Tradition!
During the month of January, I took a Musical Theater class for interterm, to fulfill a gen ed requirement. This course felt super long, considering it was 5 hours a day for two weeks, but you couldn’t beat the fact that homework wasn’t all that bad. On the first day of class, the professor gave us a list of all of the musicals that we would be watching during the two weeks we were there. Upon looking at the list, there was one that stood out and excited me that we would be watching it. That musical was Fiddler on the Roof.
The first I heard of this musical was from the episode of the Big Bang Theory, where Sheldon gets drunk and sings “To Life” in the bar. It gave me hope that the musical was good, and a desire to watch it. And thanks to the character of Tevye, I enjoyed every second of the entire movie. This musical hinges on Tevye and his interaction with the rest of the people in the town of Anatevka. A bad Tevya can lead to a bad time, while a good Tevye can lead to great performances.
Fiddler on the roof deals with the theme of going against tradition of the ways of old. Some of the things that these traditions cover are things like arranged marriage, patriarchy, and wives being home keepers. The time period that this musical is set in, allows for some excuse for some of these gender biases, however with the desire for a spouse to be a specific way or guys just doing nothing but discussing the holy books, is something that we cannot excuse. It plays on the old trope that love is based on looks or wealth. However, they change this with Tzeitel and her husband. This is the first time of breaking traditions of the old patriarchy. However, disowning a child because of her love, or the women basically dropping their dreams to go along with their husbands, are still inexcusable.
By no means is Fiddler On The Roof a bad musical. In fact, it is considered one of the greatest, but that doesn’t mean it is perfect. It still has faults, but in spite of these, it is a good time to be had.
