Review: Fiddler on the Roof at Liverpool Empire ****1/2

Liverpool art lovers may recall the Marc Chagall exhibition at Tate Liverpool 12 years ago where among the many wonderful paintings on show were the artist’s State Jewish Chamber Theatre murals.

Hidden during the time of Stalin, these large, early 1920s works depict themes of Jewish culture and life in Tsarist Russia.

One, Music, features a giant violinist floating over proportionately tiny rooftops. And in fact, Chagall – born into a Jewish family in Vitebsk (then in the Russian Empire, now in Belarus) – painted several ‘fidders’ in his career, either on village pathways or on rooftops, including the 1924 work the Green Violinist, said to be the inspiration for the title of Fiddler on the Roof.

See, I got there in the end!

As a physical metaphor, the fiddler is also a visible presence throughout in this superb revival – very handsomely staged - of what is undoubtedly one of the greatest musicals of all time and which is here in Liverpool until the weekend.

Raphael Papo emerges as a shadowy, bow-wielding figure alone in a poppy-pierced wheatfield, winding that mesmerising opening theme as the ground beneath him lifts slowly into the gods, revealing the residents of the fictional Anatevka and eventually creating a canopy ‘roof’ which then remains in place throughout.

Designer Tom Scutt’s atmospheric set in bleached natural colours won him an Olivier at this year’s awards (one of three scooped by this production) and must have had even more impact in its original setting of Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre.

The Empire’s stage is big enough to give it breathing space however, although director Jordan Fein and choreographer Julia Cheng keep the action relatively tightly controlled under the canopy.

Meanwhile the wraith-like Papo becomes milkman Tevye’s shadow as the compelling (and sadly still relevant) tragi-comic story of tradition, change, tolerance, prejudice, displacement, struggle and survival in the Pale of Settlement – the outer fringes of the Imperial Russian Empire, including current day Ukraine, where Jewish communities were ‘permitted’ to live – unfolds.

Above: The titular 'fiddler on the roof'. Top: Tevye and daughter Hodel. Photos by Marc Brenner.

Based on Sholem Aleichem’s short stories Tevye’s Daughters (imagine the Bennet family transposed to Imperial Russia), a production of Fiddler on the Roof tends to live or die on the strength of its titular dairyman.

The first Tevye I saw on stage, some 30-plus years ago, was Chaim Topol, the star of the 1971 film version.

Undoubtedly a hard act to follow, but Matthew Woodyatt – the Welsh actor playing up rather than toning down his native tones – proves an absolutely terrific Tevye, balancing the character’s certainty/confusion as the world about him shifts on its axis in the words of Hemingway ‘first slowly, then all at once’.

Woodyatt is a captivating stage presence and has a wonderful, rich singing voice as well as warmth and an evidently natural ability to connect with his audience and tell a story.

He’s well matched by Jodie Jacobs as Tevye’s brittle, long-suffering wife Golde, while there are also plenty of other very enjoyable peripheral performances, including Natasha Jules Bernard and Dan Wolff as eldest daughter Tzeitel and her nervy, bumbling suitor Motel, and – among the village ‘elders’ – Michael S Siegel (spurned butcher Lazar Wolf) and Beverley Klein as the busybody matchmaker Yente.

Above: The bottle dance at Tzeitel and Motel's wedding. Photo by Marc Brenner.

The production’s other major strength is in the quality of its ensemble work, the cast buoyed by a great orchestra half-hidden behind a fringe of wheatfield up stage as they deliver Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick’s glorious, glorious score with a real sense of joie de vivre.

Around it, Fein and Cheng fashion a series of visually striking tableaux, from the rousing opening Tradition, the frantic push-and-pull of Tevye’s Dream and the tremendous bottle dance to the lovely, emotionally resonant Sabbath Prayer and Sunrise, Sunset which are both tenderly lit.

Being picky, at times some of the vocal sound can be a bit…astringent, while the burgeoning romances of sisters Hodel (Ashleigh Schuman on opening night) and particularly Chava (Carys McQueen ditto) deserve a bit more time in the spotlight.

However, resonant, powerful, heartfelt, amusing, moving and though-provoking, this Fiddler on the Roof is a proper bobby dazzler of a stage experience.