Colleen Petrucci directs a very traditional production of "Fiddler on the Roof" for Pittsburgh Musical Theater. And who can argue with that logic for a show that has won the hearts of audiences for more than 40 years and features as its opening a tribute to tradition?
That early song finds Petrucci, who also choreographs, adept at directing her large company as they energetically execute the recognizable bent-arm line dance of original choreographer and director Jerome Robbins.
Among the villagers is, of course, Tevye, that much put-upon Jewish patriarch, trying to hold onto the old ways in a changing world, his way of life threatened not only by encroaching modern ideas but by the dangers of pre-revolutionary Russia.
- Where: Pittsburgh Musical Theater at Byham Theater, Downtown.
- When: Friday-Saturday 7:30 p.m., Sunday 2 p.m.
- Tickets: $10-$39.50. 412-456-6666.
In his little shtetl, Anatevka, Tevye is respected and listened to. James Critchfield embraces Tevye's honored position and sense of self-importance with relish, pontificating to the men who buy his cheese and nagging God to push a little luck in his direction. Critchfield's Tevye is a blustering bear, burly yet gentle. His comic timing is impeccable, and he displays a real understanding of the humor in "Fiddler," which is quintessentially Jewish in that it always masks a breaking heart.
As Tevye's wife, Golde, Allison Cahill is strong and resolute. She's a no-nonsense Jewish mother. That is, until nonsense is called for. Any reserve disappears in the hysterical nightmare scene when Golde is cowed into accepting her daughter's poor fiance in place of the rich butcher she'd desired for a son-in-law. Cahill holds nothing back in that scene, but she can also call forth a quiet warmth, as in her duet with Critchfield, "Do You Love Me."
One of the prime roles in "Fiddler" is the matchmaker, Yente, who parades a stream of inappropriate men in front of Golde and her daughters under the premise that any husband's better than no husband. Christine Laitta is joyously silly as the gossipy, woe-is-me know-it-all.
The younger members of the cast are equally strong. Emily Lynne Miller, Nina Khan and Rachael Braun play the three oldest daughters, Tzeitel, Hodel and Chava, all of whom fall in love with and want to marry men other than those chosen for them. Michael Greer is the bumbling Motel, who steals Tzeitel's heart. Kalen Hall is an earnest Perchik, the student revolutionary who convinces Hodel to assert her own desires, and Vinny Tresco is the Russian Fyedka for whose love Chava gives up everything. Braun's Chava is especially moving when she faces her father a last time before the family leaves their beloved Anatevka.
Scenic designer Alfred Kirschman's swirling backdrop might call to mind Chagall's stained glass, and the odd angles of the houses seem to reference a bit of the satirical nature of Shalom Aleichem's writing, on which Jerry Bock, Sheldon Harnick and Joseph Stein based "Fiddler."
The familiar and much-loved songs roll one on top of the other -- "Tradition," "Matchmaker," "If I Were a Rich Man," "Sunrise, Sunset" -- and all are performed with unreserved chutzpah. So what's not to like?
First Published: April 3, 2008, 8:00 a.m.