Tradition and change are the beating heart of “Fiddler on the Roof.” When the musical made its Broadway debut in 1964, it received mixed reviews. Jewish novelist Philip Roth called it “shtetl kitsch,” while New York Times reviewer Howard Taubman proclaimed it to be “filled with laughter and tenderness. It catches the essence of a moment in history with sentiment and radiance.” Audiences sided with Taubman: the show ran on Broadway for eight years.
In the 60 years since, “Fiddler” has become an Ur-Jewish text of sorts. Drawing from the vivid characters Yiddish writer Sholem Aleichem invented at the turn of the 20th century, the Joseph Stein book of the show, made unforgettable by Jerry Bock’s sumptuous melodies and Sheldon Harnick’s poignant and spirited lyrics, “Fiddler” has been lauded as the “perfect musical.” Who could argue with that?
However, the show playing at Signature Theatre’s intimate Max Stage through Jan. 25 is not your bubbe’s “Fiddler.” Director Joe Calarco, following a trend in many recent productions, takes liberties with director/choreographer Jerome Robbins’ original conception of the musical. For decades, all major revivals and regional productions had to abide by Robbins’ choreography – there was a book with step-by-step instructions issued to theaters by the Robbins’ estate. Now, new ideas are filtering into the tradition-bound musical.
Signature’s “Fiddler” opens with the cast filing in to sit around a stage-sized rough-hewn wooden table – a lovely acknowledgment to the spiritual role the table plays in a Jewish home. It is, of course, our central gathering place for family and friends. This is the spot where “Fiddler’s” raison d’être is exuberantly sung: “Tradition.” Choreographer Sarah Parker introduces a vocabulary of mimetic gestures – wrapping the leather straps of tefillin, beating the chest with a fist, hands gathering in to the body suggesting lighting Shabbat candles – that repeat and evolve over the two hour, 40-minute musical journey.
Ultimately, though, any “Fiddler on the Roof” is only as good as its Tevye. Douglas Sills, who boasts Broadway, regional theater, film and television credits, takes a subdued approach rather than leaning into high-strung, main character energy that so many actors relish in this role. Tevye is typically robust, loud, outspoken, full-bodied and a wise trickster in dealing with his fellow townspeople’s problems. Sills is not that, and it takes time to grow accustomed to his reserved, even soft-spoken dealings, especially with his daughters. Many may find this rendering appealing; I found it flat and lacking in the quick-witted, smart-alecky humor that fills the script with perfect laugh lines and nods of agreement, no matter who has spoken them.
As Tevye’s wife and sometime foil for family dynamics, it’s lovely to see Amie Bermowitz back on a D.C. area stage after many years away. Her Golde is wry yet loving, and in her duets with Sills, she brings Yiddishe warmth and love to “Sabbath Prayer,” “Sunrise, Sunset” and “Do You Love Me?” It makes Tevye more huggable.
The supporting cast of sisters Hodel, Chava and Tzeitel – Lily Burka, Rosie Jo Neddy and Beatrice Owens, respectively – sing wonderfully, both together and in their respective solos. And each finds joy and resonance in her love interest of choice. The three male suitors Motel, Perchick and Fyedka – Jake Loewenthal, Ariel Neydavoud and Alex Stone – represent the diverging paths from tradition that upend Tevye’s already hardscrabble life as a poor dairyman. The rest of the cast populates Anatevka with lush singing, dancing and mini-character portraits, including the business-minded constable (Davis Wood) and the ineffectual rabbi (Christopher Bloch) and the spurned butcher Lazar Wolf (Jeremy Radin). Add an extra nod to Susan Rome as the ghostly Grandma Tzeitel, for her outlandishly devilish turn as a ghost from beyond the grave.
Calarco’s choice to telescope the fictional Anatevka into the home and tight-knit shtetl environs works for both Signature’s 294 seats in the Max, and for the Jewish community surrounded by mostly Jew-hating Russian neighbors in the Pale of Settlement.
“Fiddler” remains an evergreen and ever-popular musical. Yet at this moment – with the insidious rise in antisemitism around the world and in our own backyard – it feels that Signature has made a significant choice. At its creation, “Fiddler” was an homage the centuries-long Ashkenazi Jewish shtetl life and, just a generation after the Holocaust, it captured the hearts and souls of Jewish Americans and their compatriots who saw their own uncertain lives reflected in the cultural and religious mores of anxious shtetl-dwellers.
But now, an additional moment of frisson comes to the fore. As the expulsion from beloved Anatevka disperses this gentle community of Jews, feisty matchmaker Yente has her sights set, not on the goldene medina – America – but on the Jewish homeland. “All my life, I’ve dreamed of going to one place,” Yente says. “Every year at Passover, what do we say? Next year, in Jerusalem, next year in the Holy Land.” While anti-Zionism and antisemitism rise, while many Jews now report slipping their Chai or Star of David beneath their shirts, these words at the end of this most Jewish-American musical deserve an amen.
“Fiddler on the Roof” through Jan. 25 at Signature Theatre, 4200 Campbell Ave., Arlington, Virginia. Tickets: $47 – $172. Call 703-820-9771 or visit sigtheatre.org/shows-and-events/all-events/2025-2026/fiddler-on-the-roof.
Lisa Traiger is Washington Jewish Week’s award-winning arts correspondent.
