All About Jewish Theatre - Olney Theatre's 'Fiddler' sticks with tradition

Lisa Traiger has been an arts writer since 1985. Currently she contributes to The Washington Post Weekend section. From 1998-2006, she wrote freelance dance reviews for The Washington Post Style section. Her pieces on the cultural and performing arts appear regularly in the Washington Jewish Week and on www.danceviewtimes.com . She has written for Dance Magazine, Stagebill, Sondheim Review, Washington City Paper, the Washington Times, Asian Week, the Boston Jewish Advocate, the Atlanta Jewish Times, Intermission, Washington Review and Moment magazine, where she was associate editor from 1989 to 1992. In 2003, Lisa was a New York Times Fellow in the Institute for Dance Criticism at the American Dance Festival in Durham, N.C. A recipient of two Simon Rockower Awards for Excellence in Arts Criticism from the American Jewish Press Association, in 2004 she earned an M.F.A. in choreography from the University of Maryland, College Park. She has taught at the University of Maryland, College Park and Montgomery College, Rockville. Lisa is current co-chair of the Dance Critics Association -- www.dancecritics.org e-mail : lisatraiger@aol.comc

Tradition. It's the bulwark against a fast-changing world in Fiddler on the Roof, the ever-popular Joseph Stein, Jerry Bock, Sheldon Harnick musical, now on stage at the Olney Theatre Center. The beloved story of Tevye, the poor milkman, who unabashedly chats with God; his wife, Golde; and their five daughters, Fiddler is a surefire way to fill seats and warm hearts during this winter's holiday season. Director John Vreeke has wisely followed the musical's demand and hasn't broken with tradition.

Audiences around the world warmly take to the play's pathos and manufactured memories of shtetl life on the Russian Pale of Settlement at the turn of the 20th century. Based on richly imagined characters created by master writer Sholem Aleichem, there's little that can ruin this rock-solid musical war-horse. The score, virtually part of the American-Jewish collective unconscious ‹ from "Tradition" to "Matchmaker," "Sabbath Prayer" to "L'Chaim" ‹ supplies a shtetl-inflected Jewish soundtrack.

Fiddler has produced a surfeit of memorable Tevye's over the years from the first, a boisterous yet devout Zero Mostel, to the late Herschel Bernardi, the more understated and spiritual Chaim Topol, who recreated the role for the 1971 film, to the world-weary Theodore Bikel, to the 2004 Broadway revival with Alfred Molina and then Harvey Fierstein.

Making his Olney debut as Tevye, Rick Foucheux, a Silver Spring-based actor, is solid. Stocky and gray-bearded, he is a workhorse Tevye, hitting Stein's jokes with sharp-aimed volleys, wrestling with God and with Golde (a well-modulated Sherri Edelen), doling out equal parts benevolence and anger, weariness and joy, just as the well-worn and masterful script requires.

But Foucheux lacks that ineffable sense of neshama, the Jewish soul spirit that signifies a deep connection to God, which ultimately makes Tevye's labored existence worthwhile. Foucheux carries the show, but he doesn't soar with it.

Edelen is a no-nonsense Golde, the housewife who rules the roost to Tevye's chagrin. The three oldest daughters, Patricia Hurley as Tzeitel, Jenna Sokolowski as Hodel and Margo Seibert as Chava, are all serviceable and mostly lovely of voice.

As Yente the Matchmaker, Karlah Hamilton packs on a heavy Russian accent, when a Yiddish inflection would be more expected ‹ remember Sholem Rabinovich, who created Tevye's world under the pen name Sholem Aleichem, wrote these characters in Yiddish, the mamaloshen, mother tongue, of many shtetl Jews. Hamilton's Yente, though a supporting role, is a meaty one and the actor makes the most of her witty lines.

Sholem Aleichem's shtetl on stage also includes Lazar Wolf (a gruff Harry Winter), the ineffectual town rabbi (a fey Ron Sarro), a shrieking, nightmarish Fruma Sarah (the green-masked Sara Brunow) and a host of other villagers.

Among the daughters' suitors, Andrew Moza's Motel, the poor tailor, is hard to believe as a nebbish who takes a stand; Paul Downs Colaizo as Perchik, the revolutionary from Kiev, makes a stronger showing.

Designer Jon Savage has kept the new main stage bare save for a length of wooden ramp, a planked floor and a raised platform behind. The cutout clouds, village rooftops and onion-domed Russian orthodox church silhouetted at the back add little interest to this essentially barely decorated production, particularly recalling the original Boris Aronson Chagallesque designs. The peasant costumes ‹ aprons, skirts and kerchiefs for the women, vests, jackets, pants and prayer shawls or tzitzit hanging from shirt tails for the men ‹ by Howard Vincent Kurtz are appropriately muted.

Choreographer Gabrielle Orcha must suggest some of original director and choreographer Jerome Robbins' most memorable numbers: the daughters dancing with drying laundry as suitors in "Matchmaker," the barroom dance battle "L'Chaim" that ensues between Russian peasants and celebrating Jews, and the unforgettable wedding dances. Orcha doesn't skimp with the tricky bottle dance where black-hatted men precariously balance bottles on their hats while stepping through a series of interlocking grapevine patterns.

Most choreographically problematic is Andrew Zox's Fiddler. Clad in cerulean blue, he trails Tevye, a shadow or alter ego, a remembrance of the spirit of the milkman's soon-to-be-lost Anatevka. But Zox's miming appears too fluid, thus losing its connection to the imaginary violin he holds, and allowing his Fiddler to grow less distinct as the play goes on.

The Olney production's greatest strength lies with musical director Christopher Youstra, who has molded the 23-member cast into a strong and cohesive chorus, while the on-stage musicians ‹ Youstra on accordion and piano, Carolyn Alvarez on clarinet and flute, Andrea Vercoe on violin, Keith Tittermary on keyboards and Greg Holloway on percussion ‹ provide solid and evocative support for the musical numbers.

Olney's Fiddler on the Roof is a dependable evening of entertainment, difficult as it is to follow in the well-trod footsteps of masters. Olney does an all-around serviceable job. The question remains: Is this Fiddler worth another look? If you swoon at the sound of those achy, klezmer-inspired strings, long for another "Sabbath Prayer" or "Sunrise, Sunset" and can't get enough of "Tradition," then zei gezunt, go in health. I just hope that, unlike me, you don't sit next to a lady who sings along with the cast the entire evening. If that's what you want, stay home and watch the movie.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Fiddler on the Roof is onstage through Dec. 31 at the Olney Theatre Center New Main Stage. Tickets, $25-$46, students half price, are available by calling 301-924-3400 or at www.olneytheatre.org .

--------------------------------------------------------------------
(3050 )