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To Life! Remembering “Fiddler on the Roof” on its 50th Anniversary
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TO LIFE! REMEMBERING “FIDDLER ON THE ROOF” ON ITS 50TH ANNIVERSARY
By Michael Coate
“Fiddler on the Roof belongs on the list of the best and most successful musicals, which would include West Side Story, My Fair Lady, and The Sound of Music.” — Matthew Kennedy, author of Roadshow!
The Digital Bits and History, Legacy & Showmanship are pleased to present this retrospective commemorating the golden anniversary of the release of Fiddler on the Roof, the popular, award-winning screen adaptation of the Broadway musical and the writings of Sholem Aleichem.
Directed by Norman Jewison (In the Heat of the Night, Moonstruck), Fiddler starred Topol (Flash Gordon, For Your Eyes Only) as Tevye, the poor Jewish milkman determined to marry off his daughters amidst turmoil in his small Ukrainian village.
Also starring Norma Crane, Leonard Frey, Molly Picon, and Paul Mann, and featuring Oscar-winning cinematography, music, and sound, Fiddler rolled out to movie theaters, initially as a roadshow, beginning fifty years ago this autumn. For the occasion The Bitsfeatures a multi-page package of statistics and box-office data that places the movie’s performance in context, passages from some of its film reviews, a reference/historical listing of its reserved-seat “roadshow” engagements, and, finally, a roundtable interview segment with a group of film historians, documentarians and scholars who reflect on the film five decades after its debut.
The Bits reviewed the DVD release of Fiddler many, many years ago. Its most recent home media release (on Blu-ray Disc) was in 2011. And since we’re on the subject of the film’s 50th… Hey, MGM…, how ‘bout a 4K UHD release? Or a theatrical re-release?
FIDDLER NUMBERS
1 = Box-office rank among films directed by Norman Jewison
1 = Rank among top-earning films released in 1971 (lifetime/retroactive)
1 = Rank among UA’s all-time top-earning movies at close of first run
2 = Box-office rank among roadshow era musicals
2 = Number of cinemas playing Fiddler during its opening weekend
2 = Rank among top-earning movies during the 1972 calendar year
3 = Number of Academy Awards
4 = Number of years UA’s top-earning film
8 = Number of Academy Award nominations
13 = Peak all-time box-office chart position
66 = Number of weeks longest-running engagement played
$9.0 million = Production cost
$25.1 million = Domestic box-office rental (earnings through 12/31/1972)
$35.6 million = Domestic box-office rental (earnings through 12/31/1973)
$40.5 million = Domestic box-office rental (earnings through 12/31/1980)
$61.5 million = Production cost (adjusted for inflation)
$83.3 million = Box-office gross
$251.4 million = Box-office rental (adjusted for inflation)
$531.9 million = Box-office gross (adjusted for inflation)
PASSAGES FROM A SAMPLING OF ORIGINAL FILM REVIEWS
“There’s a little too much of everything except simplicity in Norman Jewison’s over-inflated three-hour screen edition of the famous Broadway musical. To the movie’s credit are some fine songs and dances and an over-riding decency of spirit. It offers an affirmation of life that contrasts strongly with the suicidal pessimism of many so-called entertainments in our era.” — Clyde Gilmour, The Toronto Star
“The film version of Fiddler on the Roof is somewhere between a very quiet mazel tov and a loud oy.” — Kevin Kelly, The Boston Globe
“Fiddler on the Roof has been done with such artistry but also with such evident love, devotion, integrity and high aspiration that watching it is a kind of duplex pleasure. You are warmed by it in its own terms as a superior piece of entertainment. And, if you have any abiding affection for the movies as a form, you have to be knocked out of your seat by the painstaking and inspired craftsmanship you see (and hear) before you.” — Charles Champlin, Los Angeles Times
“After a record-breaking seven years on the New York stage, Tevye, the poor Jewish milkman from the little Russian town of Anatevka, has made it big. Not every milkman is accompanied on his rounds by a six-track stereo recording of a symphony orchestra.” — Gene Siskel, Chicago Tribune
“I suppose Fiddler on the Roof is just the movie that lovers of the stage play were waiting for—and since Fiddler is the most popular stage musical in history, that’s something, all right. But would it be heresy on my part to suggest that Fiddler isn’t much as a musical, and that director Norman Jewison has made as good a film as can be made from a story that is quite simply boring?” — Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
“As a film, Fiddler on the Roof has to be judged an artistic failure, although a handsomely photographed one.” — Howell Raines, The Atlanta Constitution
“There are virtually insuperable difficulties in bringing a Broadway musical to the screen, and this Fiddler suffers from them. The conception behind the musical numbers remains inflexibly stage-bound for the most part. The attempts at cinematic equivalents usually prove distracting. The convention of pretending that people are going about their normal lives while singing is too contradictory to be accepted. ” — William B. Collins, The Philadelphia Inquirer
“An enormous man with sparkling (not melting) brown eyes, Topol has the necessary combination of bombast and compassion, vitality and doubts. His dialogs with God (and/or the audience) are more cautious and less in the chutzpah style of, say, Zero Mostel. Topol sings passably, but If I Were a Rich Man is too serious, losing the fun.” — Robert J. Landry, Variety
“[T]he screen version of Fiddler on the Roof is a film that will be seen by millions and loved. It should have about the same success as did Sound of Music, which had people going back time after time to see it. In short, it’s a blockbuster.” — Barry Morrison, The Denver Post
“It does not matter whether you have seen Fiddler on the stage, you must see what Jewison has done with this bittersweet story, how he has expanded the action which the camera makes possible to further enhance an already delightful experience.” — William A. Payne, The Dallas Morning News
“The music is simply elegant. Never have I gone around humming it so often, not even after the first time I saw it on stage.” — Emerson Batdorff, The Plain Dealer (Cleveland)
“[A]n absolutely smashing movie; it is not especially sensitive, it is far from delicate, and it isn’t even particularly imaginative, but it seems to me the most powerful movie musical ever made.” — Pauline Kael, The New Yorker
“Audiences will be going in to see a musical comedy with a bit of meaning and a bit more uplift for the spirit. What the film delivers is a heavy-handed folk drama with a lot of posing and preaching about eternal verities and—oh yes, some incidental music.” — Tom McElfresh, The Cincinnati Enquirer
“Norman Jewison, the film’s director, and Joseph Stein, who adapted for the screen his own stage adaptation of the Sholem Aleichem stories, have not tampered with the text in any obviously reckless way. They have sought only to enlarge the physical frame of the show by setting it in its time (1905) and physical place (actually in Yugoslavia) with real houses, in real barns with real animals, in real fields and real landscapes. They want to show us everything, to give us our money’s worth. In doing so, they’ve not just opened up the play, they’ve let most of the life out of it. ” — Vincent Canby, The New York Times
“Jewison’s Fiddler is a great film, by which I mean great in the sense that matters most—greatly moving, an extraordinarily powerful, emotional experience.” — Gary Arnold, The Washington Post
“This wouldn’t be the same movie without Oswald Morris’ wonderfully muted cinematography. Like his work on Oliver! it makes a visually depressing environment seem much less so, and the costumes and sets seem both authentic and tinged with the theatrical. The music is too loud and emphatic in places—as if it had to be, to prove that this is an important film—but John Williams’ adaptation of Jerry Bock’s score is generally apt. Not only is Isaac Stern’s playing of the fiddler’s tunes brilliant; his casting was a stroke of genius. Perhaps the movie’s boldest single stroke is the casting of Topol, the young Israeli actor, in the part of Tevye, the aging Jewish milkman who lives in the Czarist Russian village of Anatevka. Topol is a larger-than-life performer, a highly theatrical actor who delivers the kind of broad, brash, physical performance that hasn’t been seen in movies since Anthony Quinn played Zorba. And it works. Wow, does it work!” — John Hartl, The Seattle Times
“The journey from stage to screen, especially for a highly successful musical is often a rocky path, for what works on one doesn’t necessarily work on the other. Furthermore, the wide-screen exposes many of the conceits and conventions of stage productions.” —Paine Knickerbocker, San Francisco Chronicle
“There is a possibility that America’s longest-running stage musical, Fiddler on the Roof, [playing] the Loma Theater, also will become its longest-running film. To accomplish that in San Diego, Fiddler on the Roof would have to exceed two and a half years, which was the length of The Sound of Music run at the Loma. Film audiences were in a different mood about decency, loyalty, romance, sentiment and folksy nostalgia when The Sound of Music opened in 1965 than they have been since. Perhaps the pendulum is swinging, as hoped, in favor of what Fiddler on the Roof has to offer, which is three hours of pleasant entertainment.” — James Meade, The San Diego Union
“Stereophonic bedlam: In his big song-number, If I Were a Rich Man, Topol fails to reach the heights of philosophical humor attained by Zero Mostel in the original Broadway cast. (Mostel is still triumphantly audible in an RCA album, LSO-1093.) The orchestra on the movie soundtrack delivers super-symphonic decibels, and several of the choral numbers shake the chandeliers with stereophonic bedlam. Even the allegorical fiddler on the roof at the story’s beginning and ending, representing the unquenchable Jewish soul, is played with dazzling virtuosity by the celebrated Isaac Stern. He’s a glorious violinist—and he sounds much too expensive for Sholom Aleichem’s modest rural musician.” — Clyde Gilmour, The Toronto Star
“If one could say only two words about Fiddler on the Roof, they would be: See it. Broadway’s longest-running musical, as the ads say, has been transformed into a magical, often poetic film by producer-director Norman Jewison. The screen Fiddler is not, however, without flaws. It suffers from over-romanticization, a weak second half, and some incredibly hackneyed and trite camera work, along with a few performances that approach borscht-belt caricature. And yet, despite these directoral blemishes, Fiddler is a movie to see and enjoy.” — John Weisman, Detroit Free Press
“Irrespective of the fact that Fiddler has become one of those undying shows on stage, Norman Jewison’s film treatment is a model, indeed a triumph, of translating a production from one medium to another. Most often, the flimsiest conventions of the musical stage are muddled up with the worst excesses of movie gimmicks to create a hollow clang. Fiddler reverses the process by retaining that inexplicable body-heat of live performance and augmenting it with the scope and openness and reality of setting that a well-run camera can capture.” — Don Morrison, The Minneapolis Star
“Norman Jewison’s $9 million movie of Fiddler on the Roof is the result of a painstaking attempt to purge Broadway from the show and replace it with the spirit of Sholom Aleichem. What emerges is a film that is faithful to the letter of the Broadway show, but [also] faithful to the spirit of Jewish folk lore. At times it is a drama with music; at other times it is a folk opera. It is no longer a musical comedy.” — George Anderson, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
“Fiddler on the Roof is simply a beautiful motion picture. It is not enough that the filmmakers have told their story very well, have created a mood appropriate to the story line, have photographed and recorded the scenery and music so well. The important achievement is in their understanding that a man can be surrounded by grim events and unjust men, and still remain a man, a very good man.” — John Huddy, The Miami Herald
THE ROADSHOW ENGAGEMENTS
What follows, for historical record and nostalgia, is a chronological reference listing of Fiddler on the Roof‘s North American reserved-seat “roadshow” engagements (otherwise known as Phase One of its release cycle). These were special, long-running, showcase presentations in major cities prior to the film being exhibited as a general release. The roadshows featured advanced admission pricing, reserved seating (typically sold in advance), and an average of ten scheduled screenings per week (one per evening, plus a matinee on weekends, Wednesdays and holidays, though this policy varied by locale and/or was modified during the latter phase of engagement). Souvenir roadshow programs were sold as well, and the presentation included an intermission, entr’acte and exit music. (Many roadshows included an overture, as well, though Fiddler, like some notable exceptions, lacked such an introduction.)
