Fiddler on the roof

Palace Theatre & Opera House Manchester

21st October till 1st November 

*** ABSOLUTE TRIUMPH ***

*** You’ll be hooked on the story telling charm of lead actor MATTHEW WOODYATT ***

Fiddler On The Roof is a show that seems to tour once a decade. Maybe that’s why I’ve always missed it previously. This was the first time I’d seen any incarnation of this classic tale. The Palace was packed last night and the audience were keen for the show to begin.

On paper the story seems quite basic. It starts with a poor Jewish peasant dairy/milkman & father to 5 daughters in the fictional town of Anatevka. The village is based on the real Ukrainian town of Boyarka. The local matchmaker attempts the pairing of his children with the town’s folk. It’s a story about tradition, about arranged marriage, whilst the world around them changes. An anti-Semitic sentiment threatens his village. The family within the small community must adapt or fall apart when pressure looms & emotions run high. This isn’t a glitsy musical. It’s a powerful piece that draws you into the story from the get go - & I was hooked. So this surprised me. I thought it was going to take a while to get onboard with this show. I was wrong.

There’s memorable songs throughout: TRADITION, IF I WERE A RICH MAN, MATCHMAKER, SUNRISE, SUNSET. Hearing these songs performed live really is a treat.

The acclaimed 1971 movie plays for 3 hours 21 mins. This has also past me by but has been on my list for a while. It stars Topol in the lead and is still talked about to this day.

The male lead - Tevye played expertly by UK theatre stalwart MATTHEW WOODYATT. What a triumph this portrayal is! He literally commands the stage and we were all hanging on his every word. At one point in Act 2 - he breaks the 4th wall of theatre and looks right out into the audience. Talking and gesturing direct. His timing was outstanding. Emotional. Simply put - we were hooked! It’s a raw performance in many ways.

The large cast fully embody their roles and through Julia Cheng’s choreography & Jordan Fein’s direction they were always going to be in safe hands.

The set is dramatic - to match the action unfolding. It’s almost a high end opera style in developing the world we enter. Tom Scott’s design with a large canopy must of proved tricky for lighting designer Aideen Malone. Light reflects from the canopy onto the main performance space to great effect. I felt that the group singing numbers were enhanced greatly with this platform in place. Using a canopy in an open air theatre setting is complete genius though - bravo!

There’s a highly memorable dream sequence that makes clever use of the existing on stage elements.

This production was at Regents Park Open Air Theatre originally & completely sold out. It’s not hard to see why. Earlier this year we saw SCHUKED there and thoroughly enjoyed the space. We will return.

We think you should go and experience FIDDLER while you can. Book via below:

https://www.atgtickets.com/shows/fiddler-on-the-roof/palace-theatre-manchester/