Fiddler on the Roof
One of the amazing photos our photographer Caiti Lord took last week during our cast photo shoot. This is featuring our Tevye (Adam Wagner) and our fiddler (Divara Harper).
Since Fiddler on the Roof is my main creative project right now, I decided to write about it for this blog post. (And because I wanted to show off our photos!). I am loving being in this show, and think the cast are such talented and kind people. For school this week I have an assignment due about how art transforms, and I chose to write about theater, because I feel that it is one of the most transformative art forms that exists. Most plays and musicals are based off of some written or lived experience, transforming written words into a live production complete with music, dancing, costumes, set pieces, and special effects. I love that theater really combines all of the many arts into one spectacular, emotional experience. Of course, many musicals have then been further transformed into movie adaptions (although I rarely feel that a movie can do justice to a stage production).
Fiddler on the Roof premiered on Broadway in 1964 and has become incredibly popular and famous. Here is an article about the history of the show: Fiddler on the Roof
More of the cast - I play the second oldest sister, Hodel.
The musical was based off of stories by Sholom Aleichem written between 1894 and 1914 that you can read here: Tevye the Dairyman I’ve only read the story about Hodel so far, but it is quite close to what they included for her and Perchik’s love story in the musical.
Me and Stuart Neef, who’s playing Perchik in this production.
I’ve been surprised to find myself so invested in this story and so connected with my character, but I do feel that it speaks to a lot of themes that are still current and ongoing in our world, and emotional experiences that I have had in my life. I grew up in a conservative household with many siblings just like Hodel, and also pushed past the limits of what I was “supposed” to become, like she does. I love her relationship with Tevye and her sisters, and can see why she falls for Perchik, too. Her song, Far From the Home I Love, really speaks to the heartache of being separated from family - a heartache that I think we have become too accustomed to in the United States, as so many families spread farther and farther apart.
Chava played by Nandi Streiker, Tzeitzel played by Mariah Bolla Olesen, and me.
I appreciate Tevye’s character a lot because while he believes in tradition and God fiercely, he also loves his daughters and is flexible enough to see that it’s okay when they are making choices that push them outside of tradition. He struggles the most with Chava’s decision to marry a Russian, but by the end, he starts to accept even that. The show ends bittersweetly as everyone is forced out of their homes by the Russians and must immigrate to other countries. The production that I’m currently in feels especially timely, with the themes of people being forced out of their homes by those in power speaking to the current events in the United States especially involving ICE.
The whole family
On a personal note as well, this is only the second time I have ever actually gotten the role I auditioned for (the first was in 2022 when I played Fraulein Schneider in Cabaret). While I have loved all of the roles I’ve been cast in, there’s something really affirming about getting the role I wanted. I wonder sometimes what would have happened if I hadn’t believed I wasn’t “good enough” to pursue theater professionally when I was eighteen, but I suppose it doesn’t really matter, because I found my way back in the end, and it is something that enriches my life so much.
If you are in Santa Fe, come see our show! Fiddler Tickets