Out of all of the feature films released during 1971, Fiddler on the Roof was among only two given roadshow treatment by their respective studios. (Nicholas and Alexandra was the other 1971 roadshow.)
Roadshow presentations, compared to general release and the average moviegoing experience of the era, typically were booked into larger cinemas and offered a superior projection and sound experience in addition to the other roadshow amenities. Although Fiddler’s distributor, United Artists, elected not to promote the film’s presentation tech details, it is believed that some of Fiddler‘s roadshow presentations were presented in 70-millimeter (blown up from 35mm anamorphic) and all of the film’s reserved-seat presentations featured stereophonic sound: 4-track for 35mm prints and 6-track for the coveted 70mm prints.
Fiddler‘s anniversary offers an opportunity to namedrop some once glorious cinemas, to provide some nostalgia for those readers who saw the film during this phase of its original release, and to reflect on how motion picture exhibition trends have evolved over the decades.
Opening Date YYYY-MM-DD … City — Cinema (duration in weeks)
1971-11-03 … New York — Rivoli (58)
1971-11-05 … Los Angeles (Beverly Hills) — Fox Wilshire (58)
1971-11-10 … Boston — Cheri 1 (11)
1971-11-10 … Boston — Cheri 2 (37)
1971-11-10 … Chicago — McClurg Court (57)
1971-11-10 … Denver — Aladdin (57)
1971-11-10 … Detroit (Southfield) — Northland (57)
1971-11-10 … San Francisco — Golden Gate 1 (57)
1971-11-10 … Toronto — University (57)
1971-11-10 … Washington — Uptown (57)
1971-12-14 … Atlanta — Atlanta (22)
1971-12-14 … Baltimore (Randallstown) — Randallstown Plaza (26)
1971-12-14 … Buffalo (Amherst) — Plaza North (26+)
1971-12-14 … Cincinnati — Valley (34)
1971-12-14 … Cleveland — Colony (52)
1971-12-14 … Dallas — Cine 150 (26)
1971-12-14 … Houston — Tower (52)
1971-12-14 … Indianapolis — Circle (26)
1971-12-14 … Kansas City — Midland 1 (33)
1971-12-14 … Miami (Miami Beach) — Sheridan (38)
1971-12-14 … Milwaukee — Southgate (52)
1971-12-14 … Minneapolis — Academy (43)
1971-12-14 … Montreal — Place du Canada (31)
1971-12-14 … New Orleans — Cinerama (36)
1971-12-14 … Philadelphia — SamEric (27)
1971-12-14 … St. Louis — Cinerama (39)
1971-12-14 … Salt Lake City (South Salt Lake) — Century 21 (52)
1971-12-14 … San Diego — Loma (52)
1971-12-14 … Seattle — Uptown (52)
1971-12-14 … Vancouver — Park (52)
1971-12-15 … Pittsburgh — Manor (51)
1971-12-15 … Portland — Hollywood (53)
1972-02-15 … San Jose — Century 21 (56)
1972-02-15 … Syracuse — Shop City (20)
1972-02-16 … Edmonton — Varscona (51)
1972-02-16 … Hartford — Cinerama (38)
1972-02-16 … Honolulu — Cinerama (15)
1972-02-16 … Las Vegas — Huntridge (10)
1972-02-16 … Louisville — United Artists (19)
1972-02-16 … New Haven (Orange) — Showcase 3 (20)
1972-02-16 … Orlando (Winter Park) — Colony (20)
1972-02-16 … Phoenix — Thomas Mall (30)
1972-02-16 … Providence — Cinerama (26+)
1972-02-16 … Rochester (Henrietta) — Towne 1 (20)
1972-02-16 … Sacramento — Century 21 (43)
1972-02-16 … St. Petersburg — Gateway Mall (30)
1972-02-16 … Springfield (West Springfield) — Showcase 1 (20)
1972-02-16 … Toledo — Showcase 1 (20)
1972-03-14 … Orange — Cinedome 21 (56)
1972-03-15 … Calgary — Palliser Square 1 (20)
1972-03-15 … Charlotte — Park Terrace (12)
1972-03-15 … Dayton — Dabel (26)
1972-03-15 … Des Moines — Fleur 2 (15)
1972-03-15 … Omaha — Admiral (50)
1972-03-15 … Ottawa — Nelson (37)
1972-03-15 … Winnipeg — Kings (33)
1972-03-17 … Jacksonville — Edgewood (10+)
1972-03-22 … Memphis — Crosstown (12)
1972-03-22 … Norfolk (Virginia Beach) — Pembroke (10+)
1972-04-26 … Reno — Century 21 (10)
1972-04-26 … Richmond — Willow Lawn (11)
1972-05-24 … Wichita — Boulevard (17)
1972-06-21 … Long Island North Shore (Woodbury) — Cinema 150 (25)
1972-06-21 … Long Island South Shore (Woodmere) — Five Towns (20)
1972-06-21 … Newark (Paramus) — Paramus 2 (20)
1972-06-21 … Newark (Upper Montclair) — Bellevue (25)
1972-06-28 … Des Moines — Fleur 4 m/o (14 [29])
1972-06-28 … Oakland — Century 21 (25)
1972-07-12 … Richmond — Westhampton m/o (5 [16])
1972-08-04 … Calgary — Palliser Square 2 m/o (17 [37])
1972-10-04 … Concord (Pleasant Hill) — Century 21 (19)
1972-10-04 … Des Moines — River Hills m/o (5 [34])
1972-12-14 … Salt Lake City (South Salt Lake) — Century 23 m/o (14 [66])
It should be noted the engagements cited above represent only a fraction of the thousands of total bookings throughout the many cycles of distribution over the course of Fiddler‘s release. As such, this work does not include any of the film’s reserved performance (i.e. modified roadshow), general release, second-run, re-release, etc., nor does it include any international engagements.
A roadshow policy was implemented on Fiddler’s initial release in key overseas markets as well (London, Paris, Sydney, Tokyo, etc.), but researching and citing all of them is beyond the scope of this work.
THE Q&A
Greg Carson is a producer/editor and former Executive Director of Worldwide DVD Production at MGM.
Matthew Kennedy is the curator and host of the CinemaLit Film Series at Mechanics’ Institute San Francisco and the author of Roadshow! The Fall of Film Musicals in the 1960s (Oxford University Press, 2014). His other books include Joan Blondell: A Life Between Takes (University of Mississippi Press, 2007), Edmund Goulding’s Dark Victory: Hollywood’s Genius Bad Boy (University of Wisconsin Press, 2004), and Marie Dressler: A Biography (McFarland, 1999).
The producer of numerous John Williams expanded soundtracks, Mike Matessino, produced, restored, edited, mixed, mastered and annotated the Fiddler on the Roofexpanded soundtrack release from La-La Land Records.
Daniel Raim is the producer/director of the forthcoming Fiddler’s Journey to the Big Screen. Notable among the documentary filmmaker’s numerous other works are Image Makers: The Adventures of America’s Pioneer Cinematographers (2019), Harold and Lillian: A Hollywood Love Story (2015), and the Oscar-nominated The Man on Lincoln’s Nose (2000).
Alisa Solomon is Director, Arts & Culture MA, Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia University and the author of Wonder of Wonders: A Cultural History of Fiddler on the Roof (Metropolitan Books, 2013). Other works include Re-Dressing the Canon: Essays on Theater and Gender (Routledge, 1997), and her website is alisasolomon.com.
The interviews were conducted separately and edited into a “roundtable” conversation format.
Michael Coate (The Digital Bits): How do you think Fiddler on the Roof ought to be remembered/celebrated on its 50th anniversary?
Greg Carson: Fiddler remains relevant and inspirational on its 50th anniversary. It will be remembered for its handling of the stories with love and care. Taking its inspiration from the stories of Sholem Aleichem, the play and then film was transformative for the Jewish families that have had real world experiences with these ideas of tradition, faith and the breaking down of those traditions. Fiddler dealt with a very serious subject with humor and memorable songs. A film that shows family and love can withstand any obstacles.
Matthew Kennedy: I hope Fiddler on the Roof is remembered as a very fine and enduring work of popular entertainment. Of all the big musicals at the end of the roadshow era, this one ages the best. If anything, it looks and sounds better today than it did fifty years ago. The music, the visuals, the story that's so specific yet moves people throughout the world. Humor, heartbreak, memorable songs, big themes, and moral lessons—Fiddler has it all.
Mike Matessino: Fiddler on the Roof is timeless, and it doesn’t feel like it’s aged. So there’s a lot to celebrate. It should simply be remembered as one of the best Broadway musical adaptations ever made and a great classic movie.
Alisa Solomon: At an appointed time, everyone all over the world who has ever loved the show or the movie should amass in the streets and sing L’Chaim, honoring and expressing solidarity for each other’s life-force and mutuality, which persist despite socio-political and epidemiological inequities and horrors.
The Digital Bits: What was your first impression of Fiddler?
Carson: I first encountered Fiddler when I was 8 years old. My parents had the Zero Mostel Broadway vinyl album and as a child I played it constantly, and eventually wore that album out. My mom and dad would then explain the stories within those songs, and how my great grandpa was a milkman in Russia “just like Tevye” they would say. He eventually left for America during the Pogrom. So it resonated into my soul at a very early age. That was fifty years ago.
Kennedy: I saw Fiddler, eagerly and with high anticipation, at the first-run movie theater in my hometown of Redding, California. I was a freshman in high school. I thought it was wonderful for all the reasons it's still wonderful. As a nascent film critic, I didn't think it was perfect—it's perhaps a mite too long and a few of the performances aren't as strong as they could be. But overall, I was visually and emotionally dazzled by it on the big screen.
Matessino: Fiddler on the Roof was my real first impression of cinema beyond films for kids. I saw it at the end of its run at the Rivoli Theatre in New York City, in 70mm 6-track, and it was probably the first time I ever heard stereo in a cinema. The impression it made on me is what led to everything that came after for me, all of my love for movies, music and theatre. That has not changed one bit for me.
Solomon: My family owned the original Broadway cast album when I was a kid and I remember dancing around our living room, singing along with every number when I was eight or nine. I felt like I had entered the story and belonged to it. I first saw it when the national tour came to Chicago in 1967 and played at the McVickers Theater. I was 10 and it was a big deal for my family—who lived in the suburbs—to pile into the station wagon and head downtown to see a show. We had never done that before—nor after. Though we sat high up in the balcony, I recall feeling completely captivated and especially drawn to Hodel and Perchik; I think I was a budding Bundist.
The Digital Bits: In what way is Fiddler a significant motion picture?
