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Everyone has heard of the great musicals by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein, the team who transformed American musical theater from its rather humble beginnings in Vaudeville and Ziegfeld shows into a venue for high. Rodgers and Hammerstein were not alone in turning out what we now consider classic musicals at mid-century, but they were certainly the most prolific and successful team, beginning with their first collaboration, “Oklahoma!” in 1943, and finishing out their Broadway run together with the superb “Sound of Music” in 1959. And we know that Rodgers and Hammerstein didn’t end their careers on Broadway; they spent plenty of time in Hollywood working to bring their delightful musicals to audiences across the nation and around the world on film. So beyond Broadway, they stretched their careers into the 1960’s, at a time when Broadway was still giving us new musicals which are for the ages. And don’t I love an excuse to do a very great song from a very fine Broadway musical!
As it happens, a young team of musical theater writers whose names are not exactly household words enjoyed a decade of prominence on Broadway. In 1964, the same year when “The Sound of Music” hit the movie theaters, that young team produced one of the most memorable Broadway plays in the history of American musical theater. The play I refer to is “Fiddler on the Roof,” with music by composer Jerry Bock and lyrics and book by librettist Sheldon Harnick. Though relatively new to Broadway, the team had not sprung out of nowhere. Having premiered their first show in 1955, Bock and Harnick won a Pulitzer Prize for their play, “Fiorello!” in 1959 and shared that year’s Tony Award for Best Musical with “The Sound of Music.” Five years later, their “Fiddler on the Roof” beat all Broadway records with a run of 3245 consecutive performances, a record which it held for over 10 years. In 1971 the film version of “Fiddler on the Roof” was nominated for eight Academy Awards, though the Best Score Oscar went not to Bock and Harnick, but to John Williams, who adapted the original music for the film. The marvelous orchestration of the score was done by someone whose name you may indeed recall, Alexander Courage, composer of the theme for the original “Star Trek” series.
I’ve decided to include here the performance by singer/actor Chaim Topol, who played Teyve in London’s West End — over 2,000 performances — and played the role in the film production. Evidently Hollywood’s decision not to choose Zero Mostel, who had performed Teyve so entertainingly on Broadway, was a matter of some controversy. But as always for Sometimes a Song I try to choose what I think is the best overall performance of our featured song. Often that choice is very difficult, indeed. In this case, I find Topol’s performance, with the film’s very fine orchestration — and “enhancements” which include a chorus of chickens and piggies — just too hard to resist. Topol positively shone in this song. His performance must be seen and heard to show us how fully he took ownership of it. I’ll leave it to you now, to see and hear for yourself.
Thank you! I was thrilled to see Topol in the West End and remember the delight of the mostly Jewish audience, who laughed at different times to us ...
I was in high school in NJ at the time and our English teacher found an excuse and reason to request a field trip to NYC, to Broadway, and that's where I saw Topol in Fiddler. I recall seeing the marquee and being disappointed that it wasn't Mostel, ever-popular and famous as Tevye....but shortly into the production I forgot all about Mostel. I remember thinking, at the time, "You'll recall this when you're an old lady."
And it has come to pass...