'Fiddler' tradition comes to Auditorium

The National Equity tour of "Fiddler on the Roof" will open at the IU Auditorium tonight and will play through Thursday. "Fiddler," which takes place in Anatevka, Russia in 1904 tells the story of a dairyman Tevye and his five daughters. The story is about the family trying to marry off the oldest daughter, Tzietel, and the journey to find her a proper mate. At that time in history, women's husbands were chosen for them. In this case Tzietel does not want to marry her arranged mate, Lazar Wolf, the butcher, and finds that she loves Motel, the poor tailor. \nDoug Booher, interim general manager at the IU Auditorium, said this play is one of his favorites and features many classic songs. Songs like "If I were a rich man," "Tradition," and "Matchmaker, Matchmaker" are only a few of the songs that have made this play a favorite among audiences around the globe.\n"'Fiddler on the Roof' is probably the highest quality show that has been performed at the Auditorium so far this season," Booher said. "It features Theodore Bikel, a very well known and fine actor who has played the role of Tevye in well over 1,000 performances."\nJonathan Hadley, who plays Perchik in the production, said his favorite part of touring with the company is working with (Theodore) Bikel, who is living theater history. \nHadley started acting in community theater near his home in North Carolina, where his parents were college professors. He went pro when he was 12, acting in commercials. Later he attended North Carolina School of the Arts where he earned a BFA in Acting.\n"I always enjoyed acting and singing, and musicals were a good combination of both," Hadley said. \nThe play stresses the importance of family and community, which both Booher and Hadley said is an important message at this time.\nHadley said it is interesting to see how this show is increasingly moving to audiences since Sept. 11.\n"Fiddler on the Roof" originated from the stories written in Yiddish by the popular fiction writer who called himself Shalom Aleichem (literally meaning "peace be with you" in Hebrew.) In 1953, Arnold Perl, a long-time admirer of Aleichem\'s work put together a series of short plays. They were based on Aleichem\'s stories, and under the title "The World of Shalom Aleichem" vivified dramatically the life of the Jewish "Shtetls" in Czarist Russia. \nThe success of "The World of Shalom Aleichem" encouraged Perl to go further, and in 1957, he brought out a play about the milkman called "Tevye and his Daughters." This impelled Joseph Stein to believe that the Tevye stories could be made into a musical, and "Fiddler on the Roof" was born.\nGeorge Pinney, professor of theatre and drama who played Perchik years ago, said "Fiddler" is a classic of the American music theater. Pinney also said "Fiddler" will stand up very well to other productions that the Auditorium has hosted this season.\nThe show will be performed Tuesday Feb. 19 through Thursday Feb. 21 at 8:00 p.m. Tickets range from $16 to $36 for students and can be purchased at the Auditorium box office.