Fiddler on the Roof Reviews – Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre London

"Adam Dannheisser is a marvellously relaxed Tevye"

"Jordan Fein’s triumphant production of Fiddler on the Roof"

"... Fein’s arrestingly intelligent second-act directorial decisions, particularly around a clarinet-playing Chava (Hannah Bristow) and her disastrous marriage choice, deepen and darken the action and make the show richer and stronger than any recent London revivals. Fein’s winning approach is to strip away anything remotely sentimental in the storytelling, which can sometimes curdle into kitsch. Far from robbing the show of emotion, it allows audiences to feel the vivid sentiment coursing throughout Joseph Stein’s book and Bock and Harnick’s beloved score."

"The master stroke of Fein’s production of a 1964 musical about a 1905 Jewish community under threat is its refusal to signal present-day parallels. Simply by honestly playing the detailed script and songs in gently klezmer-tinged arrangements (with Nick Lidster’s first-rate sound design), everyone pays the audience the supreme compliment of allowing the show to resonate to quite beautiful effect."

"A spine-tingling production that steers clear of politics"

"This triumphant revival of the classic musical at Regent Park’s Open Air Theatre is a masterclass in balancing innovation with tradition"

"... this phenomenal 60th-anniversary production of Joseph Stein, Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick’s Fiddler on the Roof is a masterclass in balancing innovation with tradition."

"Interestingly, Fein banned politics talk in rehearsals (although the theatre has beefed up security) and he resists the temptation to lecture us on the contemporary parallels around refugees, invading forces and anti-Semitism. No need when they come through so powerfully anyway, especially the scene in which torch-wielding, jack-booted Russian thugs smash up a wedding. It’s made more chilling by a bureaucratic constable describing it as “a little unofficial demonstration”."

"Fein’s staging is also beautifully attuned to the park’s natural magic. The shiver-inducing coup de théâtre is the sun actually setting during the bittersweet song Sunrise, Sunset. The bleaker second half then takes place in the dark of night."

"Dannheisser leads a strong cast who both act and sing with fervent conviction, especially Liv Andrusier, Hannah Bristow and Georgia Bruce as daughters Tzeitel, Chava and Hodel respectively."

"Showstopper. Speaks to the present. Sublime."

"As Tevye, Broadway import Adam Dannheisser perfectly times the one-liners (“Am I gonna have another dream?” when another filial match unravels) but also conveys the character’s deep faith: in If I Were a Rich Man, the true bonus of wealth is more time for synagogue. Lara Pulver as his wife Golde radiates the brains and determination – a 60-year-old show about marrying off daughters is surprisingly feminist – that have made an arranged marriage in extreme poverty work."

"Fein (who revolutionised Oklahoma! at the Young Vic) and musical supervisor Mark Aspinall subtly tweak the soundscape. The title character, thrillingly fiddled by Raphael Papo, shadows Tevye like a golem, duetting and adding cadenzas. The show’s final notes are a surprise, throwing the action forwards."

"The quality of Jordan Fein’s wonderful, emotional production is that it perfectly holds the balance of Fiddler on the Roof, neither tilting towards saccharine nor bitterness, towards schmaltz or politics."

"It’s impossible to watch the scene where Russian thugs attack a Jewish wedding celebration, for example, without thinking of the racist riots happening in Britain today. Yet it does this very gently, its tone and impact conditioned by Tom Scutt’s beautiful set, at once abstract and specific:"

"At the heart of all this is the quiet underplaying and resonant voice of Dannheisser, who turns Tevye not into a Topol-style caricature but into a wry, ironic man, buffeted by events he cannot control, yet always finding it possible to assert love. He is matched by Laura Pulver’s Golde, full of emotion she doesn’t often express, but finding tenderness in gesture and stillness."

"Liberating, exuberant and humane"

"This is a hugely moving, sensitively revised Fiddler, cursed by relevance"

"This is Fiddler as London has never seen it before: revamped, refreshed and al fresco. American director Jordan Fein places the stirring 1964 Broadway musical by Joseph Stein (book), Jerry Bock (music) and Sheldon Harnick (lyrics) about life in a Jewish stetl circa 1905, on an abstract set, where a ski-jump field of wheat seems to have peeled up from the floor and everyone is prey to the elements."

"It’s a liberating, exuberant and humane production where the great songs – Tradition; If I Were a Rich Man; Sunrise, Sunset – touch you to the core. It also feels sadly contemporary without even trying."

"You can’t help but find echoes of Putin’s aggression and the war in Gaza in the wider political frame. Or of recent racist riots across Britain in the “little, unofficial demonstration” that wrecks the wedding of Tevye’s eldest daughter Tzeitel."

