Getting Beyond Zero

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"There are a lot of hand-me-down expectations about the show," says Leveaux, a veteran of London's Donmar Warehouse who directed last season's Broadway revival of Nine. "Some of the stereotypical gestures and exaggerations are no longer in the show. They have become so cliched they're an advertisement for the culture, not the culture itself. I wanted people to experience Fiddler through a new lens."

But he rejects any suggestion that the Jewishness of the show has been downplayed, noting that "we went to some lengths to add culturally specific detail"--like having Tevye's daughter Tzeitel, at her wedding, walk around the groom seven times, as prescribed by Jewish tradition, rather than only three times, as she did in Robbins' original. As for casting, lyricist Harnick points out that the current revival features no higher a percentage of non-Jewish actors than the original Broadway production did. "The show has been done around the world, and 90% of the Tevyes have not been Jewish," says Harnick. "We always approached this show looking for the universal aspects of the story."

They found it in the original, which ran for a then record 3,242 performances on Broadway. And they've found it again, in a production that reinstates Fiddler in the Broadway musical pantheon. And your grandmother will still like it.