Oy, have I got a show for you! Quad Cities Music Guild’s summer finale is the ever popular Fiddler on the Roof based on the stories of Sholem Aleichem and directed by the uber accomplished Jake Ladd.
Fiddler’s original production was staged on Broadway in 1964 and held the record for longest running show at 10 years, it spawned 5 Broadway revivals and was adapted for film in 1971. Interestingly, although proving highly popular, it had sparked some controversy in that the first investors felt the show was “too Jewish” for the general population while others felt it was too culturally sanitized and superficial by portraying the Russian constable as sympathetic instead of brutally cruel as written by Aleichem. Fortunately, the right balance for it was found even though it was not entirely authentic.
The story takes place around 1905 in the fictional small Ukrainian village of Anatevka where poor dairyman, Tevye, ekes out a living with his wife, Golde, and their five daughters. In accordance with tradition the village matchmaker, Yente, is hard at work to find each of their three oldest daughters a husband. The girls, however, find their own beaus and defy Tevye in order to marry for love. During the course of all this hubbub Russia’s tsar orders a progrom of the village and the entire Jewish population is expelled in the naked grab for territory. The final scene ends with the villagers bidding farewell to family and friends as they disperse to find a new home.
The appeal of this show is that it is so relatable. No matter the place, no matter the time frame, no matter ethnicity, this is the universal theme of coping with change, of raising children and, as Ladd states in his program notes, balancing our dreams for our children and our children’s dreams for themselves.
This show is near perfection from the abstract set of ramshackle shacks designed by Ladd and Mike Turczyski, to the lighting design by Ryan Mandle, to the choreography by Christina Myatt – which, by the way, includes a very difficult and impressive dance balancing wine bottles on their heads (I’m guessing Velcro may have played a part in that scene but that doesn’t detract from the difficulty of the dance) and cast and crew execute scene changes in short order. Ladd’s concept for Teyve’s dream sequence is at once eerie and hilarious. Although the show runs close to three hours it hums along like a well tuned Ferrari.
Heading up the cast as Tevye is Joe Urbaitis and as Golde is Penelope O’Connor; they complement each other vocally and their stage chemistry is a joy to watch. As the three brides-to-be are Sydney Greer as Tzeitel, Keira Bowman as Hodel, and Wrigley Mancha as Chava, respectively; as their beaus, again respectively, are Tommy Ratkiewicz-Stierwalt as Motel, Zach Zelnio as Perchik, and Thayne Lamb as Fyedka. I love this musical…I’m still humming “If I were a rich man.”
Fiddler on the Roof continues at Quad City Music Guild’s theatre in Moline’s Prospect Park Thursday through Saturday, August 8 through 10 at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, August 11 at 2:00 p.m. If you’re new to Music Guild, be advised that parking at the theatre is limited to the handicapped and volunteers only. All others can catch a shuttle from the Southpark Mall’s parking lot outside of JC Penney’s.
I’m Chris Hicks…break a leg.