Carson: Fiddler is a significant motion picture because of how it was handled by director Norman Jewison and everyone behind the creations of the film. Filming on location and choosing Topol to play Tevye, with the addition of John Williams using authentic instrumentation—expanding the orchestra for a big-screen sound—makes it all the more impressive.
Kennedy: Fiddler appeared when the film musical was in steep decline. A number of big budgeted musicals had recently failed at the box office (Star!, Paint Your Wagon, Hello, Dolly!, Darling Lili, Song of Norway). They were out of step with a filmgoing public that favored edgy contemporary films like Midnight Cowboy and M*A*S*H. United Artists was willing to take a chance on Fiddler, given that it had become a record-breaking smash on Broadway and the West End. It scored at the box office, momentarily stopping the qualitative downward spiral of film musicals.
Matessino: Fiddler is significant in many ways, but one of them is the fact that the movie was produced as if it wasn’t a musical at all. It was designed, cast and filmed with great authenticity and accuracy, and then the adapted stage show and songs were played over that setting. The fact that this worked so well is what makes it a timeless piece of cinema that still holds up. It’s also a great example of how the book musical form is very good, if done well, at illuminating history for audiences. If not for this musical, it’s possible no one would remember this important piece of Jewish history and their coercion out of Tsarist Russia more than a century ago.
Daniel Raim: I think director Norman Jewison and his cast and crew created a timeless masterpiece and a profoundly moving movie musical adaptation of the Broadway hit. The look of the film, with its rustic and earthy brown tones and muted colors, is wonderfully realized by production designer Robert F. Boyle, costume designers Joan Bridge and Elizabeth Haffenden, and cinematographer Oswald Morris, all masters of their respective crafts. I love the entire cast, including their enchanting vocal performances. And Jewison was the great "conductor," overseeing this wide-screen epic with humor, tenderness, visual panache, and empathy for the characters.
Solomon: Well, in its day it was significant right off the bat in terms of dough: it had the largest advance group sales in Hollywood history—$1.25 million. And while most of the musicals released from the end of the 1960s on, flopped, losing millions for studios,Fiddler did quite well. More important, like the stage version before had been for Broadway, the movie was the first work in the medium of the major motion picture to present, with affection, the vanished world of Eastern European Jewry; it has come sentimentally (and in various ways erroneously) to stand as the origin story for American Jews.
The Digital Bits: Which are the film’s standout songs?
Carson: The musical has so many standout songs and performances. Sunrise Sunsetis so mesmerizingly beautiful and If I Were a Rich Man is funny and heartwarming. But I love hearing Tradition belted out by the townspeople, doing their daily chores as the audience is introduced to familiar characters. The violin solos (Itzhak Perlman) are fantastic along with John Williams’ orchestrations.
Kennedy: Let's salute composer Jerry Bock and lyricist Sheldon Harnick for their great score. All the songs are strong, but Tradition, Matchmaker, Matchmaker, If I Were a Rich Man, and Sunrise, Sunset have rightly become standards.
Matessino: It’s one of those rare musicals where just about every song is memorable, although the ones from the first half of the story are the ones that have become the well-known standards, like Matchmaker, If I Were a Rich Man and Sunrise, Sunset. The rest are no less amazing, especially Sabbath Prayer and Do You Love Me? Tevye’s Dream is a groundbreaking construction, and To Life! is Jerome Robbins at his best.
Raim: As depicted in Jewison's film, the Shabbat Prayer scene is beautifully performed, staged, and photographed. I love the warmth and intimacy of the scene, showing a family lovingly singing around the glimmering light of the Shabbat candles. Likewise, the Anatevka scene, as depicted in Jewison's movie, is profoundly moving, with John Williams underscore beautifully adapting Jerry Boch's original music and Sheldon Harnick's lyrics.
Solomon: Unfair question! I love all the songs. I’ll say Anatevka, not because I love it most—in fact it’s a bit much in the movie—but because it seriously stands out by taking up the most space. The departure scene lasts a whopping twenty minutes and the song dirges along with the packing up and trudging away Anatevkans for much of that time.
The Digital Bits: How does the film compare to the stage production and source material?
Carson: I saw the play years after seeing the film and I love how small and intimate the stage show is but for the film I feel it was the right decision to expand and make it a larger scale production.
Kennedy: Fiddler is based on a compilation of stories by Sholem Aleichem
called Tevye and his Daughters from 1894. They were the sources of a 1939 Yiddish film before becoming a Broadway musical in 1964. Fiddler is a strong example of how to wisely adapt a stage production to the screen. The studio gave a visionary director, Norman Jewison, substantial artistic freedom. To give Fiddler weight and realism, Jewison opened it up, and filmed on location in then Yugoslavia. He had a fantastic command of the material, knowing what to trim and what to keep. He took advantage of what film can offer, in this case widescreen vistas, stereo sound, and artfully chosen close-ups and long shots. He wisely kept almost all of the original score. He cast the film with little known actors, so they brought no outside baggage with them. And he kept the full weight of Fiddler's grave themes pertaining to family, religion and religious intolerance, poverty, and the breakdown of tradition in the face of momentous cultural changes.
Matessino: Overall, Fiddler does a superb job of bringing the world that Sholem Aleichem wrote about to mainstream audiences. The writings were not translated into English until the 1940s, and even after that the appeal was very much focused on the Jewish community. Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick, although Jewish themselves, focused on the universal quality of the story, as did Joe Stein, who did a great job of cherry picking different parts of the Teyve tales that combined together into something archetypal, where the main character is challenged by the breakdown of tradition, bending as far as his spirit can manage, and then we witness an entire way of life come to an abrupt end. Stein adapted his own play for the screen, which was the right way to go, and I think it’s a brilliant adaptation, faithful to the show but making certain changes to the music and the scenes that were right for the medium of cinema.
Raim: When I interviewed Norman Jewison for the documentary, he talked about the challenges of adapting the Fiddler play and "making it believable and bringing it out into the real world." Jewison told me, "I wanted to put up a pogrom into the film. I wanted to do something they could never do in the play." The sequence of the people leaving Anatevka at the film's end, sloshing through the mud and carrying their world belongings, is heartbreaking.
Solomon: As Norman Jewison often said, film is a more realistic medium than theater, more literal. Even if I don’t entirely agree with that as a general pronouncement—there is such a thing as experimental film, after all—it’s certainly true of Fiddler: in the movie, we’ve got real cows and barns and an extended violent pogrom scene; the stage is more metaphorical and requires audiences to fill in with their imaginations. Related to this, tonally the film is more somber. Jewison himself said he tamped down the humor. As for its relation to the original Sholem Aleichem stories—how much time have you got?
The Digital Bits: Where do you think Fiddler ranks among roadshow era musicals?
Carson: Where Fiddler ranks is a challenging question. When talking about musicals there is a focus on West Side Story, The Sound of Music, My Fair Lady and Cabaret. So I hope with this anniversary we are able to introduce another generation to this film and its impressive use of music and stories.
Kennedy: It belongs on the list of the best and most successful, which would includeWest Side Story, My Fair Lady, and The Sound of Music.
Matessino: Fiddler might be one of the last great and successful of the bunch. It’s funny how we had so many big roadshow musicals produced in an attempt to capitalize on the success of The Sound of Music in 1965, and just when it was declared over with a string of costly failures in 1967 and into 1968, along comes Funny Girl and Oliver!, both hits and the latter winning the Best Picture Oscar. Then we have more failed musicals over the next couple of years, by which time Fiddler was already in production, so there was probably some concern about how it would be received. But it was made with such integrity by Norman Jewison, that there was every reason to be confident because the material was so strong. When it comes to roadshow musicals with intermissions and all of that, Fiddler was the last one to really enjoy a big success.
Solomon: I don’t have enough basis of comparison to answer that specifically, but I will say: Hooray for the roadshow. All the grandness of the experience—reserved seats, overture, intermission, glossy program book—made going to see it a special occasion. Maybe now that we stream so much film at home, movie-going at theaters will have to become lavish again. I hope so.
The Digital Bits: In what way was Norman Jewison a good choice to direct (i.e. how did his talent/skillset/sensibilities, etc. benefit the project), and where do you think Fiddlerranks among his body of work?
Carson: Norman Jewison is a very skilled director and his understanding of the subject matter goes beyond what lies on the surface. Over the course of four years and beyond (I interviewed him last year for the Hal Ashby film The Landlord) whenever we talked Fiddler it was with a deep understanding of the characters. Yes, he can direct actors and guide a film to a cohesive vision shared by many of his collaborators, but it’s his choices of who and where and how a film is made that show his producing skills are very much a part of his process. I cannot imagine the film without his influence and guidance. If you look at the National Film Board of Canada’s documentary that I licensed for the Collector’s Edition LaserDisc release in 1997 (renewed for subsequent DVD and Blu-ray releases) you will see Norman on the set, singing along, crying along, as he directs and that shows his empathy and how his heart and soul are in every scene of the film.
Kennedy: Like Robert Wise and West Side Story, Jewison was a highly versatile director. It's difficult to compare Fiddler to, say, In the Heat of the Night or Moonstruck. They're all outstanding films, but so different one from the other. Jewison followedFiddler with another musical, Jesus Christ Superstar, but it was nowhere near the hitFiddler was.
Matessino: The context is very important because Norman Jewison very much wanted to make films that were socially relevant and addressed important issues. He hadn’t done a musical, but he had a lot of experience with musical variety shows for television, both in his native Canada and in the U.S. He had a very good relationship with the Mirisch brothers, for whom he made several features in a row, and he formally committed to directFiddler before In the Heat of the Night was completed. Norman hates any kind of social injustice, so took the assignment very seriously. He was very much affected by the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., which happened just days before the Academy Awards. He, along with Sidney Poitier and other African Americans slated to appear on the Oscar show, announced that they were going to attend the King funeral, and so the Oscar ceremony was delayed, and In the Heat of the Night won Best Picture, of course. It was a very tumultuous time. But then, just two months later, Robert Kennedy was killed in L.A. Jewison knew him personally and was scheduled to meet with him, and this was a tipping point that resulted in a decision to move his entire family to England for an extended period when Fiddler production began. By the time that happened in mid-1970, the U.S. had changed a lot and I’m sure that this story of feeling compelled to leave one’s own country resonated even more with Jewison. So there’s really no doubt that he was the ideal director for the film and that it’s such a great movie entirely because of what he brought to it.
Raim: Jewison's background directing high-level musical television in the late 1950s, including Tonight with Belafonte and the The Judy Garland Show, prepared him from the perspective of how to move the camera when musical performances are taking place. As a result, his sense of timing, mise-en-scene, and choreography for the big-screen canvas is superb. Jewison told me that he ranks Fiddler as his favorite film. It's also my favorite Jewison film.
Solomon: Jewison had strong liberal commitments and was deeply rankled by bigotry and inequality and that sensibility infused his Fiddler. He said at the time that he thought it would be the most important movie of the year. He brought a strong sense of purpose to the project and he had a sincere love for Jewish culture. Is it his best film? I have no idea. I still have a warm spot for The Russians are Coming, the Russians are Coming, though I haven’t seen it since I was a kid and hope I’d laugh just as hard at it now, and In the Heat of the Night is a perfect encapsulation of late ’60s naïve high hopes for a brotherhood-of-man solution to racism, while also remaining surprisingly captivating as story-telling. But Fiddler is probably his most enduring picture.
