"Fiddler on the Roof" was an instant hit when it opened on Broadway in 1964. For many New Yorkers this musical retelling of novelist Sholem Aleichem’s stories of Jewish life in Eastern Europe in the first years of the 20th century was the story of their parents or grandparents. Non-Jews found a universality in the concerns of Tevye that transcended ethnicity. "Fiddler" became one of the most popular Broadway musicals of the 20th century.

 

Director Joyce Maltby’s production of "Fiddler" at Hawaii Pacific University shows that the story can be just as emotionally engaging on a small and intimate stage as on a large one.

 

Eli K.M. Foster (Tevye) is outstanding in all respects as the philosophical milkman whose one-way conversations with God give the story much of its foundation. Tevye accepts the challenges that come his way but asks God with great respect whether it is necessary for there to be so many of them. A horse in need of new shoes is only the beginning.

 

Tevye’s oldest daughter, Tzeitel (Victoria Brown-Wilson), rejects the marriage to a wealthy older man that he has arranged for her and asks his permission to marry Motel (Joshua C.K. Aiu), the poor young tailor she loves. His second daughter, Hodel (Amy Allyssa Johnson), tells him that she is marrying a young Jewish revolutionary from Kiev, Perchik (Rhansen Mars), and will be leaving the village. The third, Chava (Rachelle Gesselman), elopes with a Christian, Fyedka (Matthew Gelpern). Each of these challenges to Jewish traditions forces Tevye to re-examine his faith.

 

Ann Brandman (Golde) is a strong and tart presence as Tevye’s sharp-tongued wife. Brandman has no solo numbers, but she brings the right balance of comic acting and singing skills to two pivotal musical numbers, "The Dream" and "Do You Love Me?"

 

The three young couples are all multitalented performers. There is plenty of talent in the supporting cast as well. There’s Kenneth Walter as Lazar Wolf, Ron Heller as Yussel the hat seller, Dennis Ihara as the rabbi, Gerald Altweis as Mordcha the innkeeper and Melinda Maltby (director Maltby’s daughter) as Yente, the nosey and talkative matchmaker.

 

Director Maltby makes an especially effective choice in casting Tim Dyke as the Russian official who has total life-and-death jurisdiction over the village and the Jews who live there. Foster is not a small man, but Dyke towers over him and is dressed in a cossack-style uniform that increases the size difference. It is a stark visual reminder that in 1905 the Russian government had the power to treat Jews as it wanted — and often mistreated them.