THEATRE REVIEW: "Fiddler on the Roof" at the Auditorium Theatre (Chicago, IL)

      In November of 2011, Theo and I saw a performance of the Jerry Bock / Joseph Stein / Sheldon Harnick musical "Fiddler on the Roof" when the non-equity touring production performed a week-long engagement at the Auditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University in Chicago, IL.  We would not have seen the show, or have known it was going to be in town, had my dad and I not taken a $10 theatre tour of the Auditorium just a few weeks before.  The tour of "Fiddler" had last been in Chicago in 2009, with Topol starring as Tevye.  This time, the role of Tevye was played by John Preece, who apparently played the role more than any other actor.

     This was a great show and production in my opinion.  The only way I could tell it was non-equity was how the actors would move the set around during scene changes.  I think the best non-equity tour I have ever seen would have to be the production of "42nd Street" that played a two-week engagement in Chicago in 2016.  But this production of "Fiddler on the Roof" would have to be a close second.  That is probably in part due to the fact that I hadn't seen the musical on stage before.  I had seen the movie before--or at least parts of it.

     The Chicago Premiere Production of "Fiddler on the Roof" performed from February 1st through October 21st, 1967 at the (now demolished) McVickers Theatre, which used to be located at 25 West Madison Street.  In that production, Luther Adler played the part of Tevye.  The Original Broadway Production of "Fiddler on the Roof" began previews on September 17th, 1964 at the Imperial Theatre, officially opening there on September 22nd of the same year.  Zero Mostel played the role of Tevye.  The production changed venues twice during its eight-year run, closing at the Broadway Theatre on July 2nd, 1972.  There were two Pre-Broadway Tryout Productions of "Fiddler on the Roof" before the musical had its Broadway premiere.  The first one, which was also the World Premiere Production, ran from July 27th through August 22nd, 1964 at the Fisher Theatre in Detroit.  The second tryout production was at the National Theatre in Washington DC, where the production ran from August 26th through September 12th, 1964.

John Preece as Tevye (photo by Carol Rosegg).

     Before going to the Auditorium Theatre to see "Fiddler," I remember going to the Barnes & Noble store nearby and buying a hardcover copy of the Stephen King novel "11/22/63" which had been released to the bookshelves recently.  So, there I was, sitting through the entire musical, with a hardcover copy of one of Stephen King's longer novels on my lap.  Also, someone near where I was sitting kept talking without bothering to whisper.  That was going on during the majority of the show I think, and I kept shushing her.  She kept talking about chest pains and her heart (she was clearly in love with someone) and I just kept going "Shhhhhhhh!"  OK, not really. 

    Anyway, at some point a few years ago I was joking with Kathryn about the 1987 Israeli Cast Recording of "Les Misérables," and I combined the song "One Day More" with the song "Anatevka" from "Fiddler on the Roof."  I might have also combined the song "If I Were a Rich Man" too.  I think it went something like "One day more..... another day another dibba dibba dibba dibba dum...."  I guess I don't remember when the lyrics to "Anatevka" come in.  Oh well.  Maybe that's for the best.  Anyway,  besides John Preece as Tevye, the cast of this production included Pamela D. Chabora (Golde), Brooke Hills (Tzeitel), Chelsey LeBel (Chava), Sarah Sesler (Hodel), Andrew Bozel (Motel), Billy Holly (Rabbi), Barbi McGuire (Yente), Megan Mekjian (Bluma), Samantha Mitchell (Rivka), Kristin Morris (Bielke), Joshua Phan-Gruber (Perchik), Brenne Rimberg (Shprintze),Michael Shultz (Fyedka), and David B. Springstead, Sr. (Lazar Wolf).  The cast did well, to the best of my recollection.