Fiddler on the Roof at the King’s Theatre Edinburgh Review

Reviewed by Dawn Watson

Fiddler on the Roof is a well-known musical having spent more than 9 years at the top in Broadway. Written by Joseph Stein it tells the story of Tevye, his wife and 5 daughters in Imperial Russia in the 1900’s. The story unfolds through music, song and dance telling the tale of poor Tevye, a milkman, and his attempts to keep his Jewish religious, cultural beliefs and traditions, while his daughters, who are very strong willed, can see how life is changing beyond their beloved village. He must try hard to marry his daughters through the ‘matchmaker’ to try and help his daughters marry into more affluent families. However, each daughter want to marry for love, not for culture and tradition. Each daughter’s choice of husband moves further away from tradition and faith…

Trying to stay true to his faith and ‘tradition’ while ensuring his family are happy and safe is a strong theme throughout the musical. Opening with a lone fiddler on the roof, Tevye sings the famous ‘If I were a rich man’. Throughout the show his daughters wonder who the ‘matchmaker’ will find for them but they too are seeing how life is changing and how they want to marry for love.

The story continues through each of the daughters love and how Tevye copes with each daughter’s choice of husband. Until finally they are all forced to sell up and leave their beautiful village for a new life elsewhere with the family split.

This amateur production was well done and enjoyable although a few times I must admit I really struggled to hear or understand what they were saying with their accents, especially the dream scene – I was a bit lost at this scene as struggled to understand what was going on due to not being able to make out what the girls were saying? The whole cast brought the show to life though with their enthusiastic dancing, singing and the occasional witty lyric. On the whole, a fairly good show but perhaps opening nerves got to one or two of them.

Rating: 3/5

Tickets cost from £15 to £20 (booking fees may apply).

Fiddler on the Roof is at the King’s Theatre in Edinburgh from 5-8 April 2017, for more information or to book tickets visit www.edtheatres.com or call the box office on 0131 529 6000.

King’s Theatre, 2 Leven Street, Edinburgh, EH3 9LQ | 0131 529 6000