Fiddler on the Roof

A nine-time Tony Award winner, Fiddler on the Roof returns to Beef and Boards in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the show’s Broadway opening.  Since 1964, it has touched audiences around the world for its humor, warmth and honesty. The musical embraces tradition in a changing world and is set in the tight-knit Jewish community of Anatevka as social mores are changing and anti-Semitism is growing in the time of Czarist Russia, around 1905.

Fiddler on the Roof at Beef and Boards, October 9 thru November 23.

The story centers on Tevye, the father of five daughters.  He attempts to maintain order, control and tradition in his devoutly Jewish family while outside influences encroach upon their lives.  He tries to cope both with the strong-willed actions of his three older daughters.  As each chooses a husband that moves further away from the customs of his faith, they all all pressured with an edict of the Tsar that evicts the Jews from their village.

During its original Broadway run, Fiddler on the Roof was the first musical theatre run in history to surpass 3,000 performances and held the record for longest-running Broadway musical for almost 10 years.  It is still one of the top 20 longest running shows in Broadway history.  50 years ago, it was nominated for ten Tony Awards, and won nine including Best Musical, score, book, direction and choreography. Since then, there have been four Broadway revivals and a popular 1971 film adaptation.

Book by Joseph Stein, music by Jerry Bock and lyrics by Sheldon Harnick.