Wild Goose Players Present a Longtime Classic: Fiddler on the Roof

A beloved timeless tale of custom versus adaptation will be brought to life on the local stage next month. The Wild Goose Players will present the musical, "Fiddler on the Roof," for eight shows over two weekends opening next Friday, April 5 through Saturday, April 13 at the Bellows Falls Opera House. The play is set in the Pale of Settlement of Imperial Russia in or around 1905. The story centers on Tevye, a dairyman in the village of Anatevka, who attempts to maintain his Jewish religious and cultural traditions as outside influences encroach upon his family's lives. The most significant of those influences are his three strong-willed daughters, who wish to marry for love and not to fulfill an arrangement. The backdrop of the story is an edict of the tsar to evict the Jews from their village. "Fiddler" was the first musical in history to surpass 3,000 performances, winning nine Tony Awards and spawning five Broadway revivals and a highly successful 1971 film adaptation. Shayna Bredbeck plays Fruma-Sarah in the show, the spirit of the village butcher's wife who comes back from the grave to try and convince Tevye to let his daughter marry who she loves (Motel the tailor) rather than the man with whom Tevye had an agreement (Lazar the butcher). Bredbeck, who grew up in Boston and attended an arts academy there, first saw Wild Goose Players' production of "Into the Woods." "I was really really impressed," she said. The "Fiddler" story is also the story of her ancestors, who were Russian Jews. "My great-grandmother walked across Ukraine and Russia," she said. "While the village of Anatevka is fictional, it is [partially] based on Odessa, where my family is from. This play is very near and dear to me." Bredbeck's 12-year-old niece, Charlotte, is playing a townsperson in the show along with her. "I started in theater at 13," she said. "To share that with her is really special." Bredbeck said the cast and crew of Wild Goose Players welcomed them with open arms. "I feel lucky and honored to be part of this production," she said. This year, David Stern, who typically directs these productions, will be taking on the role of Tevye; and Dominic DiBennedetto, typically a performer with the company, will be directing. "David is known for his work with more abstract pieces and interesting adaptations," said DiBenedetto of Stern. "This is just a really beautiful homage to real people and real life." DiBenedetto has directed youth theater at Keene Middle School for 10 years and for four at MoCo Arts. A typical show he would do is about an hour long. "Fiddler," which has a cast of 50, marks the first full-scale musical he's directed. While preparing for the job, he did research on the play, reading various articles and interviews. "I found someone talking about how Tevye loves his family as much as he loves his religion and tradition," he said. "That's what creates the struggle he has." At the first rehearsal, he and cast members shared stories of their own family traditions. "We are driving home this show is about tradition and family dynamics," he said, "and when things are changing, what parts do we change and adapt and which parts do we think we should keep?" This universal theme, wrote Stern in a press release, cuts across barriers of race, class, nationality and religion. "It's a time when everything outside the village is also changing," said DiBenedetto. "The diaspora—people being pushed out of where they had lived for hundreds of years. Tevye's immediate world is also changing. That parallel is what makes this piece so compelling. It asks, if you're not keeping up, what then?" Wild Goose Players present "Fiddler on the Roof" next Friday, April 5; Saturday, April 6; and Thursday, April 11 through Saturday, April 13, at 7:30 p.m; with 2 p.m. matinees Saturday, April 6; Sunday, April 7 and Saturday, April 13 at the Bellows Falls Opera House. Tickets are $10-$40 and are available at https://www.bellowsfallsoperahouse.com/special-events/.