In the Broadway community, we鈥檙e accustomed to activism. Broadway has supported gay rights, marriage equality and has been fundraising for years since the onset of the AIDS crisis. There鈥檚 Broadway Barks, which supports animal rescue efforts, and The Actors Fund, through which the entertainment industry takes care of its own. Activism is not something Broadway lacks.
However, there is a noticeably different kind of outreach tied to the show currently playing the Broadway Theatre. Since its opening in December, Fiddler on the Roof has made a concerted effort to mesh the show about Russian Jews living on the brink of the pogroms with today鈥檚 Jewish community at large.
鈥淎s producers, we鈥檙e always trying to find meaningful partnerships,鈥� says show producer Jessica Genick. 鈥淥f course, it鈥檚 a way to get our message out there, but it鈥檚 really meaningful when it鈥檚 a good fit for us, and there are a lot of good fits for us within the Jewish community. I don鈥檛 think we鈥檙e afraid to own our Jewish roots.鈥�
鈥淲hen you have a show that鈥檚 all about Judaism and all about Jews, I think it makes so much sense to engage with all these other factions outside the show itself,鈥� says Jesse Kovarsky, who plays The Fiddler. 鈥淚 think that鈥檚 what keeps the show alive, and that鈥檚 what keeps us engaged as people. We like to do a lot of outreach as a cast.鈥� Rock Center Caf茅 now offers a special 鈥淔iddler Feast鈥� menu, offering Jewish dishes like matzoh ball soup and brisket; the production partners with the Museum of Jewish Heritage, the Museum on Eldrige Street and others; the cast has participated in talkbacks with the MTA Diversity Council for Jewish Heritage and performed at the Jewish Community Center Street Fair and will perform from their own float in the Annual Celebrate Israel Parade in New York City on June 5.
Fiddler had been looking for a way to connect with Birthright Israel Foundation, the organization that has sent over 500,000 young Jews on a paid-for trip to Israel in order to connect to the Jewish homeland鈥攊ncluding five young Jews from Fiddler鈥檚 cast. 鈥淲e kept thinking about 鈥楴ext year in Jerusalem,鈥� the tradition of saying that every year, and then it hit us: tradition. That word just jumped out to all of us,鈥� says Pamela Fertel Weinstein, Director of Communications with Birthright. (It鈥檚 tough to say that word without singing the opener to Fiddler.) Rather than send their typical 鈥淗appy Passover鈥� e-card, Birthright and Fiddler joined forces to create a video card to their supporters, sharing the Birthright stories of the participants who now star in the iconic show.
The match was a no-brainer for Kovarksy, Samantha Massell (who plays Hodel), Marla Phelan (Villager/Dance Captain), Tess Primack (Villager and understudy for Tzeitl and Hodel) and Julie Benko (Swing and understudy for Hodel and Chava). Primack wore shoes she bought in Tel Aviv to her Fiddler audition; Benko wore a chamsa (traditional Jewish symbol) necklace that her boyfriend bought for her in Israel on his Birthright trip.
For Massell, Judaism and Fiddler have always been inextricably linked鈥攁 link that served her well during her Birthright trip. On her visit to the Western Wall, staff encouraged Massell to write a prayer on a slip of paper and place it in a crevice of the wall鈥攁 longstanding tradition for Jews who visit. 鈥淸At the time] I felt like I didn鈥檛 really have a right to put in a prayer because I don鈥檛 really practice,鈥� says Massell in the video. 鈥淪o I wrote down the lyrics to 鈥楽abbath Prayer鈥� and folded it into a little square and put it in the wall.鈥�
For Kovarsky, his Birthright trip helped him explore his Judaism, which now reverberates in his performance each night. 鈥淚 believe Judaism is a religion of memories,鈥� he says. 鈥淏y being in Fiddler, I feel like we鈥檙e telling these stories of people who lived out their lives in 1905 in the shtetl. 鈥� I feel like I鈥檓 doing my part as a Jew by telling these stories.鈥�
鈥淲hen you can see five people who had such an incredible experience, that impacted them all differently but that they鈥檙e able to bring that connection to a show that is so relevant to the Jewish community for generations,鈥� says Weinstein, 鈥渋t was just so organic and special.鈥�
鈥淵ou hear those first few notes and that minor key, it鈥檚 that Klezmer-type music, and you鈥檙e automatically brought into that world,鈥� says Genick. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 think we鈥檙e afraid to identify ourselves in that [Jewish] way.鈥� The ownership of these ties also educates audiences and everyone involved in the production鈥擩ewish or not.
鈥淔rom the get-go we brought in scholars from Columbia University who studied the shtetl, and we also had a rabbi come in,鈥� says Kovarsky. 鈥淲e also celebrated Shabbat one evening as a whole cast [Jewish and non-Jewish] during rehearsals. It was really amazing to get to experience that as a collective group just to understand what the meaning of it is and what the feeling of it is.鈥� No doubt that experience informs the cast鈥檚 performance of 鈥淪abbath Prayer鈥� eight shows a week.
鈥淲hen we get to do 鈥楽abbath Prayer鈥� onstage, there鈥檚 a really harmonious slow moment that doesn鈥檛 often happen in musical theatre or theatre in general, where you just get to stand onstage as a collective group and sing something really harmonious and beautiful,鈥� says Kovarsky.
Still, the beauty of Fiddler is the connection to Tevye, and his story can deepen with Jewish involvement, but it does not hinge upon it. 鈥淸Fiddler] is definitely about the Jewish people, that is the origin,鈥� says Genick. 鈥淏ut as much as it is about the Jewish experience, I also find that it is relevant to many other families.鈥�
As more audiences want to see Tevye鈥檚 story (and in a sense their own) told onstage, reviving Fiddler on Broadway now seems a tradition in and of itself.
With every revival comes a renewal in understanding the Jewish people through theatre鈥攏ot simply as investors or as the punchline to a well-timed onstage joke, but as a people with a story to offer. The more Fiddler owns its origins and identity, the more it strikes a chord; the more specific the more universal.
But a story is only as powerful as its reach, and the efforts behind this production鈥攁nd its cast鈥檚 desire to share of themselves鈥攁re a welcome stretch.
Ruthie Fierberg is the Features Editor at 半岛体育.com. She has also written for Backstage, Parents and American Baby, including dozens of interviews with celeb moms and dads for parents.com. See more at and follow her on Twitter at .