The Digital Bits: What are your thoughts on Topol’s performance, and where do you think the performance ranks among his body of work?
Carson: I was fortunate that Topol was in Los Angeles in 1996. I spent an afternoon with him at a condo in Marina del Rey, California, to record his comments for the LaserDisc release. He talked about playing Tevye in Israel and London where Norman saw him before hiring him for the film. This performance by Topol as Tevye is his best work. I personally feel Tevye is embodied by Topol’s performance, although some will argue they miss Zero Mostel from the original production.
Matessino: Topol delivers his definitive performance in the film and he was perfect for it. Norman Jewison was the first to acknowledge that Zero Mostel created the character on Broadway, but he was right that the persona was not going to work well if you put him in an authentic shtetl authentically constricted in Croatia. Topol was Israeli and had a Russian Jewish background, so he brought the real deal to the portrayal, which he had been able to hone first as understudy for the Tel Aviv Hebrew production and then as the lead in the West End in 1967. He was only 35 or so at the time the movie was made, so it’s amazing to see just how convincing he is, not only as a character 20 years older than his real age, but really feeling like he is someone from another century. He was always a powerful and distinctive screen presence, but he really embodied Tevye. I was privileged to see him perform the role in the 1989 Broadway production and again on the national tour in 2006-7, where I also got to meet him backstage. He is a very intelligent, accomplished, wonderful person.
Solomon: Jewison always said he wanted Topol because he felt the actor had a close proximity to the shtetl experience of Tevye since Topol’s father had immigrated to Israel from Eastern Europe, but in fact, it was Topol’s tough, assertive, very Israeli “new muscle Jew” persona that most appealed to him—Topol’s Tevye doesn’t shrug at God, he shakes a fist at Him.
The Digital Bits: Can you describe, please, your current/recent Fiddler project (i.e. what did you like about working on the project, any noteworthy discoveries, what can readers/fans expect, etc.)?
Carson: My most recent work/interviews for a Blu-ray release were conducted in 2006. I interviewed Sheldon Harnick, Joseph Stein, Jerry Bock (on a phone call—he could not do it in person), Lynn Stalmaster, Tevye’s daughters (Michele Marsh, Neva Small, Rosalind Harris), John Williams, Robert Boyle, Antony Gibbs, and Norman Jewison. What I liked about working on the project was learning about the history of my family and many other Jewish families and how they ended up in America. To share that, along with stories on how the songs came to be from the stories, how the village was authentically replicated for the film, how scenes were filmed and created, makes this one of my favorite projects I have ever worked on.
Matessino: I’m thrilled to have been able to create the new 50th anniversary soundtrack release for Fiddler, which is a 3-CD limited edition from La-La Land Records. It is part of my ongoing work on scores by John Williams, who was the musical director for Fiddler, and this is the project for which he won his first Academy Award. Because of how important Fiddler has always been to me, and how much I love the film, I have always wanted the opportunity to work with the music and give it an updated mix and high-quality restoration. I must have gone through three copies of the 2-LP soundtrack when I was growing up, so I have a lot of attachment to it, but sonically it was done in accordance with the standards of the early 1970s. In 2001 there was a 30th anniversary edition, but I was appalled to discover that just about everything about it was done incorrectly. The performances were wrong in some cases, the balances were way off, and all of the noises and bad edits were left as they were on the master tapes. Later on I also learned how much John Williams disliked it, but it took a long time until it became possible for the project to be done again. I was able to go back to the 1971 8-track master tapes that were prepared for the original album and spend the time doing a restoration at the microscopic level, really cleaning up all of the vocal tracks and analog edits, and then remixing it in a more robust way that would really make Williams’ work on the project shine. The film itself has a phenomenal sound mix. Even to this day when you see it in the cinema, there’s a particular way that the music envelops you that takes me right back to that first screening at the Rivoli. I wanted to capture that impact in presenting the soundtrack now, and have it stand equally beside all of Williams’ finest work. Fiddler was all recorded with the same engineer and on the same stage as Star Wars, Supermanand Raiders, and it remains a very important project to John. We also have a second disc of alternate mixes and film versions, some of which feature more of violinist Isaac Stern, and then a third disc that has playback versions of the songs as well as other musical segments from the film itself that I was able to work with until they were in a presentable form for a soundtrack. I wasn’t sure how successfully that would go, but the digital tools we have now are pretty amazing, and Maestro Williams was very pleased with how it all turned out. La-La Land Records was also very generous in letting me write about the creation of the music in a big essay booklet, because a lot of material was uncovered, scoring logs, correspondence, and other information, thanks to the efforts of colleagues around the world. I’d like to give a shout out in particular to Deniz Cordell, Tim Burden, Saul Pincus and Maurizio Caschetto. The project really turned out as good as I could have expected and I hope everyone will enjoy exploring the music. It’s really an amazing recording that is, of course, a huge part of the film’s success.
Raim: The film version of Fiddler on the Roof was introduced to me when I was a child by my grandparents, who survived the Holocaust. Jewison's film, including Robert Boyle's visually stunning and scrupulously researched production design, was a window into the world my grandparents came from, which no longer exists…. I started exploring Fiddler by shooting in-depth interviews with the movie's cast and crew, including the film's production designer Robert F. Boyle (shot in 2000), the film's star, Topol (shot in 2009), director Norman Jewison (shot in 2000 and 2016), lyricist Sheldon Harnick (shot in 2017), composer John Williams, film critic Kenneth Turan, and the three actresses who play Tevye's eldest daughters (all shot in 2021)…. Making Fiddler’s Journey to the Big Screen has been a true labor of love, years in the making. I wanted to make a documentary that explores Jewison's artistry, compassion, and humanity as well as his spiritual and creative quest directing Fiddler on the Roof…. Narrated by Jeff Goldblum, Fiddler’s Journey to the Big Screen captures the humor and drama of director Norman Jewison's quest to recreate the lost world of Jewish life in Tsarist Russia and re-envision the beloved stage hit as a wide-screen epic…. Fiddler’s Journey to the Big Screenputs us in the director's chair and in Jewison's heart and mind, drawing on behind-the-scenes footage and never-before-seen stills as well as original interviews. The film explores how the experience of making Fiddler deepens Jewison as an artist and revives his soul.
Solomon: [My book] was an entirely over-determined project for me. My academic field is Theater Studies, so I already had an affinity for the topic generally. In addition, in the late 1990s, I spent several years intensively studying Yiddish and had been blown away to read Sholem Aleichem and find that he was not the cutesy humorist he’s often reductively described as, but a great modernist writer. A few years later, when a new production of Fiddler was announced for Broadway, I had a cynical attitude toward it—I hadn’t seen or thought of the show literally in decades—and I proposed writing about it for the Village Voice, where I was a staff writer and theater critic at the time, figuring I’d produce something snarky. To prepare, I went to a CD store (remember those?) to buy the Fiddler album and when I put it on at home, just a few bars in, I started to cry, and I kept it up through the whole album. I had to check my cynicism and ask myself, honestly, what the emotional power of this work was. That’s where my project really started.
The Digital Bits: What do you think is the legacy of Fiddler on the Roof?
Solomon: Oy. It took me nearly 400 pages to answer that.
Carson: When I interviewed Norman Jewison for the various home entertainment formats, he shared something very inspirational. Although we focused on the Jewish stories and inspiration for those stories, he shared a great anecdote about the reason for the film’s popularity in Japan. The Japanese people have a deep understanding of tradition. And Fiddler is about the breaking down of traditions and allowing love to overcome any idea that there is no other way than the “old way.” That’s Fiddler’s legacy: love, love of family, love conquers all obstacles.
Kennedy: Fiddler keeps going and going; I can't think of any other musical with such wide appeal. There have been umpteen Broadway and London revivals and touring companies. The film, especially magnificent on the big screen, does Fiddler justice. There's a terrific 2019 documentary, Fiddler: Miracle of Miracles, all about its great popularity across generations and continents. We see the huge impact Fiddler has had worldwide, from African American high school students performing it to a professional staging in Japan. (I played Motel, the tailor in a high school production that was so special we went on tour, so I'm not entirely objective.) Joel Grey, director of a recent Yiddish language production in New York, asks, "Why does everyone think Fiddler is about them?" In that one rhetorical question, he locates the genius of Fiddler. In bringing to life a Jewish village during the fall of Imperial Russia, the makers of Fiddlertapped into the beating heart of much of humanity.
Raim: I hope Fiddler’s Journey somehow contributes to the legacy of the movie version of Fiddler on the Roof by exploring and humanizing the contributions of the incredibly talented cinema artists, both in front of and behind the camera, making a film born from their hearts and souls.
Matessino: Most importantly, the legacy is to keep the stories of Sholem Aleichem alive. They remain charming and insightful even today, but would be much more obscure if not for Fiddler on the Roof. The musical was, of course, very much embraced by the Jewish community, who, perhaps for the first time, could share part of their history with others and feel good about doing so. It’s ironic that a musical that’s all about cultural division has done so much to bring people together. That illustrates the power of art, and particularly of the musical genre. It’s also very important in the career of Norman Jewison, and of course for John Williams. It’s just a very special movie, adapted from a very special show, and its power has not diminished one bit.
The Digital Bits: Thank you—Alisa, Daniel, Greg, Matthew, and Mike—for sharing your thoughts about Fiddler on the Roof on the occasion of its 50th anniversary.
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IMAGES
Selected images copyright/courtesy MGM Home Entertainment, The Mirisch Production Company, Robert Morro, National Film Board of Canada, National Screen Service, The New York Times, Syufy Enterprises, James Titus, United Artists.
SOURCES/REFERENCES
The primary references for this project were the motion picture Fiddler on the Roof(United Artists, 1971), regional newspaper coverage, trade reports published in Boxoffice, The Hollywood Reporter and Variety, and interviews conducted by the author. All figures and data pertain to North America (i.e. United States and Canada) except where stated otherwise.
SPECIAL THANKS
Jerry Alexander, Laura Baas (Florida State Library), Jim Barg, Don Beelik, Diane Buckley (Virginia Beach Public Library), Ray Caple, Greg Carson, Clara and Lanham (Providence Public Library), Kevin Geisert (Norfolk Public Library), Sheldon Hall, Isaac (Buffalo & Erie County Public Library), William Kallay, Matthew Kennedy, Bill Kretzel, Mark Lensenmayer, Stan Malone, Mike Matessino, Genevieve Maxwell (Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences), W.R. Miller, Robert Morrow, Gabriel Neeb, Jim Perry, Daniel Raim, Alisa Solomon, James Titus, Vince Young.
In case you missed them or desire a refresher read, this column’s other roadshow era musical retrospectives include Camelot 50th, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang 50th, Funny Girl50th, Hello, Dolly! 50th, Mary Poppins 50th, My Fair Lady 50th, Paint Your Wagon50th, The Sound of Music 50th, Sweet Charity 45th, and 1776 Blu-ray release.
