Fiddler On The Roof London theatre stage show
This show has now closed, click here for a listing of current and future London shows
Previewed 19 May 2007, Opened 29 May 2007, Closed 16 February 2008 at the Savoy Theatre in London
A major revival of the classic musical Fiddler On The Roof in London starring Olivier Award winner Henry Goodman and directed by Lindsay Posne.
Tevye, the dairyman is an old-fashioned father who, like the other fathers in the small village of Anatevka, has raised his children to uphold the age-old Jewish customs of his ancestors. Now the time has come to find husbands for his beloved daughters and as tradition dictates, suitable matches must be made. But this is Tsarist Russia, 1905 and as the nation teeters on the brink of great upheaval, Tevye is soon to find the young are guided by their hearts not their elders. Fiddler On The Roof features some of the most memorable songs in musical history, including Tradition, Matchmaker and the unforgettable If I Were A Rich Man.
This new production of Fiddler On The Roof, one of the best-loved stage and screen musicals, comes to London for a limited saeson following a sell-out two month season last Christmas at The Crucible Theatre in Sheffield. Reprising his role from the Sheffield Theatre season is Henry Goodman as 'Teyve' (up to 16 February 2008, Henry Goodman will also not be performing on Friday 28 December 2007 at 3.00pm and Friday 4 January 2008 at 3.00pm) Cast subject to change. Directed by Lindsay Posner with choreography by Jerome Robbins, recreated by Sammy Dallas Bates, with additional choreography by Kate Flatt, designs  by Peter McKintosh and lighting by Peter Mumford.
An all-time music classic, Fiddler On The Roof has captivated audiences around the globe since its original Broadway opening in September 1964. Winner of 9 Tony Awards, the spectacular stage show broke the Broadway 'long-run record by playing for 3,242 performances. The London production opened at Her Majesty's Theatre in February 1967 and played for just over 2,000 performances. Fiddler On The Roof has been revived in London a couple of times for short seasons - in 1983 at The Apollo Victoria Theatre and in 1994 at The London Palladium. Proving it's timeless popularity, the show was revived on Broadway for its fifth time in February 2004 when it played for 781 performances. The musical was made into an Oscar winning film in 1971, starring Topol as 'Teyve'.
"When a trio of New York writers first proposed a musical about a Russian Jewish father marrying off his daughters against a background of Tsarist repression, the big noises of Broadway didn't want to know. Too ethnic, they complained meaning only Jews would come. Since then, Fiddler On The Roof has been produced in 75 countries and 50 languages. Lindsay Posner's thrilling, gut-wrenching revival will leave audiences in no doubt why. With Jerry Bock's staggeringly beautiful score based on traditional Jewish folk tunes, Sheldon Harnick's light-footed lyrics and a script by Joseph Stein, which takes us from wry Jewish comedy to the heartache of expulsion from the land, this is as good as musical theatre gets." The Daily Express
"There may be no bright colours in Lindsay Posner's new production of Fiddler on the Roof with its evocative, rackety set of planks and gantries, but the charaters are bursting with life... Henry Goodman gives 'Teyve' all the glorious eccentricities the lines demand. This is a comic tour de force. Yet there is more than comedy in Goodman's performance. He never lets the audience lose sight of the fact that Tevye is a poor man struggling through difficult conditions - balancing between laughter and tears, never failing into caricature or wallowing in tragedy." The Sunday Telegraph
"Lindsay Posner's triumphant Sheffield Crucible production of Fiddler On The Roof has been squished into the Savoy Theatre and has, paradoxically, expanded into a more intensely emotional show. A story of a father and his daughters, of matchmaking in a female-dominated household, it struck me that this is Pride And Prejudice set in a Jewish shtetl. A brilliant, beady-eyed Henry Goodman lives the part of Tevye, who keeps up a running commentary with God, whom he blames for everything - and who appears to be sitting in the upper circle. 'I know we are the chosen people,' he says, 'but once in a while, can't you choose someone else?' A great revival of one of the greatest musicals." The Mail on Sunday
Fiddler On The Roof in London at the Savoy Theatre previewed from 19 May 2007, opened on 29 May 2007 and closed on 16 February 2008.
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