Fiddler On The Roof
Fiddler on the Roofwas made in to a musical by Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick in 1964. It was the fourth of their musicals to be produced by Harold Prince. Although the musical had no pretty scenery, no exotic costumes, average looking girls and no happy ending, the musical sends a clear message to the world. The story reveals the life of the Jewish people living in the Czarist Russia. In Russia and many parts of the world before World War II the Jews try effortlessly to keep alive the traditions that they have held on to for so long. But the Jews of this time are living in an alien and hostile land that will eventually impose so many hardships on the Jews that most would be forced to find refuge in other countries that would be more tolerant of their traditions. Unfortunately, at this time these places were not so easy to come by. Rare refuges were places like the land of Palestine, eternal home for the Jews, welcomed or not and America, the land of democracy that welcomed all. What is amazing about the play is that it does not only reach out to all Jews in history that have been exposed to persecution and being forced to leave their homes and lives but to any ethnic group who has ever faced the cruelty of others.
During the course of the play Tevya meets a tragic loss because of the whims of a flawed society. This is also the plot type in the play. The problem was that the Jews in Russia lived in isolation and they had no idea of the outside world. The character role is played by the matchmaker, Yenta. She is the old gossipy women in the town who has to know everything about everybody in the town. Fiddler on the Roof, follows the western curve that is used in so many plays. It begins with a prologue which is then followed by a monologue given by Tevya, to the audience about tradition. The whole town of antevka then songs the prologue song about traditional roles. The next part of the play is the exposition. This gives the audience the background information necessary to understand the play. Then "matchmaker", the scene song is sung. It is at this point that the development of the story arises. It comes about with all the conflicts in Tevya's family. After the obstacles are revealed to the audience we see the height of development. Then comes the obligatory recognition scene, where Tavya sees that his daughters have completely disobeyed him. When Tevya tells his daughter Chava that she can not see the gentile that she likes so much, Tevya sings a ballet sequence, "Chavala". The denouement of the play was that Chava married the non-Jew, even though she realized that Tevya her father would be crushed. Then everything begins to fall apart at the climax. During the Epilogue song and the finale the Jewish people of Antevka are forced to leave Russia and begin their lives again. melodrama is based on the book by Joseph Stein and stories by Shalom Aleichem. The music was written by Bock and the lyrics by Harnick. The play was directed by Jerome Robbins and B. A
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1198
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
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