Theater Review : ‘Fiddler’ Has Balance and Rich Tone

“Fiddler on the Roof,” with Theodore Bikel as Tevye, comes to the Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts tonight. Seen on an earlier tour stop at the Pantages Theatre in Hollywood, the actor and the role were as natural a match as Tevye’s daughter Tzeitel and Motel the tailor.

Bikel looks like Tevye--young enough to have pubescent daughters and to shake a leg during a party, old enough to sigh and sometimes sag under the weight of his years of toil.

Despite more than 1,200 performances in the role (a milestone he passed during the Pantages engagement), Bikel’s voice remains a rich instrument. He sings with flair, of course, but his vocal resonance is even more striking in his spoken dialogue, as he alters his pitch and volume for each moment. He infuses his more florid speeches with the rhythms of Hebrew prayer.

Yet this milkman doesn’t milk his role for every last drop of shtick. Like the fiddler on the roof, Bikel balances his performance masterfully, knowing when to play his cadenzas, when to blend.

In his moves as well as his sound, Bikel’s tenure as Tevye has given him a great sense of assurance, not complacency or boredom. His eyes still betray wariness over the initial overtures of the soldiers and shock at their later behavior.

The rest of the ensemble is in fine form. Rebecca Hoodwin maintains Golde’s dignity and has a strong, clear alto. The three older daughters and their suitors are drawn with clarity and strength, with Stacey Lynn Brass particularly moving as Chava, the one who marries outside the faith.

Bruce Alan Johnson plays her suitor with a rural twang that sounds too American. On the other hand, as Tevye would say, we already suspend our disbelief of the fact that they’re speaking English; why not differentiate the local goyim from the Jews by accent?

The apparition of Lazar’s first wife in the dream sequence is more comic than frightful. She’s not as tall or as colorful as some I’ve seen, but her giant pearls give her a look that’s amusingly reminiscent of a Miami Beach matron.

Sammy Dallas Bayes reproduced most of Jerome Robbins’ original staging and choreography; most people like this wonderful Joseph Stein / Jerry Bock / Sheldon Harnick creation just the way it was. As they say in the opening number, you don’t mess with tradition.

* “Fiddler on the Roof,” Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts, 12700 Center Court Drive, Cerritos. Tuesday-Sunday, 8 p.m.; Saturday-Sunday, 2 p.m. Ends Sunday. $23-$43. (800) 300-4345. Running time: 2 hours, 55 minutes.

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Theodore Bikel: Tevye

Rebecca Hoodwin: Golde

Joanna Glushak: Tzeitel

Michele Ragusa: Hodel

Stacey Lynn Brass: Chava

Elaine Grollman: Yenta

John Preece Lazar: Wolf

Daniel C. Cooney: Perchik

James Kall: Motel

Bruce Alan Johnson: Fyedka

Jerry Matz: Rabbi

Michael Ianucci: Mendel

David Masters: Mordcha

Robert Frisch: Constable

Elisa Sagardia: Bielke, Grandma Tzeitel

Terry Kaye: Shprintze

Holly Evers, Nick Rafello: Fruma-Sarah

Frank Anderson: Avram

Arthur Atkinson: the Fiddler

Presented by Robert Young, Nicholas C. Litrenta and Gregory Young. Book by Joseph Stein, based on stories by Sholom Aleichem. Music by Jerry Bock. Lyrics by Sheldon Harnick. Original staging by Jerome Robbins, reproduced by Sammy Dallas Bayes. Lights by Steve Cochrane. Costumes by Michael Bottari and Ronald Case. Sound by Mark Cowburn. Musical director: Sheilah Walker. Production stage manager: Joseph Sheridan.