Summary: Fiddler On The Roof

Nicki Camberg

January 2017

Costume Design Period 6

Final Project

Fiddler on the Roof is a musical with music by Jerry Bock and lyrics by Sheldon Harnick. It is based on a book, Tevye and his Daughters (or Tevye the Dairyman), originally written in Yiddish in 1894 by Sholem Aleichem about Jewish life in Russia at the turn of the 20th century. In the late 1950s, a musical based on these stories, called Tevye and his Daughters, was produced Off-Broadway by Rodgers and Hammerstein. It was originally considered "too Jewish" to be on Broadway. Harold Price replaced the original producer Fred Coe, and brought in director/choreographer Jerome Robbins. The writers and Robbins considered naming the musical Tevye, before choosing “Fiddler on the Roof”

Its first opening was September 22, 1964 at the Imperial Theatre, transferred in 1967 to the Majestic Theatre and in 1970 to The Broadway Theatre, Zero Mostel played Tevye; Bea Arthur played Yente. Jerome Robbins arranged the choreography with Boris Aronson on set design. Like the title, the sets were all inspired by paintings of Marc Chagal. Fiddler held the record for the longest-running Broadway musical for almost 10 years until Grease surpassed its run. It remains Broadway's sixteenth longest-running show in history. The production was extraordinarily profitable and highly acclaimed. It won nine Tony Awards, including Best Musical, score, book, direction, and choreography. Robbins won for best direction and choreography. It spawned five Broadway revivals and a highly successful 1971 film adaptation. It is also a very popular choice for school and community productions. Over time, Zero Mostel and Chaim Topol are the two actors most associated with the role of Tevye, although Theodore Bikel performed it many times on

The sets are not elaborate. They range mainly from interior and exterior of Tevye's house and barn, on the road, the wedding scene, and an inn bar scene. The costumes for the simple peasant wear of the women - included bonnets, plain blouses, aprons, skirts, shawls, petticoats and head covers, which were mainly scarves. The men wore collarless shirt, heavy woven vests, trousers, Jewish prayer shawl, caps, and boots. The Russian commoners wore fur caps. The Rabbi wore a long black hat, black trousers, and had a long beard. The constable and his soldiers wore jackets, tunic style shirts, trousers, Sam Browne style belts, and