A Dramatic Difference : One ‘Fiddler’ Plays Too Much; Better Version Strikes a Comic-Serious Balance

What’s that on the roof? It’s a fiddler. Hold on. Now there are two of them. What’s going on?

By coincidence, Orange County is hosting two productions of the perennially popular “Fiddler on the Roof.” One is at Golden West College, the other at Yorba Linda Civic Light Opera. It’s intriguing to see both, for after all every fiddler plays differently.

With its solid book by Joseph Stein, based on Sholem Aleichem stories, and with a winning, if simplistic, score by Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick, “Fiddler” is a sure-fire audience winner, abounding in love matches, and with the strong central figure of Tevye, the dairyman and father, to hold the whole thing together.

Tevye and his family live in the poverty-stricken Russian village of Anatevka, and for most of the show he is mostly concerned with finding husbands for his three eldest daughters in the manner dictated by tradition.

But times are changing--the daughters are driven to choose their own husbands. And yet things are still the same, being 1905, and one more pogrom is sweeping through Russia, emptying the villages of Jews.

The marriage thing gives the musical its humor and charm, and the pogrom gives it its solid depth and weight as a drama.

The drama inherent in the text points up the biggest differences in these two productions.

At Golden West College’s Community Theater, “Fiddler” veteran Gary Gordon directs, and also plays Tevye for the umpteenth time in the last quarter century. Gordon concentrates almost solely on the show’s entertainment values, without developing much of the dramatic tension that needs to build in the play.

As Tevye, he seems over time to have developed some mannerisms that work with audiences, but that nevertheless detract from the basic seriousness of the story.

His Tevye many times becomes very cute, which doesn’t blend too effectively with the character’s more irascible moments. At one moment, he even punctuates an angry line with an Oliver Hardy-like spinning of his arms, then pointing down for his exclamation point.

Vocally, Gordon is effective, but throughout the show, his work as an actor-director recalls the old saw about a lawyer who defends himself in court.

Gordon’s concept is all in fun, and his cast has caught that flavor. Marci Ross is excellent as Tevye’s wife, Golde. Sherrie Fleming, Julie Abbott and Jennifer Bishop also stand out as the daughters with marriage on their minds. Scott Ratner’s Motel the Tailor is delightful and buoyant, and Duane Thomas, as the Russian who wins one of the Jewish daughters, is a strong presence.

Jeff Glover is miscast as Perchik, the young student from Kiev, taking the boy’s revolutionary ideas as a reason to pose heroically whenever he’s on stage. Rochell Hoffman’s Yente, the Matchmaker, is a stereotyped caricature rather than an honest characterization.

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Yorba Linda CLO director Darren Levens is working on much surer ground. He doesn’t play down the humor at all. In fact, several of the comic scenes, such as Motel’s bravura but bumbling attempt to insist on the eldest daughter’s hand, are much funnier than at Golden West.

Levens also makes sure that a weighty dramatic tension runs throughout, building slowly to the tragic end as the Anatevka peasants march resolutely away from their homes.

Levens knows the value of detail, as when Tevye and Golde’s daughters enter or leave their house, they automatically kiss the mezuza by the door. The Golden West peasants are not at all this tradition-conscious.

Stephen Grant Reynolds, this staging’s Tevye, has also played the role before. But while he’s as entertaining as Gordon, he has built a much more dramatically forceful and richer characterization. His Golde, Ann Peck, is not as firmly rooted as Ross at GWC, but her vocal power and handling of her songs makes up for it.

The entire company seems much more natural as Russian peasants, Jewish ones at that, and their honest and straightforward approach fulfills Levens’ concept flawlessly.

In this staging, only the Yente of Maria Ashby Woodbury is out of kilter. She overplays greatly and reads some lines as though she weren’t sure of their import.

Cherie Janae, Krista Smith and Rachel Hart are superb in their sense of reality as the older daughters, and seem perfectly matched to their suitors. Those suitors are Ryan Holihan, infectious as Motel; Steve Glaudini, sturdy and idealistic as Perchik; and Kristian Merrill, gentle and loving as the Russian Fyedka.

The Yorba Linda “Fiddler” is on a smaller scale than Golden West’s, but none of the show’s strengths are slighted. Tod Kubo’s choreography is vibrant, Alvin B. Jessup’s musical direction is bright in the Broadway sense, and Sharell Martin’s costume design is exact to period and mood.

* “Fiddler on the Roof,” Yorba Linda Forum, 4175 Fairmont Blvd. Fridays and Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 3 p.m. Ends March 31. $14. (714) 779-1932. Running time: 2 hours, 50 minutes.

Stephen Grant ReynoldsTevye

Ann PeckGolde

Cherie JanaeTzeitel

Krista Smith Hodel

Rachel HartChava

Maria Ashby WoodburyYente

Ryan HolihanMotel

Steve GlaudiniPerchik

Kristian MerrillFyedka

A Yorba Linda Civic Light Opera production of the Bock-Harnick musical, based on stories by Sholem Aleichem. Directed by Darren Levens. Musical director-conductor: Alvin B. Jessup. Scenic design: Darren Levens. Lighting design: Sharon L. Alexander. Choreography: Tod Kubo. Production stage manager: Jim Shine.

* “Fiddler on the Roof,” Golden West College’s Community Theater, 15744 Golden West St., Huntington Beach. Thursdays through Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 3 p.m. Ends March 31. $15. (714) 895-8378. Running time: 3 hours.

Gary Gordon: Tevye

Marci Ross: Golde

Sherrie Fleming: Tzeitel

Julie Abbott: Hodel

Jennifer Bishop: Chava

Rochell Hoffman: Yente

Scott Ratner: Motel

Jeff Glover: Perchik

Duane Thomas: Fyedka

A Golden West College Fine and Performing Arts Division production of the Bock-Harnick musical, based on stories by Sholem Aleichem. Directed by Gary Gordon. Scenic-lighting design: Charles Davis. Sound design: Scott Steidinger. Costume design: Susan Thomas Babb. Musical direction: Todd Helm. Original choreography reproduced by Brandee Williams. Stage manager: Lea Russo.