Wednesday, February 3, 2016

Fiddler on the Roof

 Danny Bernstein returned to Broadway playing Tevye, one of the most tony award winning roles ever! So naturally, I had to see this. He's one of my favorite performers ever! I bought tickets as part of the Broadway week promotion, and we sat in the first row of the rear mezz for $50 a piece! You cannot beat that!
I'd seen Fiddler the last time it was on Broadway with Alfred Molina in the lead role. This was much different. The show started with a bare stage and a man dressed in current period. So the scene was already a change. The first couple of minutes were tedious. The Yente was probably one of the worst I've ever seen (her lines were so slow and like she was trying too hard for those laughs that were not coming) and Matchmaker Matchmaker made me want to slit my wrists. I was very concerned at this point. How can you have a bad Matchmaker song?! Eventually the show DID become magical. But I was still extremely disappointed in all the daughters. There are HOW many girls in NYC looking for work and these are the actresses you settled on?! 
The thing that probably made me cry the most was the choreography during To Life! It was a mixture of the Jewish men in town and the Russian soldiers' dancing. It was so different, yet mixed so well. I couldn't even explain how beautiful it was. 

Our seats were excellent and I'd totally sit there again for a big show. If it was a smaller show/story, I'd go for closer to the front.