To life! (And glasses!)

[jethrien]

We went to see Fiddler on the Roof last night. Not bad. It's a fun show, and was fairly well done. The set was gorgeous - huge birch trees surrounding the edges, and these beautiful lanterns hanging in the trees and all the way out over the first few rows. I started off thinking Harvey Fierstein (who's playing Tevye right now) was a bit over the top, but he grew on me. Although someone needs to sit him down and explain that Tevye is a Russian Jew, not a Brooklyn one.

For the record, we saw this before Rosie O'Donnell joins the cast. (She's playing Golde, starting in September.)

Amusing bits that were not intentionally so - when Tevye and Lavar the butcher are drinking to the butcher's betrothal to Tevye's daughter, they clinked glasses. And Lavar's shattered. Harvey stares at it a second and then hands him the whole bottle, saying something like "Here, have another, have it all. (You bought it.)" And the guy playing Lavar starts cracking up. The whole audience and most of the cast spent the next verse in the song laughing hard enough that the actors were having trouble getting out their lines. They kept improvising ways to pick up the pieces and sweep up all the broken glass in the context of the song before someone stepped on it. It was really funny.

Ironically, though, when they get up to the wedding scene, the cup they were using was _not_ glass. Which meant that instead of stepping on it at the end, Motel had to stamp next to it, since the metal goblet they were using was clearly not going to shatter.

Anyway, it was much fun. Although chuckro came out not terribly happy. His throat seems to be getting worse instead of better. He's taking a sick day and going back to the doctor.

Comments

[edgehopper.livejournal.com]

Am I wrong, or would Rosie seem to make a much better Yente than Golde? Also, did L'Chaim then include the folk Russian glass-sweeping and wedding dance then?

[jethrien.livejournal.com]

Yenta is not a very big role. They're bringing in Rosie to help with lagging ticket sales. She's too old for any of the daughters, so Golde it is.

...I don't really understand your second question. They broke the glass at the beginning of L'Chaim, spent the middle of the song frantically sweeping up the glass, and cleared it just in time to start the Russian folk dancing section. The wedding dance is two or three scenes later.

[hutubachick.livejournal.com]

I love Harvey :)