Originally posted by The Digital Bits/Michael Coate
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TO LIFE! REMEMBERING “FIDDLER ON THE ROOF” ON ITS 50TH ANNIVERSARY
By Michael Coate
“Fiddler on the Roof belongs on the list of the best and most successful musicals, which would include West Side Story, My Fair Lady, and The Sound of Music.” — Matthew Kennedy, author of Roadshow!
The Digital Bits and History, Legacy & Showmanship are pleased to present this retrospective commemorating the golden anniversary of the release of Fiddler on the Roof, the popular, award-winning screen adaptation of the Broadway musical and the writings of Sholem Aleichem.
Directed by Norman Jewison (In the Heat of the Night, Moonstruck), Fiddler starred Topol (Flash Gordon, For Your Eyes Only) as Tevye, the poor Jewish milkman determined to marry off his daughters amidst turmoil in his small Ukrainian village.
Also starring Norma Crane, Leonard Frey, Molly Picon, and Paul Mann, and featuring Oscar-winning cinematography, music, and sound, Fiddler rolled out to movie theaters, initially as a roadshow, beginning fifty years ago this autumn. For the occasion The Bitsfeatures a multi-page package of statistics and box-office data that places the movie’s performance in context, passages from some of its film reviews, a reference/historical listing of its reserved-seat “roadshow” engagements, and, finally, a roundtable interview segment with a group of film historians, documentarians and scholars who reflect on the film five decades after its debut.
The Bits reviewed the DVD release of Fiddler many, many years ago. Its most recent home media release (on Blu-ray Disc) was in 2011. And since we’re on the subject of the film’s 50th… Hey, MGM…, how ‘bout a 4K UHD release? Or a theatrical re-release?
FIDDLER NUMBERS
1 = Box-office rank among films directed by Norman Jewison
1 = Rank among top-earning films released in 1971 (lifetime/retroactive)
1 = Rank among UA’s all-time top-earning movies at close of first run
2 = Box-office rank among roadshow era musicals
2 = Number of cinemas playing Fiddler during its opening weekend
2 = Rank among top-earning movies during the 1972 calendar year
3 = Number of Academy Awards
4 = Number of years UA’s top-earning film
8 = Number of Academy Award nominations
13 = Peak all-time box-office chart position
66 = Number of weeks longest-running engagement played
$9.0 million = Production cost
$25.1 million = Domestic box-office rental (earnings through 12/31/1972)
$35.6 million = Domestic box-office rental (earnings through 12/31/1973)
$40.5 million = Domestic box-office rental (earnings through 12/31/1980)
$61.5 million = Production cost (adjusted for inflation)
$83.3 million = Box-office gross
$251.4 million = Box-office rental (adjusted for inflation)
$531.9 million = Box-office gross (adjusted for inflation)
PASSAGES FROM A SAMPLING OF ORIGINAL FILM REVIEWS
“There’s a little too much of everything except simplicity in Norman Jewison’s over-inflated three-hour screen edition of the famous Broadway musical. To the movie’s credit are some fine songs and dances and an over-riding decency of spirit. It offers an affirmation of life that contrasts strongly with the suicidal pessimism of many so-called entertainments in our era.” — Clyde Gilmour, The Toronto Star
“The film version of Fiddler on the Roof is somewhere between a very quiet mazel tov and a loud oy.” — Kevin Kelly, The Boston Globe
“Fiddler on the Roof has been done with such artistry but also with such evident love, devotion, integrity and high aspiration that watching it is a kind of duplex pleasure. You are warmed by it in its own terms as a superior piece of entertainment. And, if you have any abiding affection for the movies as a form, you have to be knocked out of your seat by the painstaking and inspired craftsmanship you see (and hear) before you.” — Charles Champlin, Los Angeles Times
“After a record-breaking seven years on the New York stage, Tevye, the poor Jewish milkman from the little Russian town of Anatevka, has made it big. Not every milkman is accompanied on his rounds by a six-track stereo recording of a symphony orchestra.” — Gene Siskel, Chicago Tribune
“I suppose Fiddler on the Roof is just the movie that lovers of the stage play were waiting for—and since Fiddler is the most popular stage musical in history, that’s something, all right. But would it be heresy on my part to suggest that Fiddler isn’t much as a musical, and that director Norman Jewison has made as good a film as can be made from a story that is quite simply boring?” — Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
“As a film, Fiddler on the Roof has to be judged an artistic failure, although a handsomely photographed one.” — Howell Raines, The Atlanta Constitution
“There are virtually insuperable difficulties in bringing a Broadway musical to the screen, and this Fiddler suffers from them. The conception behind the musical numbers remains inflexibly stage-bound for the most part. The attempts at cinematic equivalents usually prove distracting. The convention of pretending that people are going about their normal lives while singing is too contradictory to be accepted. ” — William B. Collins, The Philadelphia Inquirer
“An enormous man with sparkling (not melting) brown eyes, Topol has the necessary combination of bombast and compassion, vitality and doubts. His dialogs with God (and/or the audience) are more cautious and less in the chutzpah style of, say, Zero Mostel. Topol sings passably, but If I Were a Rich Man is too serious, losing the fun.” — Robert J. Landry, Variety
“[T]he screen version of Fiddler on the Roof is a film that will be seen by millions and loved. It should have about the same success as did Sound of Music, which had people going back time after time to see it. In short, it’s a blockbuster.” — Barry Morrison, The Denver Post
“It does not matter whether you have seen Fiddler on the stage, you must see what Jewison has done with this bittersweet story, how he has expanded the action which the camera makes possible to further enhance an already delightful experience.” — William A. Payne, The Dallas Morning News
“The music is simply elegant. Never have I gone around humming it so often, not even after the first time I saw it on stage.” — Emerson Batdorff, The Plain Dealer (Cleveland)
“[A]n absolutely smashing movie; it is not especially sensitive, it is far from delicate, and it isn’t even particularly imaginative, but it seems to me the most powerful movie musical ever made.” — Pauline Kael, The New Yorker
“Audiences will be going in to see a musical comedy with a bit of meaning and a bit more uplift for the spirit. What the film delivers is a heavy-handed folk drama with a lot of posing and preaching about eternal verities and—oh yes, some incidental music.” — Tom McElfresh, The Cincinnati Enquirer
“Norman Jewison, the film’s director, and Joseph Stein, who adapted for the screen his own stage adaptation of the Sholem Aleichem stories, have not tampered with the text in any obviously reckless way. They have sought only to enlarge the physical frame of the show by setting it in its time (1905) and physical place (actually in Yugoslavia) with real houses, in real barns with real animals, in real fields and real landscapes. They want to show us everything, to give us our money’s worth. In doing so, they’ve not just opened up the play, they’ve let most of the life out of it. ” — Vincent Canby, The New York Times
“Jewison’s Fiddler is a great film, by which I mean great in the sense that matters most—greatly moving, an extraordinarily powerful, emotional experience.” — Gary Arnold, The Washington Post
“This wouldn’t be the same movie without Oswald Morris’ wonderfully muted cinematography. Like his work on Oliver! it makes a visually depressing environment seem much less so, and the costumes and sets seem both authentic and tinged with the theatrical. The music is too loud and emphatic in places—as if it had to be, to prove that this is an important film—but John Williams’ adaptation of Jerry Bock’s score is generally apt. Not only is Isaac Stern’s playing of the fiddler’s tunes brilliant; his casting was a stroke of genius. Perhaps the movie’s boldest single stroke is the casting of Topol, the young Israeli actor, in the part of Tevye, the aging Jewish milkman who lives in the Czarist Russian village of Anatevka. Topol is a larger-than-life performer, a highly theatrical actor who delivers the kind of broad, brash, physical performance that hasn’t been seen in movies since Anthony Quinn played Zorba. And it works. Wow, does it work!” — John Hartl, The Seattle Times
“The journey from stage to screen, especially for a highly successful musical is often a rocky path, for what works on one doesn’t necessarily work on the other. Furthermore, the wide-screen exposes many of the conceits and conventions of stage productions.” —Paine Knickerbocker, San Francisco Chronicle
“There is a possibility that America’s longest-running stage musical, Fiddler on the Roof, [playing] the Loma Theater, also will become its longest-running film. To accomplish that in San Diego, Fiddler on the Roof would have to exceed two and a half years, which was the length of The Sound of Music run at the Loma. Film audiences were in a different mood about decency, loyalty, romance, sentiment and folksy nostalgia when The Sound of Music opened in 1965 than they have been since. Perhaps the pendulum is swinging, as hoped, in favor of what Fiddler on the Roof has to offer, which is three hours of pleasant entertainment.” — James Meade, The San Diego Union
“Stereophonic bedlam: In his big song-number, If I Were a Rich Man, Topol fails to reach the heights of philosophical humor attained by Zero Mostel in the original Broadway cast. (Mostel is still triumphantly audible in an RCA album, LSO-1093.) The orchestra on the movie soundtrack delivers super-symphonic decibels, and several of the choral numbers shake the chandeliers with stereophonic bedlam. Even the allegorical fiddler on the roof at the story’s beginning and ending, representing the unquenchable Jewish soul, is played with dazzling virtuosity by the celebrated Isaac Stern. He’s a glorious violinist—and he sounds much too expensive for Sholom Aleichem’s modest rural musician.” — Clyde Gilmour, The Toronto Star
“If one could say only two words about Fiddler on the Roof, they would be: See it. Broadway’s longest-running musical, as the ads say, has been transformed into a magical, often poetic film by producer-director Norman Jewison. The screen Fiddler is not, however, without flaws. It suffers from over-romanticization, a weak second half, and some incredibly hackneyed and trite camera work, along with a few performances that approach borscht-belt caricature. And yet, despite these directoral blemishes, Fiddler is a movie to see and enjoy.” — John Weisman, Detroit Free Press
“Irrespective of the fact that Fiddler has become one of those undying shows on stage, Norman Jewison’s film treatment is a model, indeed a triumph, of translating a production from one medium to another. Most often, the flimsiest conventions of the musical stage are muddled up with the worst excesses of movie gimmicks to create a hollow clang. Fiddler reverses the process by retaining that inexplicable body-heat of live performance and augmenting it with the scope and openness and reality of setting that a well-run camera can capture.” — Don Morrison, The Minneapolis Star
“Norman Jewison’s $9 million movie of Fiddler on the Roof is the result of a painstaking attempt to purge Broadway from the show and replace it with the spirit of Sholom Aleichem. What emerges is a film that is faithful to the letter of the Broadway show, but [also] faithful to the spirit of Jewish folk lore. At times it is a drama with music; at other times it is a folk opera. It is no longer a musical comedy.” — George Anderson, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
“Fiddler on the Roof is simply a beautiful motion picture. It is not enough that the filmmakers have told their story very well, have created a mood appropriate to the story line, have photographed and recorded the scenery and music so well. The important achievement is in their understanding that a man can be surrounded by grim events and unjust men, and still remain a man, a very good man.” — John Huddy, The Miami Herald
THE ROADSHOW ENGAGEMENTS
What follows, for historical record and nostalgia, is a chronological reference listing of Fiddler on the Roof‘s North American reserved-seat “roadshow” engagements (otherwise known as Phase One of its release cycle). These were special, long-running, showcase presentations in major cities prior to the film being exhibited as a general release. The roadshows featured advanced admission pricing, reserved seating (typically sold in advance), and an average of ten scheduled screenings per week (one per evening, plus a matinee on weekends, Wednesdays and holidays, though this policy varied by locale and/or was modified during the latter phase of engagement). Souvenir roadshow programs were sold as well, and the presentation included an intermission, entr’acte and exit music. (Many roadshows included an overture, as well, though Fiddler, like some notable exceptions, lacked such an introduction.)
