By Carol Davis
VISTA, California — When Tevye, one of the most celebrated milkmen in the history of Broadway and star of the Joseph Stein (book), Jerry Bock (music) and Sheldon Harnick (lyrics) musical, Fiddler On The Roof, tries to explain to the audience why Jews do certain things (like keeping their heads covered all the time) the only answer he can come up with is ‘Tradition’. I’m guessing that that’s one of the reasons I, along with so many others at the Moonlight Amphitheatre’s production of the musical of the same name, are filling the seats in Vista to near capacity to revisit, once again this near perfect musical experience; it’s a tradition.
The tradition of the poor milkman from Anatevka lives on as Shalom Aleichem’s poignant story of Tevye and His Daughters (from which the play was based) continues to play out in cities large and small across the world. It captures the lives, trials and times of the people in the little village of Anatevka just before and at the beginning of the pogroms and is used as the backdrop for our story.
How Tevye copes with the struggles of feeding his family, keeping them together in their faith while adhering to the Jewish traditions of his ancestors in an ever-changing world, while savoring the personalities of the community and the beauty of the people it personifies, is at the crux of “Fiddler”.
Tevye has such endearing qualities of fatherly love, compassion for all things living, a sense of ironic humor and an unyielding commitment to his faith that one would have to be a hard nosed racist, not to love him and this is where David Ellenstein, artistic director at North Coast Repertory Theatre in Solana Beach carries the torch as our beloved Tevye. As one of my theatre buddies said, ‘he really gets it!’
Moonlight’s production of Fiddler on the Roof, under the watchful eye of director Kathy Brombacher and with Ellenstein at the helm it is pretty much smooth sailing throughout. With a winning score that includes “If I Were a Rich Man”, “Matchmaker, Matchmaker”, “Chavelah” (that one breaks my heart every time I hear it), “Sunrise, Sunset” (another tearjerker), “To Life”, “Miracle of Miracles”, and of course “Tradition,” this familiar musical is brought to life as audiences old and young, rich and poor, black and white, identify with the trials of everyday, hard-working families struggling to make things right and better for their children.
Right off the bat, a golden mezuzah (a piece of parchment inscribed with a special prayer that is affixed in a special holder to the doorframe of Jewish homes) is awarded to Mr. Ellenstein for his amazing portrayal of Tevye.
While singing is not his strongest suit, when he pours out his heart in the song “Chavaleh”, after learning that one of his five daughters marries out of the faith, he had my undivided attention accompanied by a stream of tears running down my cheeks. But more than anything, Ellenstein has enough faith in Tevye to just let him be and that was convincing enough for yours truly. Victoria Strong’s Golde is a perfect no-nonsense match as Tevye’s down-to-earth, tells-it-like-it-is wife. Both she and Ellenstein performed “Do You Love Me” convincingly with an added little hand holding as a persuasive touch.
And what would the little town of Anatevka be without a matchmaker? I’ll tell you what, “Nothing.” Sue Boland nails this one right on the head, as does Danny Campbell in his role as the looked-up-to- and-revered Rabbi.
The three oldest daughters Tzeitel, Hodel and Chava (Alexis Grenier, Charlene Koepf and Aubrey Elson) perform well with Koepf (‘Far From the Home I love”) and Elson having the strongest voices. Of their love interests, Motel, the Tailor (Timothy Allen) excels. Perchik (Jason Webb), the radical thinker who ends up in a jail cell in Siberia acts and looks completely out of place and never convinced as costume coordinators (Roslyn Lehman, Renetta Lloyd and Carlotta Malone) did his character as well as others, no favors with their sanitized looking, turn-of-the-century Russian non-peasant look. Eric Hellmers’ Fyedka, who is the real outsider, is quite charming and convincing.
In one of the funniest scenes, ‘The Dream’ Tevye has to convince Golde that their eldest Tzeitel, who was promised to Lazar Wolf, the butcher, (a convincing job by Jamie Snyder), is now going to marry Motel, the Tailor. The company pulls that one off with lots of pizzazz, some great lighting designs by Jean-Yves-Tessier, great choreography by Carlos Mendoza, and musical direction by Elan McMahan’s strong sounds from the pit. Overall this is one show you will not want to miss.
A final shout out goes to artistic director Kathy Brombacher who is retiring this year after 32 seasons of being at the helm at the Moonlight Stage Productions. At the University of Redlands, she had the privilege of directing the first college production in the nation of Fiddler on the Roof. Now as her farewell salute to the City of Vista, another golden mezuzah goes to Kathy for those many years of excellence in producing and directing.
See you at the theatre.
Dates: through Aug. 11th
Organization: Moonlight Stage Productions
Phone: 760-724-2110
Production Type: Musical
Where: 1200 Val