A fine ‘Fiddler’ lands in Denver

The 1964 musical still packs them in at the Buell in powerful touring production

Jonathan Hashmonay as Tevye | Photo: Joan Marcus

The summer of 2019 was the last time a traveling Broadway production of Fiddler on the Roof passed through the Denver Center’s Buell Theatre. Now it’s back, with an all-new cast in a production directed by the seemingly omnipresent Bartlett Sher. The house looked full on opening night, and the magic is still there with this tragically uplifting story about Russian Jews being ousted from their homes by the tsar.

And while Fiddler may be quite familiar to many, it’s nice to know there are plenty who’ve yet to see it. We had an extra ticket and brought along one of my son’s friends. At 21, he’d never seen a play or musical before, and I was curious to gauge his reaction. Would someone accustomed only to things on screen thing live theatre was weird or dumb or hopelessly old-fashioned?

Not at all. In fact, he couldn’t stop talking about it on the ride home and was trying to find the words to describe what he’d seen. “It’s like super-life,” he said, referring to the larger-than-life ability of the characters to relate things with powerful voices and well-choreographed dancing.

Sounds like a pretty good description to me! The more somber flip side is the comparison between what was happening to the Jews in 1905 in the same part of the world where the Russians are at it again today.

This production of Fiddler features Jonathan Hashmonay in the pivotal role of Tevye — the milkman with five daughters and a sharp-tongued wife who’s doing his best to keep the head over their roofs. Hashmonay is tremendous, bringing to life a character who’s forever torn between tradition and the changing world staring him in the face. Between dramatic interactions with his wife and daughters as well as the various suitors circling his daughters, it’s a busy part that also includes his many unanswered questions posed to god. (Hashmonay also read a brief statement after the curtain call to express solidarity with the people of Ukraine in their fight against Russia.)

Another standout is Andrew Hendrick as Lazar Wolf, the butcher looking to marry Tevye’s oldest daughter Tzeitel (Randa Meierhenry). Possessed of a raspy voice that’d put Tom Waites to shame, Hendrick elevates the character with more dimensions than I’ve seen before to bely a humanity behind the jilted would-be husband.

Everything comes together beautifully in this production, a towering testament to the power of a great story, memorable characters and a score that includes many familiar tunes. It only plays through March 19, so grab tickets if you can!