To life with Fiddler
IN the health field, Geoff Sussman is renowned as a world leader in wound healing research.
An associate professor at Monash University, he is also on the medical faculties at Auckland University and Oxford University.
In Melbourne’s Jewish community, Sussman is cantor at Etz Chayim Progressive Synagogue (formerly Bentleigh Progressive Synagogue) – a position he has held for 36 years.
And Sussman is also a veteran of musical theatre, having appeared in more than 100 shows during a 50-year career. His latest role is playing the rabbi in Fiddler on the Roof, which is being staged by CLOC Music Theatre and opens this week at the National Theatre, St Kilda.
“It is my first show for some years because of my busy professional university life,” Sussman told The AJN. “I travel so much all over the world to teach, so it makes life difficult trying to do a show.
“When I heard that CLOC was staging Fiddler on the Roof, I put my hand up to be part of it. The rabbi is a lovely cameo role, which I can really enjoy and I won’t need to attend every rehearsal.”
Of course, Sussman, 73, can draw on his experience as a cantor for the role. “I am conducting weddings with Rabbi Gersh Lazarow at Etz Chayim, so I know all the blessings.”
For the wedding scene in Fiddler on the Roof, to the music of Sunrise Sunset, the couple performs the entire service including the reading of the ketubah. “It works beautifully and the timing of the song is perfect.”
Sussman has performed in Fiddler on the Roof before, playing the role of Lazar Wolf in a production by Whitehorse Theatre Company a few years ago.
“That was a very different production,” he explains. “The director at Whitehorse did the whole show in black and white to emphasise the starkness and persecution of the Jews.
“This production will be a lot more fun with all the big ensemble numbers.”
Sholem Aleichem’s classic story of life in the Russian village of Anatevka at the turn of the 20th century has been a perennial favourite with audiences since Fiddler on the Roof hit the world stage.
The 1971 film starred Chaim Topol, who made a career out of playing the role of Tevye on stage more than 2500 times, including performances in Australia in 1998 and 2005.
In CLOC’s production, the role of Tevye will be played by Peter Nicholls, an experienced performer who has previously played the role in amateur productions, and also performed with Topol in Melbourne, playing the role of Papa.
For Sussman, acting is a real family affair. His son Troy is a professional actor who is currently appearing in Mary Poppins in Sydney. In Fiddler on the Roof, Sussman is being joined onstage by his 15-year-old granddaughter Devon Campbell, who plays Fredel, one of the village children.
In addition, his son-in-law Tony Hall and his wife Kelly are assisting behind the scenes.
Devon has performed in many dance and theatre productions and has won many awards.
“She wants to follow her uncle, Troy, and go into professional theatre as a dancer,” says Sussman.
There are several other Jewish performers in the cast of 48, including Karen Greenwood who plays Grandmother Tzeitel and the village mamma Vera, Clary Riven who plays Tevye’s third daughter Chava, Taylor Klas who plays village girl Mirala and Jake Rosen who plays village boy Yitzak.
In addition, the show’s producers have enlisted a group of Cossack dancers to perform the energetic dance routines in the To Life scene, as well as the “bottle dance” in the Wedding Dance scene.
Fiddler on the Roof is at the National Theatre, St Kilda from May 20 to June 4. Bookings: www.cloc.org.au.
REPORT: Danny Gocs
PHOTO: Geoff Sussman and his granddaughter Devon Campbell in Fiddler on the Roof.