1 Fiddler on the Roof EDUCATIONAL GUIDE FiddlerMusical.com 1 TABLE OF CONTENTS About the Show . 4 Principal Characters . 5. Synopsis . 6. The Director’s Approach: A Conversation with Director Bartlett Sher . .8 . Fiddler at Fifty: A Conversation with Lyricist Sheldon Harnick . 10. Biographer Alisa Solomon on the original Broadway production . 12 . Choreographing Fiddler: A Conversation with Hofesh Shechter . 14 . Meet the Stars . 15. “A fiddler on the roof. Sounds crazy, no? But Life in the Shtetls . 16 in our little village of Anatevka, you might say Sholem Aleichem . .17 . every one of us is a fiddler on the roof, trying Discussion Questions . 18 Recommended Reading . 20 . to scratch out a pleasant, simple tune without References . .21 . breaking his neck. It isn’t easy. You may ask, Compiled and Designed by James Forbes Sheehan and Jeffrey Richards Associates why do we stay up there if it’s so dangerous? For more information about this study guide, please contact We stay because Anatevka is our home. ... And
[email protected] how do we keep our balance? That I can tell you in a word ... Tradition.” – TEVYE ZERO MOSTEL TOPOL THEODORE BIKEL 2 Fiddler on the Roof FiddlerMusical.com 3 ABOUT THE SHOW PRINCIPAL CHARACTERS In 1961, writers Joseph Stein (book), Jerry Bock (music), and Sheldon TEVYE The poor, jovial, pious, and hard-working dairyman who always tries SPOTLIGHT ON DID YOU KNOW? Harnick (lyrics) set out to adapt three stories from Sholem Aleichem’s to be optimistic about life . He is a proud father of five daughters, and he is “Tevye’s Daughters” into a Broadway musical .