Fiddler On The Roof

Fiddler on the Roof was a moving yet highly entertaining musical about a Jewish family living in Russia during the early 20th century. This book musical allows the audience to embark with Tevye, the father, and the rest of his family on the journey that is life. In addition to the many life-situations that the characters find themselves in, there are numerous singing scenes in which the audience can hear classic after classic. Some of the themes tackled by Fiddler include racism, love, forgiveness, and the unknowns in life as well as coping with situations while remaining positive. We grow up with the family as they experience new things in life, like whom to marry, etc. We also see the effects of geo-political factors, like the expulsion of the Jews in and around Europe, and how this affected your typical family in the early 1900's. Relationships, preconceptions, as well as misconceptions make up a large part of the message that the playwright
Only a small portion of the stage was really used, and this served to make the setting more intimate and personal. The characters seemed natural in their environment, which ranged from the town shop to inside homes, all set in a small Russian town. The mood was casual and humble, realistic of a typical family at this time. The scenery employed the periaktoi, and during scene changes, the actors themselves moved the structures around. The design of the scenery was very simple, and thus did not distract one from the actual performance. The props used were sturdy and worked well and were mainly used for realism and comedy. For instance, a cart has to be pulled by Tevye, because his donkey, which we never see, apparently has a broken foot, much to the laughter of the audience. The play was at the UCF Conservatory Theatre, and the stage seemed to be a hybrid of a thrust and proscenium stage. Most of the acting took place downstage, very close to the