Review: Jason Alexander Stars in a Joyous Fiddler on the Roof in Los Angeles

The ageless classic Fiddler on the Roof has bottle-danced its way into Los Angeles’s La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts with an incandescent re-creation, complete with Lee Martino’s restoration of Jerome Robbins’s Tony award-winning original choreography. Led by Jason Alexander, the cast is impeccable, fulfilling the joyousness and pain of the beloved musical.

In tsarist Russia at the turn of the 20th century, the small town of Anatevka wears its Jewish faith and traditions like armor against the world. But change is on the horizon, as milkman Tevye (Jason Alexander) discovers when his three eldest daughters buck the customs that he and his wife (Valerie Perri) have instilled in them. To his consternation, Tevye must contend with his daughters Tzeitel (Rachel Ravel) who refuses to have her marriage arranged; Hodel (Alanna J. Smith), who falls in love with revolutionary Perchik (Remy Laifer); and Chava (Emerson Glick) who, most shockingly for him, marries outside the faith, eloping with the Russian Fyedka (Sawyer Patterson).

Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick’s score features songs that have become standards like “Tradition,” “Matchmaker, Matchmaker,” and “Sunrise, Sunset.” The composers packed the score with ambitious comedy numbers, like “Tevye’s Dream” and touching ballads like “Far From the Home I Love.” Joseph Stein’s book is a witty exploration of the Jewish burden of celebrating and mourning at the same time.

Alexander leads the cast with confidence. It’s a difficult role because Teyve is a source of comedy, a moral center, and the musical’s anchor all at once. Alexander makes the audience laugh and cry with his character’s dilemmas. Perri is determined and proud as Tevye’s exhausted but committed wife, Golde.

Cameron Mabie is sweet as Tzeitel’s befuddled love interest Motel, and Smith gives steely steadfastness as Hodel. Eileen T’Kaye and Ron Orbach also stand out as the town matchmaker Yente and butcher Lazar Wolf, two characters whose ambitions are thwarted by the new generation’s rejection of tradition.

Lee Martino does a stellar job re-creating the moves and nuances of Robbins’s choreography. The cast’s athleticism dazzles during the “Bottle Dance.” Alby Potts’s musical direction includes an impressive 19-piece orchestra, and Anna Louizos’s set features a detailed hovel where Tevye and his family live in poverty, and boasts a backdrop of abstract homes and landscapes, evoking the works of Marc Chagall.

Director Lonny Price treats this production as if it were running on Broadway for the first time. Though much of the original brilliance is reproduced, this Fiddler On The Roof feels fresh and current.