SYNOPSIS

Fiddler on the Roof, a musical with a score by Jerry Bock, lyrics by Sheldon Harnick, and a

libretto by Joseph Stein, first opened on Broadway in 1964. The play is based on an amalgam

of stories written by Solomon Naumovich Rabinovich under the pen name Sholem Aleichem,

which is Hebrew for “peace be unto you.” The musical takes place in a fictional Russian

Jewish village, called Anatevka during the reign of Tsar Nicholas II. Tevye, a poor dairy

farmer, has raised his five daughters with his wife, Golde, according to Jewish tradition. His

three eldest daughters resist tradition by wanting to choose their own husbands, rather than by a

matchmaker, and Tevye accepts this if it aligns with Jewish law. But the Tsar’s increasing

persecution of Russian Jews leads to the violent disruption of the villagers’ lives, culminating

in the forced removal of the Jewish people from the town. Although they lose their homes and

land, Tevye and his fellow villagers persist, preparing to restart their lives in new more

welcoming countries.

One of the most popular musicals in American musical theatre, Fiddler on the Roof has

successfully appealed to cultures all over the world. The themes speak to subjugated and

oppressed minorities, both Jewish and otherwise. In the 1960s, the musical connected to those

who were waging the battle for Civil Rights. Since it opened on Broadway, Fiddler has seen

five Broadway revivals and many U.S. national tours. It was the first Broadway musical to play

more than 3,000 performances. Even in countries without a prominent Jewish population, the

musical expresses and reassures the anxieties of intergenerational conflict over tradition and

the fear of cultural erasure through persecution.