Back on January 26, Austin was on ice. An Austin Opera performance this weekend at the Long Centre reminded us that ICE has been around a long time.
Imagine a squad of troopers swooping into your town, roughing people up, and forcibly deporting them to another country. This is 2026, but Fiddler on the Roof was set in the Russian Empire in 1905.
Beneath all the hit tunes (more on that in a moment), the story portrayed by Fiddler is an eternal one of heartache, poverty, and displacement.
There were quite a few in the audience aged 11-13. I am sure that none of this was understood by any of them, unless they had been carefully tutored in advance by their parents. Most likely, they went to the enjoy the music.
And what music! Fiddler premiered in 1964, and became the longest-running show in Broadway history, passing the 3,000 mark. That actually a benchmark that has been adhered to every since. For a production to be considered a really big hit, it must have reached that magical number. In the intervening decades, some 20 shows have hit the mark, with Phantom of the Opera holding the record at 13,981.
But traditional opera enthusiasts must be saying that Fiddler is a Broadway musical, not an opera! The lines actually started to get blurred way back in 1927, when Showboat brought complex, dramatic scores to the stage. The real litmus for many will, however, always be the sung music. Even though Fiddler has great iconic tunes (literally every song is a winner, instantly recognizable even to those who never saw the play or film), few would suggest the voices we hear bear any serious resemblance to operatic voices. Nonetheless, the new production staged at the Long Centre garnered a 2025 International Opera Award nomination for best musical. Sunday in the Park with George won the first Musical Theatre Award last year. Of one thing we can be sure: the General Director and CEO of Austin Opera, Annie Burridge, announced before the performance that Fiddler has become the biggest-selling production in its 40-year history. So, if the goal was the bring in a larger – and younger – audience, it has been a resounding success. Congrats to Austin Opera!
The notes by the Stage Director, Crystal Manich, state that as Tevye and his fellow Jews are forced to move, “Tevye looks forward with a smile, offering reassurance that people and culture can survive even life’s greatest losses.” Statistics, however, suggest a far darker reality. In 1900, Jews comprised nearly 4% of the Russian population. That percentage is now 0.1%, indicating an almost total wipeout of that culture over the past 125 years.
It must be a bittersweet experience for Rabbi Neil F. Blumofe to actually portray the rabbi in Fiddler. “How do politics change? What will the future bring?” he asks in the programme notes.
Since the plot and music has become ingrained in the American psyche, I will refrain from stating platitudes about the musical itself. Regarding this particular production, it is simply outstanding, with set, costumes and acting all Broadway-quality. Steven Skybell as the lead actor, Tevye, is superb. In a previous production of Fiddler (directed by Joel Grey), he won the 2019 Lortel award for best performance by a lead actor in a musical. No better choice could have been made to cast him here.
Skybell is shown just right of centre-stage in the lead photo, with Canadian violinist Patrice Calixte at upper left as the Fiddler on the roof.
A sombre yet joyous experience, this is truly one for the ages.
Visit the website for tickets to upcoming performances:
Austinopera.org
The classic La Boheme will take the stage Apr 30-May 3, 2026