Fiddler Tour Opens Tonight at The Bushnell

The cast of Fiddler. Photo courtesy of The Bushnell.

“Without our traditions, our lives would be as shaky as...as a fiddler on the roof,” announces Tevye, a humble milkman from the Russian village of Anatevka. And so begins a tale of love and laughter, devotion and defiance . . . and changing traditions.

Fiddler on the Roof, the Tony Award-winning musical with music by Jerry Bock, lyrics by Sheldon Harnick, and book by Joseph Stein,  begins its run in Hartford tonight at he Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts and audiences will have a once in a lifetime opportunity to see Jerome Robbins’ original Broadway direction and choreography, starring veteran actor John Preece.   

Preece has performed in Fiddler more than 3,400 times, half of them in the role of Tevye. This is his 10th national tour of the show. 

Tevye’s wrestling with the new customs of a younger generation in turn-of-the-centuriy Tsarist Russia is punctuated by an unforgettable score that weaves the haunting strains of “Sunrise, Sunset” and the rousing “If I Were a Rich Man” with the exuberant “Matchmaker, Matchmaker”and triumphant “Tradition.” When his daughters choose suitors who defy his idea of a proper match, Tevye comes to realize, through a series of incidents that are at once comic and bittersweet, that his children will begin traditions of their own.

The production runs through Sunday in Mortensen Hall at The Bushnell, 166 Capitol Ave., Hartford. Tickets are $17 to $77 and can be purchased by calling 860-987-5900 or online at www.bushnel.org.