The audience is welcomed into Hampstead Parish Church by the villagers of Anatevka, the fictional town, which will be our setting for the evening. This preshow element is warm and engaging and turns out to set the tone for the whole evening; that of warmth, joy and entertainment.
It’s been almost ten years since the Hampstead Players tackled a musical (2002’s Oliver!) and all the challenges that this genre of theatre brings; live music, singing, choreography and telling a clear story through words and song. Fiddler is certainly a challenge; requiring a large and talented cast bringing to life an array of characters, both tragic and comic and telling this story of displaced Jews with clarity, humour and LOTS of pace (it’s not a short show!). And it is this respect that Margaret Pritchard Houston is to be congratulated. She has managed to pull together a cast of 24 actors plus an orchestra of extremely talented youngsters from UCS together into an evening of theatrical joy and beautifully clear storytelling which eases along at a brilliantly judged pace, moving from comedy to tragedy to solo song into massive group number with ease and focus.
Highlights included the opening number “Tradition” which built into a rollicking number and in which many of the company had the chance to shine as individuals and as part of the chorus and introduced us to Adrian Hughes’ world-weary dairyman Teyve, a charmingly comic scene in a tavern in which Lazarwolf asks Tevye for his daughter’s hand in marriage, Tevye’s comic “nightmare” in which he conjures up the ghosts of various figures from the past for the eyes and ears of his long suffering wife Golde (Bonnie Taylor), the comic scene in which rumours fly around the town faster than a fiddler can fiddle and of course, Adrian Hughes’ rendition of “If I Were A Rich Man” in which Hughes manages to hold his own and deliver a strong performance of a song and role so closely associated with Topol. But perhaps the strongest moment is the final scene in which the Jews bid farewell to their beloved Anatevka and in which every member of the company perfectly captures the mix of sadness and hope for a new life.
All of the performances were strong with good comic timing and some clear emotional engagement with the characters and their individual stories. With so many good actors it seems somewhat unfair to single any out for particular praise but credit must be given to Matt Williams as a passionate but conflicted Fyedka who danced extremely well and to Patrice Dorling as a charming Yente, the matchmaker, who displayed the excellent comic timing the Player’s audiences have come to expect from her but in the final scene turning the tone on a sixpence from comedy to a moment of heartbreaking tragedy as she realized, too late, that her beloved Anatevka and her friends would all soon be lost to her forever and Andrew Grieve was outstanding as the idealistic student Perchik, whose eyes glinted with hope and gave a performance full of joy (for both the character and seemingly for Grieve himself who seems very at home on the musical stage), coupled with an excellent voice and a good accent (he was one of a few who attempted and delivered an accurate Jewish accent), making this character much more endearing that any interpretations I’ve seen before; a lovely job done and perhaps my favourite performance of the evening.
Andy Armitage and Ian Howarth provided excellent support in the male chorus performing the dance routines and songs with gusto and a very high level of technical ability and the female chorus was vocally clear and harmonious. Jolyon Bohling had a pure tenor voice and sweet nature as tailor Motel and Harlequin gave us the exciting (and surely never seen before) doubling of a lovelorn Lazarwolf and the ghost of his deceased wife Fruma-Sarah in a scene of truly bonkers theatricality. Simon May, Stephen Clarke and Jonathan Murray represented the new regime, effectively crashing the wedding scene and wreaking havoc for all. The cast had a large age range and we enjoyed performances from younger members Amelia Foster and Emma Trebilcock as Tevye’s two youngest daughters as well as excellent turns from the more established Players Moragh Gee, Nina Trebilcock, Judy Burgess and Nicky Siddall and of course Father Stephen playing the Rabbi with a twinkle in his eye and a bottle in his hand.
The choreography was technically challenging and on the most part well executed; a highlight coming with the men’s dance at wedding of Motel and Tzeitel when three male company members do a Cossack dance complete with bottles balanced on their heads. It’s a neat trick and gets a great response from an appreciative audience.
The action of the play and changes of location from interior to exterior was aided by a simple yet effective design by Bill Risebero in which one particularly ingenious item of furniture was used as a fence, table, bed, railway station seat, perhaps itself reflecting the way in which the Jewish characters had to change and adapt through the story in order to survive the coming of the new order. Jane Mayfield deserves praise for the costumes, which were imaginative and enjoyed a splash of colour and flair within a mainly brown, peasanty- palette and the lighting by Moray Jones was evocative and enabled the shift of focus, time and place well, although on occasions a bit more face light would have helped. There were an array of impressively period specific props, which seemed to appear almost magically in the right place at the right time by the stage management of Annie Duarte and Sheena Craig. The orchestra were excellent under the baton of Musical Director Simon Walton and the singing was clear thanks to Barbara Alden’s vocal coaching.
Margaret’s Pritchard Houston had created some slick scene changes, which kept the action zipping along (and must’ve taken hours to perfect!) and gave us some choreographic treats. Occasionally the stage picturisation could’ve been improved (an occasional speech delivered facing upstage or scenes flattening visually) but on the whole it was impressive, particularly in the scenes with huge numbers of cast on stage. Mention should also be given to the director’s ability to enable emotional engagement and truth in her principal actors, particularly Tevye’s three older daughters Tzeitel (Miranda Glen), Hodel (Emma Lyndon-Stanford) and Chava (Sarah Day) the latter being particularly devastating in the scene where her father rejects her.
But perhaps the most impressive of all was sheer scale of the venture itself and the large numbers of people that Margaret brought together into one show with one shared aim; to tell a story and entertain. And for that I thank her and hope she gets to direct more.
This was a thoroughly enjoyable evening and a great reminder of just how good the Hampstead Players can be.
Fiddler on the Roof
Matthew Stevens