Fiddler on the Roof : CLOC Music Theatre

By Mark Kearney

Fiddler on the Roof

There’s no two ways about it: Fiddler on the Roof is one of the most loved and celebrated musicals of all time. Since its opening on Broadway in 1964, the story of Tevye the beleaguered milkman has delighted audiences around the globe.

Why? Well, Fiddler possesses that rare, perfect balance between genuinely loveable characters, an infectious songbook and a more than ample dose of emotional impact.

This May-June, Melbourne’s premier non-professional theatre company, CLOC, are tackling Fiddler for the second time having previously staged the show in 1977. Their current production, directed by the experienced duo of Chris and Lynette White, is a visually sumptuous, well-performed and technically accomplished affair.

The show is set in Anatevka, a Russian village or ‘shtetl’ in 1905. The community lives in accordance with strict Jewish tradition, as the opening number (and its many reprises) informs us.

Here, the papas “must scramble for a living” and the mamas “make a proper home”, whilst the sons and daughters marry whomever their fathers pick. But change is coming to Anatevka. With an intellectual revolution underway in Moscow and an increased presence of non-Jewish authorities in the village, the calm in the village is uneasy and seems destined to be upset.

Visual spectacle is synonymous with the Whites’ productions and Fiddler does not disappoint. Thanks to Chris’ set design, I was transported into this village. Made up of a series of charming/rundown shopfronts and house facades, the set was executed beautifully.

The settings had an ageless quality that provided the perfect backdrop for the story. It was also great to see the entire depth of St Kilda’s National Theatre exploited.

Performances were well-executed across the board. As Tevye, Peter Nicholls has one of the most-sought after and demanding roles for a male performer in theatre.

Anyone cast as Tevye will always be compared to Chaim Topol, the man who played the role on and off for 42 years before his retirement in 2009 (I was fortunate enough to see Topol as Tevye in 2007 and will never forget his remarkably rich, funny performance). Nicholls succeeds most in capturing Tevye’s warm humanity.

His finest moment was the Chava sequence, a fragile moment of lamentation about his middle daughter’s marriage to a non-Jewish man. He also sings the role well, although I did feel that some moments – If I Were a Rich Man, especially - didn’t quite reach the heights I’d expected.

Lindy Yeates played Tevye’s wife, Golde, and she was a great offsider to Nicholls. Their banter was cute and she was suitably hysterical throughout Tevye’s Dream.

The five daughters worked very well together. As Tzeitel, Michelle Crupi was glowing on stage. Crupi delivered the few moments of music written for Tzeitel with ease. And while accents are always contentious with shows set in places like Russia (‘Should we go with neutral accents? Russian? British? American, even?’), I liked her very Russian accent for its authenticity and consistency.

Lauren McCormack played the role of the second-oldest, Hodel, with aplomb. She sang well, and gave the most accessible, relatable performance of all the daughters. Her delivery of Far From The Home I Love was appropriately haunting.

The other daughters - Clary Riven as Chava, Anna Mallows as Bielke and Ellie Martin as Shprintze - were all lovely in their respective roles.

As Tzeitel’s cowering love interest, Motel, Shane Pritchard could not have looked the part more! I did feel he had a tendency to overact at times but the audience felt for his character during both his most nervous moments and upon winning Tzeitel’s hand in marriage.

Handsome revolutionary Perchik was played by Adam Bianco. He was a dashing presence on stage. The swagger in his step and idealism in his eyes made it easy to understand why the quick-witted Hodel would fall for a man destined to be imprisoned in Siberia.

The ensemble was uniformly strong, with standouts including Glen Barnett as Avram the Bookseller and Geoff Sussman as the Rabbi. I also enjoyed the regular inclusion of The Fiddler, Johnathon White, throughout the show.

As the title character, the Fiddler acts as a metaphor for how precariously balanced life in Anatevka is. His presence reminded us that the fate of the characters remains uncertain, even at the end of the show. Special mention must be made of the very talented Barry Mitchell, who filled the role of Lazar Wolf at late notice. He appeared to have been rehearsing for it many weeks.

One minor issue was that the whopping 48 cast members seemed a little cramped at times. Perhaps those wonderful sets imposed a little too much on the playing space or the cast size was fractionally too large. It just would’ve been better to see the ensemble have the ability to move more freely, particularly the Cossack dancers in the pub and wedding scenes.
Also, Joseph Stein’s book is incredibly funny, but on opening night the cast was missing some of the comic timing needed to really get the audience chuckling in all the right places. I’d fancy that this will develop naturally as the season continues, though.

Musical direction was very slick from Phillip Osborne and he had tight control of his 20-plus person orchestra.

Costumes by Victoria Horne and Melinda Peebles were perfectly appropriate for the era. The surrealist dressing for Tevye’s Dream was not my cup of tea, but worked nonetheless.

Brad Alcock’s lighting might’ve been fractionally too dark at times, but otherwise created a beautiful atmosphere on stage. Again, the Chava sequence was a highlight.

Audio design by Alan Green was crystal clear throughout, although the band levels could’ve been lifted to really fill the cavernous belly of ‘The Nash’ with the grand sounds of Jerry Bock’s score.

This production served to remind me just how enduring some of the Golden Age musicals really are. CLOC’s Fiddler on the Roof is a very skilful exhibition of theatre.

You can’t ask for more than intelligent direction, strong performances and an almost seamless coming together of technical elements. But then again, how could we expect anything less from the Whites and CLOC?  And until June 4, their Fiddler will sit very comfortably atop Melbourne’s non-professional theatre scene. 

Fiddler on the Roof is now playing at the National Theatre, St Kilda until June 4.