“Fiddler on the Roof,” the seminal American musical about a Jewish milkman living in imperialist Russia and struggling to cling to his traditions amid the rapid changes in society around him, is set to return to Toronto this spring in a major new production at the Elgin Theatre.
The revival, announced Monday by the Harold Green Jewish Theatre Company, will be directed by Tony and Academy Award winner Joel Grey. Broadway veteran and Tony nominee Steven Skybell will star as Tevye, leading a mostly Canadian company that also includes Gabi Epstein (Stratford Festival’s “Little Shop of Horrors”), George Masswohl (Mirvish’s “Come From Away”) and Tracy Michailidis (Talk is Free Theatre’s “Sweeney Todd”).
“This production has an uncanny ability to bring people together,” said Avery Saltzman, co-artistic director of Harold Green Jewish Theatre Company, in a press release. “Audiences who do not speak Yiddish still feel every beat. The storytelling transcends language. It is visceral, funny, heartbreaking and deeply human.”
The revival is scheduled to run for 14 performances between May 25 and June 7. It will be performed entirely in Yiddish with English and Russian subtitles.
This production will reunite much of the same creative team that helmed the acclaimed off-Broadway production of “Fiddler” in 2018. Skybell, who also starred in that revival, received a Lucille Lortel Award for his performance.
“There is something profoundly moving about hearing ‘Fiddler’ in Yiddish,” said Grey in a statement. “The language carries history, humour, sorrow and resilience all at once. Like hearing opera in its original tongue, it deepens every moment.”
Written by Jerry Bock, Sheldon Harnick and Joseph Stein, and featuring classic numbers like “Tradition” and “If I Were a Rich Man,” “Fiddler” is considered one of the most important American musicals of the 20th century. Its Broadway premiere in 1964, starring Zero Mostel, earned nine Tonys, including for best musical.
