Progress and tradition, hand in hand

When Jordan Fein was young, he went to see Fiddler on the Roof. Now, he’s directing it.

Fein, who was asked to direct the new production which premiered at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre in London, said musical theatre was something he began to appreciate from a young age, having caught the bug at around seven or eight years old.

“[Fiddler] was the first show I’d ever seen, when I was, I think, probably seven,” he told The AJN, explaining that the story is very close to his own family’s, with his grandmother’s family escaping from a town just outside of Kyiv in 1910 for the same reasons that Tevye, Golde and their daughters are forced to leave Anatevka. So for Fein, there’s definitely something special about bringing the production to life once again.

“The piece itself is something I felt connected to, and my family has always felt connected to. But getting to work on it, I think, has strengthened that quite a bit,” he said.

Fein told The AJN that what makes the production, which received 13 Olivier Award nominations and took home three awards, including Best Musical Revival, even more incredible is the respect and love the entire cast and crew have for the story.

“It’s so well written. The music is spectacular,” Fein said. “We were never interested in reinventing the wheel, but really making sure that modern audiences can appreciate it as much as we do.”

According to The Jerusalem Post, the only time the production has been halted of Fiddler on the Roof was during the COVID-19 pandemic. Otherwise, Fiddler on the Roof has been staged every day since the 1960s. And Fein said it’s perhaps due to its universality.

“The thing I always say about the piece is that it’s ultimately about community,” he said. “There’s a real humanity to it. It can speak to you at different points in your life and it creates a sense of connection.”

Fein also pointed out how the musical, while written in the 1960s, is about progress. And it’s something that was emphasised when he was rereading the piece.

“I thought I knew the show really well,” he laughed, saying he rediscovered things while he was preparing. “The young women in this piece are just extraordinary and really brave. And something that I found really profound was just that of course it is about tradition, but it’s really about progress and how those things have to exist hand-in-hand.”

Fein admitted that when he first became involved in the London production, he never dreamed that it was going to have the life it’s having. And he’s thrilled that when Fiddler on the Roof premieres in Sydney, it will feature an Australian cast for Australian audiences.

And most of all, he’s excited to share the love.

“[Fiddler] contains so much joy. It’s so much funnier than I ever remember it being. It’s tragic in many ways, but ultimately, and I always struggle to say this, but I mean it, it’s a story about love,” he said. “It’s a story about two parents, essentially, that learn about love from their children. And I think the piece endures because it does hold all of that and it feels so human.”

Fiddler on the Roof will be at Theatre Royal Sydney from July 31, before heading to Brisbane in October and then to Melbourne’s Her Majesty’s Theatre from October 31. For tickets, visit fiddlerontherooftour.com