Out of all of the feature films released during 1971, Fiddler on the Roof was among only two given roadshow treatment by their respective studios. (Nicholas and Alexandra was the other 1971 roadshow.)
Roadshow presentations, compared to general release and the average moviegoing experience of the era, typically were booked into larger cinemas and offered a superior projection and sound experience in addition to the other roadshow amenities. Although Fiddler’s distributor, United Artists, elected not to promote the film’s presentation tech details, it is believed that some of Fiddler‘s roadshow presentations were presented in 70-millimeter (blown up from 35mm anamorphic) and all of the film’s reserved-seat presentations featured stereophonic sound: 4-track for 35mm prints and 6-track for the coveted 70mm prints.
Fiddler‘s anniversary offers an opportunity to namedrop some once glorious cinemas, to provide some nostalgia for those readers who saw the film during this phase of its original release, and to reflect on how motion picture exhibition trends have evolved over the decades.
Opening Date YYYY-MM-DD … City — Cinema (duration in weeks)
1971-11-03 … New York — Rivoli (58)
1971-11-05 … Los Angeles (Beverly Hills) — Fox Wilshire (58)
1971-11-10 … Boston — Cheri 1 (11)
1971-11-10 … Boston — Cheri 2 (37)
1971-11-10 … Chicago — McClurg Court (57)
1971-11-10 … Denver — Aladdin (57)
1971-11-10 … Detroit (Southfield) — Northland (57)
1971-11-10 … San Francisco — Golden Gate 1 (57)
1971-11-10 … Toronto — University (57)
1971-11-10 … Washington — Uptown (57)
1971-12-14 … Atlanta — Atlanta (22)
1971-12-14 … Baltimore (Randallstown) — Randallstown Plaza (26)
1971-12-14 … Buffalo (Amherst) — Plaza North (26+)
1971-12-14 … Cincinnati — Valley (34)
1971-12-14 … Cleveland — Colony (52)
1971-12-14 … Dallas — Cine 150 (26)
1971-12-14 … Houston — Tower (52)
1971-12-14 … Indianapolis — Circle (26)
1971-12-14 … Kansas City — Midland 1 (33)
1971-12-14 … Miami (Miami Beach) — Sheridan (38)
1971-12-14 … Milwaukee — Southgate (52)
1971-12-14 … Minneapolis — Academy (43)
1971-12-14 … Montreal — Place du Canada (31)
1971-12-14 … New Orleans — Cinerama (36)
1971-12-14 … Philadelphia — SamEric (27)
1971-12-14 … St. Louis — Cinerama (39)
1971-12-14 … Salt Lake City (South Salt Lake) — Century 21 (52)
1971-12-14 … San Diego — Loma (52)
1971-12-14 … Seattle — Uptown (52)
1971-12-14 … Vancouver — Park (52)
1971-12-15 … Pittsburgh — Manor (51)
1971-12-15 … Portland — Hollywood (53)
1972-02-15 … San Jose — Century 21 (56)
1972-02-15 … Syracuse — Shop City (20)
1972-02-16 … Edmonton — Varscona (51)
1972-02-16 … Hartford — Cinerama (38)
1972-02-16 … Honolulu — Cinerama (15)
1972-02-16 … Las Vegas — Huntridge (10)
1972-02-16 … Louisville — United Artists (19)
1972-02-16 … New Haven (Orange) — Showcase 3 (20)
1972-02-16 … Orlando (Winter Park) — Colony (20)
1972-02-16 … Phoenix — Thomas Mall (30)
1972-02-16 … Providence — Cinerama (26+)
1972-02-16 … Rochester (Henrietta) — Towne 1 (20)
1972-02-16 … Sacramento — Century 21 (43)
1972-02-16 … St. Petersburg — Gateway Mall (30)
1972-02-16 … Springfield (West Springfield) — Showcase 1 (20)
1972-02-16 … Toledo — Showcase 1 (20)
1972-03-14 … Orange — Cinedome 21 (56)
1972-03-15 … Calgary — Palliser Square 1 (20)
1972-03-15 … Charlotte — Park Terrace (12)
1972-03-15 … Dayton — Dabel (26)
1972-03-15 … Des Moines — Fleur 2 (15)
1972-03-15 … Omaha — Admiral (50)
1972-03-15 … Ottawa — Nelson (37)
1972-03-15 … Winnipeg — Kings (33)
1972-03-17 … Jacksonville — Edgewood (10+)
1972-03-22 … Memphis — Crosstown (12)
1972-03-22 … Norfolk (Virginia Beach) — Pembroke (10+)
1972-04-26 … Reno — Century 21 (10)
1972-04-26 … Richmond — Willow Lawn (11)
1972-05-24 … Wichita — Boulevard (17)
1972-06-21 … Long Island North Shore (Woodbury) — Cinema 150 (25)
1972-06-21 … Long Island South Shore (Woodmere) — Five Towns (20)
1972-06-21 … Newark (Paramus) — Paramus 2 (20)
1972-06-21 … Newark (Upper Montclair) — Bellevue (25)
1972-06-28 … Des Moines — Fleur 4 m/o (14 [29])
1972-06-28 … Oakland — Century 21 (25)
1972-07-12 … Richmond — Westhampton m/o (5 [16])
1972-08-04 … Calgary — Palliser Square 2 m/o (17 [37])
1972-10-04 … Concord (Pleasant Hill) — Century 21 (19)
1972-10-04 … Des Moines — River Hills m/o (5 [34])
1972-12-14 … Salt Lake City (South Salt Lake) — Century 23 m/o (14 [66])
It should be noted the engagements cited above represent only a fraction of the thousands of total bookings throughout the many cycles of distribution over the course of Fiddler‘s release. As such, this work does not include any of the film’s reserved performance (i.e. modified roadshow), general release, second-run, re-release, etc., nor does it include any international engagements.
A roadshow policy was implemented on Fiddler’s initial release in key overseas markets as well (London, Paris, Sydney, Tokyo, etc.), but researching and citing all of them is beyond the scope of this work.
THE Q&A
Greg Carson is a producer/editor and former Executive Director of Worldwide DVD Production at MGM.
Matthew Kennedy is the curator and host of the CinemaLit Film Series at Mechanics’ Institute San Francisco and the author of Roadshow! The Fall of Film Musicals in the 1960s (Oxford University Press, 2014). His other books include Joan Blondell: A Life Between Takes (University of Mississippi Press, 2007), Edmund Goulding’s Dark Victory: Hollywood’s Genius Bad Boy (University of Wisconsin Press, 2004), and Marie Dressler: A Biography (McFarland, 1999).
The producer of numerous John Williams expanded soundtracks, Mike Matessino, produced, restored, edited, mixed, mastered and annotated the Fiddler on the Roofexpanded soundtrack release from La-La Land Records.
Daniel Raim is the producer/director of the forthcoming Fiddler’s Journey to the Big Screen. Notable among the documentary filmmaker’s numerous other works are Image Makers: The Adventures of America’s Pioneer Cinematographers (2019), Harold and Lillian: A Hollywood Love Story (2015), and the Oscar-nominated The Man on Lincoln’s Nose (2000).
Alisa Solomon is Director, Arts & Culture MA, Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia University and the author of Wonder of Wonders: A Cultural History of Fiddler on the Roof (Metropolitan Books, 2013). Other works include Re-Dressing the Canon: Essays on Theater and Gender (Routledge, 1997), and her website is alisasolomon.com.
The interviews were conducted separately and edited into a “roundtable” conversation format.
Michael Coate (The Digital Bits): How do you think Fiddler on the Roof ought to be remembered/celebrated on its 50th anniversary?
Greg Carson: Fiddler remains relevant and inspirational on its 50th anniversary. It will be remembered for its handling of the stories with love and care. Taking its inspiration from the stories of Sholem Aleichem, the play and then film was transformative for the Jewish families that have had real world experiences with these ideas of tradition, faith and the breaking down of those traditions. Fiddler dealt with a very serious subject with humor and memorable songs. A film that shows family and love can withstand any obstacles.
Matthew Kennedy: I hope Fiddler on the Roof is remembered as a very fine and enduring work of popular entertainment. Of all the big musicals at the end of the roadshow era, this one ages the best. If anything, it looks and sounds better today than it did fifty years ago. The music, the visuals, the story that's so specific yet moves people throughout the world. Humor, heartbreak, memorable songs, big themes, and moral lessons—Fiddler has it all.
Mike Matessino: Fiddler on the Roof is timeless, and it doesn’t feel like it’s aged. So there’s a lot to celebrate. It should simply be remembered as one of the best Broadway musical adaptations ever made and a great classic movie.
Alisa Solomon: At an appointed time, everyone all over the world who has ever loved the show or the movie should amass in the streets and sing L’Chaim, honoring and expressing solidarity for each other’s life-force and mutuality, which persist despite socio-political and epidemiological inequities and horrors.
The Digital Bits: What was your first impression of Fiddler?
Carson: I first encountered Fiddler when I was 8 years old. My parents had the Zero Mostel Broadway vinyl album and as a child I played it constantly, and eventually wore that album out. My mom and dad would then explain the stories within those songs, and how my great grandpa was a milkman in Russia “just like Tevye” they would say. He eventually left for America during the Pogrom. So it resonated into my soul at a very early age. That was fifty years ago.
Kennedy: I saw Fiddler, eagerly and with high anticipation, at the first-run movie theater in my hometown of Redding, California. I was a freshman in high school. I thought it was wonderful for all the reasons it's still wonderful. As a nascent film critic, I didn't think it was perfect—it's perhaps a mite too long and a few of the performances aren't as strong as they could be. But overall, I was visually and emotionally dazzled by it on the big screen.
Matessino: Fiddler on the Roof was my real first impression of cinema beyond films for kids. I saw it at the end of its run at the Rivoli Theatre in New York City, in 70mm 6-track, and it was probably the first time I ever heard stereo in a cinema. The impression it made on me is what led to everything that came after for me, all of my love for movies, music and theatre. That has not changed one bit for me.
Solomon: My family owned the original Broadway cast album when I was a kid and I remember dancing around our living room, singing along with every number when I was eight or nine. I felt like I had entered the story and belonged to it. I first saw it when the national tour came to Chicago in 1967 and played at the McVickers Theater. I was 10 and it was a big deal for my family—who lived in the suburbs—to pile into the station wagon and head downtown to see a show. We had never done that before—nor after. Though we sat high up in the balcony, I recall feeling completely captivated and especially drawn to Hodel and Perchik; I think I was a budding Bundist.
The Digital Bits: In what way is Fiddler a significant motion picture?
