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WEDNESDAY, MAR. 16, 2016
Stockton High School Theater Department presents Fiddler on the Roof By Tony Carton Editor
Tracy Siegner photo
The Stockton High School Theater Department presented “Fiddler on the Roof,” a much-loved and often-revived 1964 musical comedy by Joseph Stein with Music by Jerry Bock and lyrics by Sheldon Harnick.
“Sunrise” the next day. The famous violin solo is heard in the opening scene, and soon the stage is filled with the people of Anatevka singing the electrifying prologue, “Tradition,” defining a central theme of tension between honoring the past and accepting progress. For Tevye, the conflict is a matter of daily headaches, given that three of his five daughters are approaching marrying age, and proving themselves unwilling to obey a tradition of prearranged nuptials. Tevye’s wife, Golde, played by Nikke Bourland, brings a moving, but careworn quality
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STOCKTON — As our world sinks to new levels of familial collapse, frustration and anger we were given an opportunity last weekend to appreciate “Fiddler on the Roof,” a much-loved and often-revived 1964 musical comedy at a time when its story of the gradual disintegration of a family, and a community, strikes home with unusual force. The fun and latest production, which opened on Friday at Stockton High School is filled with laughter and tenderness and captures a moment in history with an ebullience of spirit, as embodied in the central character of the Jewish milkman Tevye, played by Drew Groezinger with endless tongue wagging, angry clenched fist gestures while questioning an apparently indifferent God. As directed by Stockton HS Vocal Music Director Lana Crandall with aid from sophomore Stage Director Kali Haas this layered production moves to a heart-stopping conclusion. It’s impossible to watch the people of Tevye’s town, Anatevka, marching toward their unknown destinies in the shadow of a threatened pogrom without thinking of the thousands of families fleeing violence in the Middle East and elsewhere today. Oy! Enough philosophizing, as Tevye (Groezinger) might say with a shrug. It’s just a high school musical, no? Yes, but what a musical. The score is filled with melodies of love and loss and enters your bloodstream with the force of Lambchop’s “Song That Never Ends.” I found myself humming “Matchmaker” and
to her performance and seems forever slightly stooped with work or worry while dismayed at Tevye’s ability to play several sides of any issue. Who did not feel her frustration at her hubby’s constant return to the phrases, “On the one hand” and “On the other hand,” as the couple worked their way through the weekend’s performances? Jill Harmston brings a staunch, determined Tzeitel,
Tevye’s eldest; and Motel, the struggling tailor she loves, is played by Tom Eden with an antic, quivering nervousness, even to the point of flinging himself under the milk cart when Tevye flies into a rage at Motel’s declaration of love for Tzeitel. Motel’s apprehension changes to ecstasy with his performance of “Miracle of Miracles.” The stories of Tzeitel’s sisters Hodel (Addiah Broshous) and
Chava (Madelaine Imel) are less fully developed but played with strength and dignity, and Lauryn Schubert’s delivery of “The Rumor/I Just Heard” with the villagers is among the show’s musical highlights. Preston Legel portrays the radical Perchik, the man Hodel comes to cherish, with an apt fieriness, even aggressively defiant manner. While
See FIDDLER, Page 26
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