Classic ?Fiddler of the Roof' is timeless piece

CEDAR CITY — With the Russian revolution looming and crippling poverty overtaking the little village of Anatevka, it was getting harder and harder for Tevye, the village milkman, to know who his friends were. In the Utah Shakespearean Festival’s presentation of "Fiddler on the Roof," He tried to be friendly to everyone, even the Cossack soldiers who frequented the village, but as life got harder, so did identifying your friends.

But Tevye (Matthew Henerson) had other problems. He had five daughters, three of them of marrying age, but no money for dowries.

Matthew Henerson was a courageous casting move on the part of the Festival.

"I am not known mostly as a musical theater actor," he said in an interview with the Intermountain Catholic. But he is the grandson and son of Ashkenazi Jews, "so this story is my story. My grandfather could have been Tevye."

Although not raised in an orthodox family, Henerson said he can identify with Tevye because Tevye’s daughters are breaking the molds in which they were raised. First, his eldest daughter, Tzeitel (Melinda Pfundstein) chooses her husband without the help of a matchmaker, prompting Tevye to go back on his word to the butcher Lazar Wolf (Erik Stein) to whom Tzeitel was promised. Then their second daughter, Hodel (Lisa Ferris), falls in love with a radical teacher (also without the aid of the matchmaker). Each time Tevye gives his blessing to one of his daughters, he has to explain himself to Golde, his wife (Carole Healey). But when their third daughter, Chava (Katie Whetsell) falls in love with a man outside the Jewish faith, it is the last straw for Tevye.

"Fiddler on the Roof" has a number of big musical pieces filled with singing and dancing, which are wonderful. The smaller numbers, though, those between two or three people, or between Tevye and God, cry out for good choreography, but on opening weekend, they just didn’t have it.

"The people of Anatevka are being forced to change or die," said Henerson. "For years they have been comfortable with one way of life, meager as it has been, but now they are watching that way of life die.

"But Jews are incredibly tough people," he said. "There are only 14 million of us in the world. We’re less then one percent of the population, but still we endure. And still the people in the play feel very protective of their little village, even as it falls apart around them."

Henerson describes his character, Tevye, as "an alpha male – a figure of natural authority." People naturally come to him for advice.

"Tevye is a man who is able to see both sides of an issue, he even makes friends with the Russian soldiers. He’s still able to tie one on; he can get drunk with the best of them, and he does so with Lazar Wolf. Tevye can be very serious, but he can also be a lot of fun."

Henerson’s Tevye changes and grows with every crisis, but when Chava comes to him with a Christian man to marry, he banishes her from the family. Only when Anatevka is being torn asunder, is there a glimmer of hope that this family will eventually be intact again.

Tevye has a wonderfully Jewish relationship with God. They talk, they argue, and Tevye challenges God.

The cast is full of strong voices – Henerson and Healy, their three oldest daughters, Pfundstein as Tzeitel, Ferris as Hodel, and Whetsell’s Chava. Melinda Parrett’s Yente the Matchmaker is a good, strong character, as is Stein’s Lazar Wolf. Hunter Herdlicka is charming as the tailor who falls in love with Pfundstein’s Tzeitel. Parrett takes a second turn as Grandma Tzeitel, who comes up from the grave to convince Golde her daughter must marry the tailor after all.