Carson: Fiddler is a significant motion picture because of how it was handled by director Norman Jewison and everyone behind the creations of the film. Filming on location and choosing Topol to play Tevye, with the addition of John Williams using authentic instrumentation—expanding the orchestra for a big-screen sound—makes it all the more impressive.
Kennedy: Fiddler appeared when the film musical was in steep decline. A number of big budgeted musicals had recently failed at the box office (Star!, Paint Your Wagon, Hello, Dolly!, Darling Lili, Song of Norway). They were out of step with a filmgoing public that favored edgy contemporary films like Midnight Cowboy and M*A*S*H. United Artists was willing to take a chance on Fiddler, given that it had become a record-breaking smash on Broadway and the West End. It scored at the box office, momentarily stopping the qualitative downward spiral of film musicals.
Matessino: Fiddler is significant in many ways, but one of them is the fact that the movie was produced as if it wasn’t a musical at all. It was designed, cast and filmed with great authenticity and accuracy, and then the adapted stage show and songs were played over that setting. The fact that this worked so well is what makes it a timeless piece of cinema that still holds up. It’s also a great example of how the book musical form is very good, if done well, at illuminating history for audiences. If not for this musical, it’s possible no one would remember this important piece of Jewish history and their coercion out of Tsarist Russia more than a century ago.
Daniel Raim: I think director Norman Jewison and his cast and crew created a timeless masterpiece and a profoundly moving movie musical adaptation of the Broadway hit. The look of the film, with its rustic and earthy brown tones and muted colors, is wonderfully realized by production designer Robert F. Boyle, costume designers Joan Bridge and Elizabeth Haffenden, and cinematographer Oswald Morris, all masters of their respective crafts. I love the entire cast, including their enchanting vocal performances. And Jewison was the great "conductor," overseeing this wide-screen epic with humor, tenderness, visual panache, and empathy for the characters.
Solomon: Well, in its day it was significant right off the bat in terms of dough: it had the largest advance group sales in Hollywood history—$1.25 million. And while most of the musicals released from the end of the 1960s on, flopped, losing millions for studios,Fiddler did quite well. More important, like the stage version before had been for Broadway, the movie was the first work in the medium of the major motion picture to present, with affection, the vanished world of Eastern European Jewry; it has come sentimentally (and in various ways erroneously) to stand as the origin story for American Jews.
The Digital Bits: Which are the film’s standout songs?
Carson: The musical has so many standout songs and performances. Sunrise Sunsetis so mesmerizingly beautiful and If I Were a Rich Man is funny and heartwarming. But I love hearing Tradition belted out by the townspeople, doing their daily chores as the audience is introduced to familiar characters. The violin solos (Itzhak Perlman) are fantastic along with John Williams’ orchestrations.
Kennedy: Let's salute composer Jerry Bock and lyricist Sheldon Harnick for their great score. All the songs are strong, but Tradition, Matchmaker, Matchmaker, If I Were a Rich Man, and Sunrise, Sunset have rightly become standards.
Matessino: It’s one of those rare musicals where just about every song is memorable, although the ones from the first half of the story are the ones that have become the well-known standards, like Matchmaker, If I Were a Rich Man and Sunrise, Sunset. The rest are no less amazing, especially Sabbath Prayer and Do You Love Me? Tevye’s Dream is a groundbreaking construction, and To Life! is Jerome Robbins at his best.
Raim: As depicted in Jewison's film, the Shabbat Prayer scene is beautifully performed, staged, and photographed. I love the warmth and intimacy of the scene, showing a family lovingly singing around the glimmering light of the Shabbat candles. Likewise, the Anatevka scene, as depicted in Jewison's movie, is profoundly moving, with John Williams underscore beautifully adapting Jerry Boch's original music and Sheldon Harnick's lyrics.
Solomon: Unfair question! I love all the songs. I’ll say Anatevka, not because I love it most—in fact it’s a bit much in the movie—but because it seriously stands out by taking up the most space. The departure scene lasts a whopping twenty minutes and the song dirges along with the packing up and trudging away Anatevkans for much of that time.
The Digital Bits: How does the film compare to the stage production and source material?
Carson: I saw the play years after seeing the film and I love how small and intimate the stage show is but for the film I feel it was the right decision to expand and make it a larger scale production.
Kennedy: Fiddler is based on a compilation of stories by Sholem Aleichem
called Tevye and his Daughters from 1894. They were the sources of a 1939 Yiddish film before becoming a Broadway musical in 1964. Fiddler is a strong example of how to wisely adapt a stage production to the screen. The studio gave a visionary director, Norman Jewison, substantial artistic freedom. To give Fiddler weight and realism, Jewison opened it up, and filmed on location in then Yugoslavia. He had a fantastic command of the material, knowing what to trim and what to keep. He took advantage of what film can offer, in this case widescreen vistas, stereo sound, and artfully chosen close-ups and long shots. He wisely kept almost all of the original score. He cast the film with little known actors, so they brought no outside baggage with them. And he kept the full weight of Fiddler's grave themes pertaining to family, religion and religious intolerance, poverty, and the breakdown of tradition in the face of momentous cultural changes.
Matessino: Overall, Fiddler does a superb job of bringing the world that Sholem Aleichem wrote about to mainstream audiences. The writings were not translated into English until the 1940s, and even after that the appeal was very much focused on the Jewish community. Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick, although Jewish themselves, focused on the universal quality of the story, as did Joe Stein, who did a great job of cherry picking different parts of the Teyve tales that combined together into something archetypal, where the main character is challenged by the breakdown of tradition, bending as far as his spirit can manage, and then we witness an entire way of life come to an abrupt end. Stein adapted his own play for the screen, which was the right way to go, and I think it’s a brilliant adaptation, faithful to the show but making certain changes to the music and the scenes that were right for the medium of cinema.
Raim: When I interviewed Norman Jewison for the documentary, he talked about the challenges of adapting the Fiddler play and "making it believable and bringing it out into the real world." Jewison told me, "I wanted to put up a pogrom into the film. I wanted to do something they could never do in the play." The sequence of the people leaving Anatevka at the film's end, sloshing through the mud and carrying their world belongings, is heartbreaking.
Solomon: As Norman Jewison often said, film is a more realistic medium than theater, more literal. Even if I don’t entirely agree with that as a general pronouncement—there is such a thing as experimental film, after all—it’s certainly true of Fiddler: in the movie, we’ve got real cows and barns and an extended violent pogrom scene; the stage is more metaphorical and requires audiences to fill in with their imaginations. Related to this, tonally the film is more somber. Jewison himself said he tamped down the humor. As for its relation to the original Sholem Aleichem stories—how much time have you got?
The Digital Bits: Where do you think Fiddler ranks among roadshow era musicals?
Carson: Where Fiddler ranks is a challenging question. When talking about musicals there is a focus on West Side Story, The Sound of Music, My Fair Lady and Cabaret. So I hope with this anniversary we are able to introduce another generation to this film and its impressive use of music and stories.
Kennedy: It belongs on the list of the best and most successful, which would includeWest Side Story, My Fair Lady, and The Sound of Music.
Matessino: Fiddler might be one of the last great and successful of the bunch. It’s funny how we had so many big roadshow musicals produced in an attempt to capitalize on the success of The Sound of Music in 1965, and just when it was declared over with a string of costly failures in 1967 and into 1968, along comes Funny Girl and Oliver!, both hits and the latter winning the Best Picture Oscar. Then we have more failed musicals over the next couple of years, by which time Fiddler was already in production, so there was probably some concern about how it would be received. But it was made with such integrity by Norman Jewison, that there was every reason to be confident because the material was so strong. When it comes to roadshow musicals with intermissions and all of that, Fiddler was the last one to really enjoy a big success.
Solomon: I don’t have enough basis of comparison to answer that specifically, but I will say: Hooray for the roadshow. All the grandness of the experience—reserved seats, overture, intermission, glossy program book—made going to see it a special occasion. Maybe now that we stream so much film at home, movie-going at theaters will have to become lavish again. I hope so.
The Digital Bits: In what way was Norman Jewison a good choice to direct (i.e. how did his talent/skillset/sensibilities, etc. benefit the project), and where do you think Fiddlerranks among his body of work?
Carson: Norman Jewison is a very skilled director and his understanding of the subject matter goes beyond what lies on the surface. Over the course of four years and beyond (I interviewed him last year for the Hal Ashby film The Landlord) whenever we talked Fiddler it was with a deep understanding of the characters. Yes, he can direct actors and guide a film to a cohesive vision shared by many of his collaborators, but it’s his choices of who and where and how a film is made that show his producing skills are very much a part of his process. I cannot imagine the film without his influence and guidance. If you look at the National Film Board of Canada’s documentary that I licensed for the Collector’s Edition LaserDisc release in 1997 (renewed for subsequent DVD and Blu-ray releases) you will see Norman on the set, singing along, crying along, as he directs and that shows his empathy and how his heart and soul are in every scene of the film.
Kennedy: Like Robert Wise and West Side Story, Jewison was a highly versatile director. It's difficult to compare Fiddler to, say, In the Heat of the Night or Moonstruck. They're all outstanding films, but so different one from the other. Jewison followedFiddler with another musical, Jesus Christ Superstar, but it was nowhere near the hitFiddler was.
Matessino: The context is very important because Norman Jewison very much wanted to make films that were socially relevant and addressed important issues. He hadn’t done a musical, but he had a lot of experience with musical variety shows for television, both in his native Canada and in the U.S. He had a very good relationship with the Mirisch brothers, for whom he made several features in a row, and he formally committed to directFiddler before In the Heat of the Night was completed. Norman hates any kind of social injustice, so took the assignment very seriously. He was very much affected by the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., which happened just days before the Academy Awards. He, along with Sidney Poitier and other African Americans slated to appear on the Oscar show, announced that they were going to attend the King funeral, and so the Oscar ceremony was delayed, and In the Heat of the Night won Best Picture, of course. It was a very tumultuous time. But then, just two months later, Robert Kennedy was killed in L.A. Jewison knew him personally and was scheduled to meet with him, and this was a tipping point that resulted in a decision to move his entire family to England for an extended period when Fiddler production began. By the time that happened in mid-1970, the U.S. had changed a lot and I’m sure that this story of feeling compelled to leave one’s own country resonated even more with Jewison. So there’s really no doubt that he was the ideal director for the film and that it’s such a great movie entirely because of what he brought to it.
Raim: Jewison's background directing high-level musical television in the late 1950s, including Tonight with Belafonte and the The Judy Garland Show, prepared him from the perspective of how to move the camera when musical performances are taking place. As a result, his sense of timing, mise-en-scene, and choreography for the big-screen canvas is superb. Jewison told me that he ranks Fiddler as his favorite film. It's also my favorite Jewison film.
Solomon: Jewison had strong liberal commitments and was deeply rankled by bigotry and inequality and that sensibility infused his Fiddler. He said at the time that he thought it would be the most important movie of the year. He brought a strong sense of purpose to the project and he had a sincere love for Jewish culture. Is it his best film? I have no idea. I still have a warm spot for The Russians are Coming, the Russians are Coming, though I haven’t seen it since I was a kid and hope I’d laugh just as hard at it now, and In the Heat of the Night is a perfect encapsulation of late ’60s naïve high hopes for a brotherhood-of-man solution to racism, while also remaining surprisingly captivating as story-telling. But Fiddler is probably his most enduring picture.
