant cousin who leads Tevye into unwise speculation, Menachem-Mendl, is indeed a crossover character from Aleichem's other stories.)
@@MusicalHell I meant no directly connected. It was based a monologe he wrote called "Ven ikh bin Rothschild" (or "If I were a Rothschild”, which by the way was also how the song was translated in Hebrew). Tevie doesn't appear in it although it fits with his character. I think it was just a reccuring theme in Aleichem's works, from his stories I read and recognize at least.
@@MusicalHell Yep...one of the special features on the Fiddler DVD is some readings of segments from the Aleichem stories that correspond to moments in the show (accompanied by storyboard art), and the passage that helped inspire "If I Were A Rich Man" was one of them.
The Archie Bunker analogy may seem odd on paper, but it's worth noting that All in the Family was based on a long-running British sitcom called Till Death Do Us Part about a bigot called Alf Garnett (who, needless to say, is more abrasive than Archie Bunker). Garnett was played by a Jewish actor called Warren Mitchell...
I played the rabbi at age 12, with a full ass beard. Also, has anyone else read Alexandra Silber’s novel “After Anatevka” about Hodel and Perchick? Side note: can Yiddish Fiddler be like the Radio City Christmas Spectacular where they bring it back every year because I NEED that option?!?
For a future At The Source, how about the life of Eva Peron? It's interesting to note that Eva's story in the musical is a Latina woman's history being filtered through two white Englishmen (whose only real English-language source was a very biased biography). Which is why their POV is "wasn't Eva awful for using her body to get ahead?" instead of "wasn't Argentine society awful for leaving a woman no options BUT to use her body to get ahead?" Then there's Les Romanesques, the Edmond Rostand play that inspired The Fantasticks. And if you covered Romeo and Juliet, it would cover at least two musicals...West Side Story and & Juliet.
Hey Diva, I’m sorry about the Dailymotion posts. But could you please do the Addams Family musical? No linking this time. It would be very satisfying for me to see you rip it to shreds.
Fiddler on the Roof is one of my favorite musicals. When I did it several years ago, every show sold out. Jewish people within a 60 mile radius were like bussed in. It was very cool to me.
