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David Masters has spent a theatrical lifetime with Fiddler on the Roof By Susan E. Lindt |
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For David Masters, the world's most beloved musical about tradition is tradition. When "Fiddler on the Roof" opens at Fulton Opera House next week, Masters will be there on stage, as he has been for so many "Fiddler" opening nights - this time playing the rabbi. "I love the show," Masters said. "It's my favorite. You can't help but get caught up in it." And Masters truly did get caught up in "Fiddler on the Roof." He has made nearly an entire career out performing different roles in this show, which spawned four Broadway revivals, a successful 1971 film version, and touring productions since debuting at Broadway's Imperial Theatre on Sept. 22, 1964, for a then-record-setting 3,242 performances (only to be unseated by the phenomenal run of "Grease"). "I was in the original Broadway production in the '60s in the part of the beggar," Masters said. "In the revival with (Zero) Mostel as Tevye and on the national tour, I played the bookseller. For the 30th anniversary revival with Topol in 1990, I was playing the part of the innkeeper, and for the national tour with Topol, too. In 2000, I went out with (Theodore) Bikel (as Tevye). I was the rabbi and we were on the road for two years. We came back in 2002 and I did another tour with Bikel and I played the rabbi again." That roster doesn't even include Masters' regional "Fiddler" productions. He recalled traveling to a North Dakota for a regional production when the whole cast got snowed in with other travelers at Chicago's O'Hare Airport. "I noticed a little lady and she seemed to be in distress. She told me she had to get into Chicago because she had a performance," Masters said. "I ran to my company manager and he found a truck that was leaving and would take her to the city. And that was my encounter with Dame Margot Fontaine." Meanwhile, the Fiddler cast was still stuck at the airport. While they made their way to that little town in North Dakota and set up, the audience waited. And they waited. "The show was supposed to start at 8 p.m. and it actually started at midnight. But they sat there and sat there. We finished the show at 3 a.m.," Masters said. He isn't the only "Fiddler" veteran taking the stage at the Fulton. Rachel Coloff plays Yente the matchmaker in her debut at the Fulton - a role originated on Broadway by Bea Arthur. Coloff understudied for all five of Tevye's daughters, the mother roles and Yente for the fourth Broadway revival of "Fiddler," which opened in February 2004 at the Minskoff Theatre with Alfred Molina and later Harvey Fierstein in the starring role. "I had only seen the movie at that point," Coloff said. "I didn't realize how emotional the story was. I found myself completely wrapped up in the story. It was really a beautiful and unusual production." Unusual because the Minskoff's giant stage allowed the orchestra to be on stage for the show. Still, unlike most "Fiddler" revivals, this show took no awards. "The show was not as well received as it should have been," Coloff said. "I came into the show when it had already been running for about seven or eight months. I heard all kinds of things about it before I joined. Some people said it wasn't Jewish enough because some of the stars weren't Jewish. I don't believe you have to have Jewish actors playing those roles, but it was a very grounded production and very real. I really related to it." Masters also relates to Tevye's story of raising and marrying off five daughters who are growing away from traditional Jewish values for the sake of love. Based on Sholem Aleichem's original 1894 book, "Tevye and His Daughters," the musical show took its title from a surreal Marc Chagall painting showing Eastern European Jewish life - and a fiddler, a metaphor for survival in spite of uncertainty and imbalance. "You can't help but get caught up in this show, which is really Jerome Robbins' tribute to his family who came from Russia," Masters said, referring to the original show's director and choreographer who won two Tony awards for his work. "My parents both came from a little village in Russia too," Masters said. "I can tell you they experienced all kinds of things carried out by the Cossacks. They told stories about how the Cossacks would get drunk every two months or six weeks and six or eight of them would come charging into the village and break down doors and turn over tables. No one could do anything about it." Robbins' original production set many careers into motion besides Masters'. Playing roles in that show at one point or another were Bert Convy, Bette Midler, Adrienne Barbeau and Pia Zadora. Later productions starred Leonard Nimoy as Tevye and Rosie O'Donnell as Golde. Regardless of who came later, Masters knew from the start that Robbins had a winner when the first "Fiddler" production opened in 1964. "I felt it in my bones. I knew it would be a tremendous hit," Masters said. "It lasted on Broadway for eight years. And even now, the show stands as it has always stood. I can tell you, every time I do this show, I'm just thrilled when that opening scene starts and the entire company comes out. It's such a beautiful show."
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