The Digital Bits: What are your thoughts on Topol’s performance, and where do you think the performance ranks among his body of work?
Carson: I was fortunate that Topol was in Los Angeles in 1996. I spent an afternoon with him at a condo in Marina del Rey, California, to record his comments for the LaserDisc release. He talked about playing Tevye in Israel and London where Norman saw him before hiring him for the film. This performance by Topol as Tevye is his best work. I personally feel Tevye is embodied by Topol’s performance, although some will argue they miss Zero Mostel from the original production.
Matessino: Topol delivers his definitive performance in the film and he was perfect for it. Norman Jewison was the first to acknowledge that Zero Mostel created the character on Broadway, but he was right that the persona was not going to work well if you put him in an authentic shtetl authentically constricted in Croatia. Topol was Israeli and had a Russian Jewish background, so he brought the real deal to the portrayal, which he had been able to hone first as understudy for the Tel Aviv Hebrew production and then as the lead in the West End in 1967. He was only 35 or so at the time the movie was made, so it’s amazing to see just how convincing he is, not only as a character 20 years older than his real age, but really feeling like he is someone from another century. He was always a powerful and distinctive screen presence, but he really embodied Tevye. I was privileged to see him perform the role in the 1989 Broadway production and again on the national tour in 2006-7, where I also got to meet him backstage. He is a very intelligent, accomplished, wonderful person.
Solomon: Jewison always said he wanted Topol because he felt the actor had a close proximity to the shtetl experience of Tevye since Topol’s father had immigrated to Israel from Eastern Europe, but in fact, it was Topol’s tough, assertive, very Israeli “new muscle Jew” persona that most appealed to him—Topol’s Tevye doesn’t shrug at God, he shakes a fist at Him.
The Digital Bits: Can you describe, please, your current/recent Fiddler project (i.e. what did you like about working on the project, any noteworthy discoveries, what can readers/fans expect, etc.)?
Carson: My most recent work/interviews for a Blu-ray release were conducted in 2006. I interviewed Sheldon Harnick, Joseph Stein, Jerry Bock (on a phone call—he could not do it in person), Lynn Stalmaster, Tevye’s daughters (Michele Marsh, Neva Small, Rosalind Harris), John Williams, Robert Boyle, Antony Gibbs, and Norman Jewison. What I liked about working on the project was learning about the history of my family and many other Jewish families and how they ended up in America. To share that, along with stories on how the songs came to be from the stories, how the village was authentically replicated for the film, how scenes were filmed and created, makes this one of my favorite projects I have ever worked on.
Matessino: I’m thrilled to have been able to create the new 50th anniversary soundtrack release for Fiddler, which is a 3-CD limited edition from La-La Land Records. It is part of my ongoing work on scores by John Williams, who was the musical director for Fiddler, and this is the project for which he won his first Academy Award. Because of how important Fiddler has always been to me, and how much I love the film, I have always wanted the opportunity to work with the music and give it an updated mix and high-quality restoration. I must have gone through three copies of the 2-LP soundtrack when I was growing up, so I have a lot of attachment to it, but sonically it was done in accordance with the standards of the early 1970s. In 2001 there was a 30th anniversary edition, but I was appalled to discover that just about everything about it was done incorrectly. The performances were wrong in some cases, the balances were way off, and all of the noises and bad edits were left as they were on the master tapes. Later on I also learned how much John Williams disliked it, but it took a long time until it became possible for the project to be done again. I was able to go back to the 1971 8-track master tapes that were prepared for the original album and spend the time doing a restoration at the microscopic level, really cleaning up all of the vocal tracks and analog edits, and then remixing it in a more robust way that would really make Williams’ work on the project shine. The film itself has a phenomenal sound mix. Even to this day when you see it in the cinema, there’s a particular way that the music envelops you that takes me right back to that first screening at the Rivoli. I wanted to capture that impact in presenting the soundtrack now, and have it stand equally beside all of Williams’ finest work. Fiddler was all recorded with the same engineer and on the same stage as Star Wars, Supermanand Raiders, and it remains a very important project to John. We also have a second disc of alternate mixes and film versions, some of which feature more of violinist Isaac Stern, and then a third disc that has playback versions of the songs as well as other musical segments from the film itself that I was able to work with until they were in a presentable form for a soundtrack. I wasn’t sure how successfully that would go, but the digital tools we have now are pretty amazing, and Maestro Williams was very pleased with how it all turned out. La-La Land Records was also very generous in letting me write about the creation of the music in a big essay booklet, because a lot of material was uncovered, scoring logs, correspondence, and other information, thanks to the efforts of colleagues around the world. I’d like to give a shout out in particular to Deniz Cordell, Tim Burden, Saul Pincus and Maurizio Caschetto. The project really turned out as good as I could have expected and I hope everyone will enjoy exploring the music. It’s really an amazing recording that is, of course, a huge part of the film’s success.
Raim: The film version of Fiddler on the Roof was introduced to me when I was a child by my grandparents, who survived the Holocaust. Jewison's film, including Robert Boyle's visually stunning and scrupulously researched production design, was a window into the world my grandparents came from, which no longer exists…. I started exploring Fiddler by shooting in-depth interviews with the movie's cast and crew, including the film's production designer Robert F. Boyle (shot in 2000), the film's star, Topol (shot in 2009), director Norman Jewison (shot in 2000 and 2016), lyricist Sheldon Harnick (shot in 2017), composer John Williams, film critic Kenneth Turan, and the three actresses who play Tevye's eldest daughters (all shot in 2021)…. Making Fiddler’s Journey to the Big Screen has been a true labor of love, years in the making. I wanted to make a documentary that explores Jewison's artistry, compassion, and humanity as well as his spiritual and creative quest directing Fiddler on the Roof…. Narrated by Jeff Goldblum, Fiddler’s Journey to the Big Screen captures the humor and drama of director Norman Jewison's quest to recreate the lost world of Jewish life in Tsarist Russia and re-envision the beloved stage hit as a wide-screen epic…. Fiddler’s Journey to the Big Screenputs us in the director's chair and in Jewison's heart and mind, drawing on behind-the-scenes footage and never-before-seen stills as well as original interviews. The film explores how the experience of making Fiddler deepens Jewison as an artist and revives his soul.
Solomon: [My book] was an entirely over-determined project for me. My academic field is Theater Studies, so I already had an affinity for the topic generally. In addition, in the late 1990s, I spent several years intensively studying Yiddish and had been blown away to read Sholem Aleichem and find that he was not the cutesy humorist he’s often reductively described as, but a great modernist writer. A few years later, when a new production of Fiddler was announced for Broadway, I had a cynical attitude toward it—I hadn’t seen or thought of the show literally in decades—and I proposed writing about it for the Village Voice, where I was a staff writer and theater critic at the time, figuring I’d produce something snarky. To prepare, I went to a CD store (remember those?) to buy the Fiddler album and when I put it on at home, just a few bars in, I started to cry, and I kept it up through the whole album. I had to check my cynicism and ask myself, honestly, what the emotional power of this work was. That’s where my project really started.
The Digital Bits: What do you think is the legacy of Fiddler on the Roof?
Solomon: Oy. It took me nearly 400 pages to answer that.
Carson: When I interviewed Norman Jewison for the various home entertainment formats, he shared something very inspirational. Although we focused on the Jewish stories and inspiration for those stories, he shared a great anecdote about the reason for the film’s popularity in Japan. The Japanese people have a deep understanding of tradition. And Fiddler is about the breaking down of traditions and allowing love to overcome any idea that there is no other way than the “old way.” That’s Fiddler’s legacy: love, love of family, love conquers all obstacles.
Kennedy: Fiddler keeps going and going; I can't think of any other musical with such wide appeal. There have been umpteen Broadway and London revivals and touring companies. The film, especially magnificent on the big screen, does Fiddler justice. There's a terrific 2019 documentary, Fiddler: Miracle of Miracles, all about its great popularity across generations and continents. We see the huge impact Fiddler has had worldwide, from African American high school students performing it to a professional staging in Japan. (I played Motel, the tailor in a high school production that was so special we went on tour, so I'm not entirely objective.) Joel Grey, director of a recent Yiddish language production in New York, asks, "Why does everyone think Fiddler is about them?" In that one rhetorical question, he locates the genius of Fiddler. In bringing to life a Jewish village during the fall of Imperial Russia, the makers of Fiddlertapped into the beating heart of much of humanity.
Raim: I hope Fiddler’s Journey somehow contributes to the legacy of the movie version of Fiddler on the Roof by exploring and humanizing the contributions of the incredibly talented cinema artists, both in front of and behind the camera, making a film born from their hearts and souls.
Matessino: Most importantly, the legacy is to keep the stories of Sholem Aleichem alive. They remain charming and insightful even today, but would be much more obscure if not for Fiddler on the Roof. The musical was, of course, very much embraced by the Jewish community, who, perhaps for the first time, could share part of their history with others and feel good about doing so. It’s ironic that a musical that’s all about cultural division has done so much to bring people together. That illustrates the power of art, and particularly of the musical genre. It’s also very important in the career of Norman Jewison, and of course for John Williams. It’s just a very special movie, adapted from a very special show, and its power has not diminished one bit.
The Digital Bits: Thank you—Alisa, Daniel, Greg, Matthew, and Mike—for sharing your thoughts about Fiddler on the Roof on the occasion of its 50th anniversary.
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IMAGES
Selected images copyright/courtesy MGM Home Entertainment, The Mirisch Production Company, Robert Morro, National Film Board of Canada, National Screen Service, The New York Times, Syufy Enterprises, James Titus, United Artists.
SOURCES/REFERENCES
The primary references for this project were the motion picture Fiddler on the Roof(United Artists, 1971), regional newspaper coverage, trade reports published in Boxoffice, The Hollywood Reporter and Variety, and interviews conducted by the author. All figures and data pertain to North America (i.e. United States and Canada) except where stated otherwise.
SPECIAL THANKS
Jerry Alexander, Laura Baas (Florida State Library), Jim Barg, Don Beelik, Diane Buckley (Virginia Beach Public Library), Ray Caple, Greg Carson, Clara and Lanham (Providence Public Library), Kevin Geisert (Norfolk Public Library), Sheldon Hall, Isaac (Buffalo & Erie County Public Library), William Kallay, Matthew Kennedy, Bill Kretzel, Mark Lensenmayer, Stan Malone, Mike Matessino, Genevieve Maxwell (Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences), W.R. Miller, Robert Morrow, Gabriel Neeb, Jim Perry, Daniel Raim, Alisa Solomon, James Titus, Vince Young.
In case you missed them or desire a refresher read, this column’s other roadshow era musical retrospectives include Camelot 50th, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang 50th, Funny Girl50th, Hello, Dolly! 50th, Mary Poppins 50th, My Fair Lady 50th, Paint Your Wagon50th, The Sound of Music 50th, Sweet Charity 45th, and 1776 Blu-ray release.