Smart Casting Helps Elevate This ‘Fiddler on the Roof’

After the giga-trillionth production of “Fiddler on the Roof,” what can be said?

And yet at the Alex Theatre in Glendale, where Lenny Wolpe and Lainie Kazan perform roles so familiar that some members of the audience say their lines along with them, surprises are still possible. The Theater League has proven that, with smart casting in the lead roles, even a by-the-books production can breathe life.

Though the show now seems the most conventional of crowd-pleasers, we forget that in 1964 it was considered risky to base a Broadway musical on the lives of poor Eastern European Jews who dress in rags and discuss the Talmud. The theater is rife with stories of people who passed on investing in “Fiddler” and lived to sing their own, private versions of “If I Were a Rich Man” for the rest of their days.

Adapting the stories of Sholom Aleichem, the creators (book writer Joseph Stein, composer Jerry Bock, lyricist Sheldon Harnick) wrote of a culture on the verge of mass displacement, both physically and philosophically. Firmly steeped in tradition, the simple milkman Tevye displays a deep humanist streak that compels him, against his better judgment, to treat his daughters like human beings.

Wolpe is a wonderful Tevye. He sings well, radiates warmth and has the timing essential to a comic philosopher. When a young socialist informs him that money is a curse, he asks God, with whom he’s engaged in a long-running conversation, to smite him. Then--pause, turn to audience, perfect deadpan--”And may I never recover.” Wolpe demonstrates how to approach life’s hardships with an undepletable bank of humor and love.

As his formidable wife Golde, Lainie Kazan is admirably restrained, though she allows herself a bit of cantorial showing-off at the end of “Sabbath Prayer.” She seems a bit under-rehearsed but manages to evoke strength, soul and a mastery of sarcasm.

Director Glenn Casale sticks close to Jerome Robbins’ original design for the show; this is no “revisal” but a simple and heartfelt reproduction.

The rest of the ensemble is mostly credible, with S. Marc Jordan (as Lazar Wolf) a standout. Sound designer Mark Cowburn has alleviated past amplification problems so that the songs now sound as if they’re coming from the people singing them, and the skillful orchestra sounds as if it’s actually in the Alex Theatre. Sure, the sets look cheesy, but the elemental things are right.

“Fiddler” goes to Thousand Oaks on Tuesday.

* ‘Fiddler on the Roof,” Alex Theatre, 216 N. Brand Blvd., Glendale, tonight-Saturday, 8 p.m.; Sunday, 7 p.m.; Saturday-Sunday, 2 p.m. (800) 233-3123; Probst Center, Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza, 2100 E. Thousand Oaks Blvd., Tuesday-Feb. 22, 8 p.m.; Feb. 23, 7 p.m.; Feb. 22-23, 2 p.m. Ends Feb. 23. $32.50-$37.50. (805) 583-8700, (213) 480-3232, (714) 740-2000. Running time: 2 hours, 50 minutes.