First visit to Stratford this season, to take in their production of Fiddler on the Roof in the Festival Theatre.
It's a well-known saying: "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." This particularly applies to very well-known and popular classics of the musical theatre. Any director who is going to start in to lead a production of Fiddler had better take the established preferences of audiences seriously. But "on the other hand", a show originally designed for a proscenium stage is inevitably going to change quite a bit if it's to be mounted on a thrust stage like this one.
Donna Feore has steered her course very successfully among the possible traps awaiting the show. Since a hugely detailed backdrop simply isn't practical, the customary setting which pays homage to Marc Chagall's brilliantly coloured paintings of life in the shtetl is out of the question. The set designer (Allen Moyer) and director have brilliantly substituted individual figures inspired by Chagall hanging overhead under a kind of "dome" of sky-blue banners.
Below them, the dark-walled and dark-floored stage is left open to admit all kinds of action and the kind of temporary and highly mobile set dressing that has become a Stratford specialty.
The next huge problem is the question of adapting choreography from the highly successful original of Jerome Robbins. But adapted it must be, as the space has changed from the broad oblong of a Broadway theatre to a tight and narrow near-square. While paying full respect to such key moments of Robbins' inspiration as the Bottle Dance, the resulting dance numbers (choreographed by Feore) have managed the critical feat of combining relentless motion and power with the need to keep stopping and turning frequently so the dancers won't shoot off the edge into the laps of the front row audience!
One key choice made by this company was to forego an across-the-board set of Yiddish accents. The natural rhythms of the writing carry that impression quite clearly, and any director who opts for accents-all-around runs the risk of having the entire show deteriorate into caricature. A few characters (such as Yente the matchmaker, played by Gabrielle Jones) did use accents very effectively, but even then they kept it fairly low-key.
The particular structure of the story makes it impossible to identify such conventional casting as the "romantic leads", the "comic romantic leads", or the "fifth business" (to quote Robertson Davies). This is essentially an ensemble show revolving around its one and only central character: Tevye the milkman. The show will only work if the strength of these two elements can balance each other.
Scott Wentworth seemed to me a surprising choice as Tevye, but he proved to be a fine choice for the part. In his interpretation, dogged persistence and world-weariness were Tevye's dominant characteristics. Wentworth's strong deep vocal tones led us naturally to that conclusion. Even his famous soliloquies to God exhibited a level of fatigue that told us Tevye might still believe in God, but he was definitely tired of waiting for an answer! As good and effective as these key moments were, this was not a definitive performance. For me, the weakness came in Tevye's scenes with his daughters. His tone in speaking to them reminded me of the times when I used to snap at my students who were wasting too much time in class. The exasperation was there, but any sense of affection seemed to be missing. In a way, I was surprised every time he hugged one of them.
As a contrast, his relationship with his wife Golde (played by Kate Hennig) displayed that quality of affection in spades -- from both of them -- during the duet in Act II, Do You Love Me?
All of the ensemble roles, from daughters to suitors, from fathers to soldiers, were admirably strong. I could not single out any one performance as being better than any other. Thus, it was the group numbers that left the strongest impression in my mind, because the entire cast was functioning as a single entity -- Matchmaker, Matchmaker and To Life being prime examples.
The sound throughout was excellent, neither too loud nor too soft, and all dialogue and singing (with one exception) came across with utter clarity. In this respect, the Stratford company showed up the touring version starring Harvey Fierstein which I saw in Toronto a few years back.
The one exception came in Tevye's Dream, where the stage was filled with figures dressed in costumes and masks straight out of a Chagall painting. When the ghost of Fruma-Sarah appeared, the stage became filled with such frantic action and the orchestration became so noisy that her words were lost. A pity. By the way, I'm not telling you how she appeared. Surprise is everything!
On the whole then, a very fine production of Fiddler on the Roof, with very strong performances across the board and very imaginative solutions to the staging issues. Not perhaps the definitive production or the last word on staging this beloved show, but then when dealing with a classic of this kind there had better never be a last word!
No comments:
Post a Comment