Match made in heaven

BASYA LAYE

The quintessentially Jewish Broadway production of Fiddler on the Roof arrives in Vancouver for a weekend run at the Centre in Vancouver for Performing Arts next week.

Originally produced as a stage musical in 1964 starring comedian and actor Zero Mostel, Fiddler became a mammoth hit after the release of the 1971 film starring Topol in the role of Tevye. The play was based on a Sholem Aleichem story, written in Yiddish and published in 1894, called Tevye the Milkman and Other Tales. Set in the czarist-era village of Anatevka, Fiddler tells the story of a Jewish milkman, his feisty daughters and their struggle with the changing notions of community, religion, politics and social mores of their world.

Birdie Newman Katz, playing Yente in the current touring production, knows Fiddler inside and out. In productions of the musical, on and off, since 1974, Katz has played various roles throughout the years, and keeps returning to this multilayered tale, even nearly four decades later.

“I started out during my first semester in college working six nights a week at a dinner theatre in Maryland as a chorus member in Fiddler on the Roof, which featured John Preece [who plays Tevye in the current production] as Lazar Wolf, the butcher,” Katz told the Jewish Independent in an e-mail interview. “He also understudied Tevye and now, 37 years later, he is still Tevye! Two years after my professional debut, I played Tevye’s third daughter, Chava, at age 20, at another Maryland theatre. I met my husband there, as he used to come see his brother-in-law who was playing Tevye.

In the interim, Katz married and had a family, but she continued to play various Fiddler roles. Recently, she landed the role of Yente, the matchmaker. “Now, I know, that sounds like a lot of Fiddler,” she joked, “but I have performed about 50 other shows in and around it through the years…. But Fiddler is one of the most perfect shows ever written and I keep learning more each time I do this show. Every night, I feel like I’m visiting an old friend. Audiences love it and I think it is a show you can grow into by starting as a young villager and eventually playing the oldest.”

Fiddler has maintained its resonance, even for young audiences today, Katz said, because it is both “timeless and timely.”

“First of all, the challenges of parenting will always be there from one generation to the next and this story very much explores these issues. The compelling problems of religious persecution persist today as they did in 1905 so, in that sense, it is timely. It is also universal, as people from all over the world perform and/or go to see this amazing show. The actors in Japan, [with whom] our director, Sammy Dallas Bayes, has worked, have often asked him how the authors knew to write a show about them! They think this is their story!”

Katz was born in Washington, D.C., and was raised in Silver Spring, Md. “My father’s family originated in Ukraine and my grandparents’ story is this story. They were Jews, forced out of their homes, fleeing to the United States, where they met through a matchmaker. So this show is in my blood!”

Performing as part of a touring company has its challenges but Katz is keen on its high points. “My entire experience on tour is ‘living the dream,’” she said. “At nearly 55, I put away the thought of this sort of experience a long time ago. I got married and raised a family, always performing, but near home. Fortunately, I have an amazing husband, who just became a state senator in the beautiful state of Maine, and two incredibly wonderful children, who all support what I am doing.

“Touring lets you visit so many wonderful places you never knew existed and explore those you’ve dreamed about. I ‘live’ with my ‘theatre family’ and we all look after one another. I can’t believe I get paid to do this! I call it a ‘Showcation’!”

Yente, Anatevka’s prone-to-gossip matchmaker, stands at the centre of Tevye’s daughters’ fortunes and Katz loves her busybody role. “I’ve known many a Yente in my life, so it wasn’t hard to find this nosy, chattering, overbearing character. But she is funny, passionate and layered. She represents the theme [of] tradition, as she has always been the means for a girl and boy to be mated, until Tevye’s daughters buck the system. I love her!”

Katz’s excitement to play another Fiddler role, nearly 40 years after her start as a member of the play’s chorus, is evident.

“It is never too late to live your dreams! I am so blessed to be on this adventure of a lifetime – visiting and performing in 39 states, 90 cities, three Canadian provinces, and covering 34,000 miles in nine months! And I get to meet wonderful people all over North America while staying very connected to home and my Jewish roots.”

Fiddler on the Roof is at the Centre in Vancouver for the Performing Arts April 29-May 1. For tickets, call 1-855-985-5000 or visit ticketmaster.ca.

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