Fiddler on the Roof (Gdynia, Poland)

[winter]

Since the Gdynia musical theatre obligingly rotates their shows every week or so, I ended up catching Fiddler on the Roof.

It was my first time seeing it live, and I was rather ticked off that a Certain Someone was supposed to be playing Perchik, but ended up being a random ensemble member instead, at the last moment - to the point where the ushers were all "What? He's supposed to be on as Perchik tonight!" and the night's cast list had him as well. I suspect a sudden sore throat, because he was inaudible as well, where he usually drowns everyone out. Still, I got to see him prancing about in amusing ways :)

My two other quiet favourites from this theatre's stable cast were in it as well, Bernaciak playing the Rabbi's son (flaming prancing gay, which I've come to expect from him...) and Michalski as Fiedya - dammit, the guy has a show-stopping voice ♥ I saw him as Beast a year ago, but he's been working on it since.

The show was good - good staging, great sets (simple black shapes with projections of Chagal paintings) and very nice choreography. There was also an energetic vibe in the ensemble, and I had great fun people-watching. The mute Fiddler in particular was used in ways that reminded me a lot of Mozart. And the accents! I know all those accents both from movies and from real life, and it was all authentic Jewish and Russian accents. So much love for the voice coaches.

My problem with it is that the musical isn't particularly good. It's all a one-man show revolving around Tevye, with other characters barely sketched. The music's brilliant, but it doesn't always fit the action - the most striking example is the celebratory L'Chaim (IMHO the best song in the show along with Sunrise, Sunset) being the celebration of an engagement that gets tossed aside the next day. I think I'm spoiled for good musicals, but dear heavens, this book could use a rewrite.

(This staging did attempt to lead the emotional arc a bit more, but it was haphazard. I wasn't particularly fond of the way they dressed the Fiddler in an Auschwitz striped outfit at the end.)

Still, a good show, and a good cast :) And my machine didn't give out for once, which is a joy - I'm not fond of the cast recordings available for it, and the voices and music were stellar. Good times.

Bonus: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8OZLoyY8PiQ - second section of L'Chaim. The guy who defies human lungs at 0:55 would be Michalski.

Comments

[reynardine.livejournal.com]

Fiddler on the Roof is one of my favorites--it was all the rage when I was growing up, so I've seen numerous productions of it. While it is very Teyve centered (story has to revolve around something), I thought his wife and daughters were pretty well drawn out as characters.

Clicked around from that link you showed. Man, it was strange to see this musical sung in something other than English! Some of it just does not scan over well (although I don't know any Polish--was that Polish?--so I can't judge how poetic the words were). I'm meaning more how they fit the words into the song.

I was curious about how they did the accents. In English-speaking productions, the Jewish characters have "Jewish" (Yiddish) accents while the Russian characters have Russian accents. Do those kinds of accents exist in your language? I was especially wondering with the Russian, being that it is another Slavic language. Not sure how all that sounds from going from one to another.

[winter]

I think they edited this production a bit, too. My grandmothers both attended the earlier Gdynia production (over 30 years ago) and they were sure things were switched around and abridged. I think I prefer shows that are more ensemble-like, like Les Mis, or at least to have three or four people as possible identification targets rather than one with the rest being props.

Seeing as over 10% of Poland's pre-war population was Jewish, you can bet we know what a Jewish accent in Polish sounds like :) The Tevye in this production is Jewish/of Jewish descent (not sure which he identifies as), so his accent was authentic, and it sounded like he tutored the rest of the cast. Even now Polish retains a hell of a lot of Yiddish words and sayings, and the translation takes pains to use them. Same for Russian accents - it's a Slavic language, but with a distinct softer pronunciation. The Russian characters spoke Polish like my great-uncle who's a cantor in a Russian Orthodox church.

[meganphntmgrl.livejournal.com]

...okay, do you like Lovecraft at all? I can't remember, but if you do I absolutely have to give you A Shoggoth on the Roof:

"A shoggoth on the roof- sounds crazy, no? But here in our little town of Arkham, Massachusetts, you might say every one of us has a shoggoth on the roof- and I don't mean metaphorically! Now, you might ask yourself, 'How does a malevolent, shapeless monster stay up there on such a pointy roof if it's so difficult? That I can tell you in one word: TENTACLES!"