"Beliefs and territory are important here but it’s humans that really matter. Dannheisser’s Tevye is a warm, tender-hearted mule of a man, complaining about his lot to God while equivocating himself out of hardline positions. Pulver, the Sherlock star back in the UK after years in America, brings a wearied glamour and a commanding singing voice to Golde."

"Exuberant musical of faith, family and marriage"

"The large cast of Fiddler on the Roof rips through the rousing opening number, “Tradition”, underlining the values of the community at the turn of the 20th century"

"Adam Dannheisser brings huge warmth but dials down the bombast as this timid man in a big man’s body, striving to align as many opposing views as possible with his refrain: “On the other hand . . . on the other hand . . . on the other hand.” Wife Golde (Lara Pulver, the lynx-eyed villainess from Sherlock) is the real powerhouse of the family."

"Tom Scutt’s design features a curving roof that is also a wheat field, sheltering the musicians beneath. Virtuosic Raphael Papo weaves throughout the action as the enigmatic Fiddler, performing a thrilling duet with Chava (Hannah Bristow), Tevye’s third daughter, on clarinet. Chava brings about his most painful crisis yet. Marching off through the alien corn, he leaves large questions — the nature of faith, family, homeland — for the audience to resolve."

"Ravishing design and low key reinvention power this superb and subtly haunting outdoor take on the classic musical"

"There’s an irony that ‘Fiddler On the Roof’ is being revived in the only theatre in London that doesn’t have one. But Jordan Fein’s joyous, then suddenly very sad production is all about uprooting traditions."

"It’s a remarkable image in a production full of them; a production about reinventing a classic musical through small gestures and symbols, rather than radical high concepts."

"... Fein, who co-directed ‘sexy Oklahoma!’ when it came to London last year and helped strip it of any hokey old associations, eradicates the kitsch here, too. Yes it’s funny – Adam Dannheisser’s Tevye still cracks jokes and talks to the audience, though he’s more dad-funny than the kind of showman-comedian that Tevye often becomes – and yes it’s faithful, but this is a serious production."

"Individually, there are some wonderful performances – Lara Pulver’s Golde is a joy, staunch enough to make Tevye’s jokes about his wife not seem too horrendously dated – but there’s some underpowered acting and some imperfect voices, too. It’s only when everyone comes together and sings as an ensemble that they blow the (non-existent) roof off."

"A potent evening that’s hard to forget"

"Jordan Fein’s take on the classic musical at the Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre is unfolksy, unvarnished and balances the joy and pain"

"Fein’s production is a fast-paced, ensemble-driven night. Even the Fiddler himself, normally a bookend, is part of the action, winningly performed by the violinist Raphael Papo. It’s unfolksy and unvarnished."

"The appealing Adam Dannheisser goes for something between all these things — not entirely convincingly. His strongest suit is a sitcom frazzlement — this is Reb Tevye meets Ross Geller from Friends. Lara Pulver brings quiet dignity rather than shrewishness to Tevye’s wife, Golde, and Dan Wolff is a triumphantly nerdy Motel. The actresses playing Tevye’s three eldest daughters grow in stature as the night goes on, and Liv Andrusier’s Tzeitel gets to show her musical-theatre chops in a brilliantly grand guignol staging of Tevye’s Dream."

"Can I finish on a downer? Fiddler on the Roof does — with exile, loss, blackout. And perhaps Fein’s greatest work is to balance the joy with the pain."

"A musical triumph for summer nights"

"The sylvan heart of Regent’s Park proves the perfect place to watch this classic musical"

"A deep summer evening in the sylvan heart of Regent’s Park proves the idyllic way to watch this classic musical, which this year celebrates its 60th anniversary. The Sholem Aleichem stories upon which the show is based recount simple rural living in the tiny village of Anatevka in the Jewish Pale of Settlement, and that agrarian existence is perfectly evoked in the Open Air Theatre’s amphitheatre, surrounded and overhung as it is by an abundance of trees and bushes."

"... Jordan Fein’s assured production bears all the hallmarks of a venue that knows precisely what it is doing with this genre."

"The first half is predominantly good-hearted japes, with just a hint of future dangers. Tevye, exuberantly played by American actor Adam Dannheisser, is much given to misquoting the good book, as well as impromptu chats with the Lord"

"For the umpteenth year in succession, the Open Air Theatre provides a musical triumph for long summer evenings."

"A fresh revival that’s true to tradition"

"As Jordan Fein’s much-anticipated Fiddler on the Roof arrives, the metaphor of the fiddler perched precariously atop a roof resonates more than ever. This is the Jewish musical that tells the Jewish story."

"Act One is full of comic moments and legendary melodies. As night approaches, the pace quickens, and by the time the ensemble reaches Sunrise, Sunset, the light has dipped below the horizon and the second half, with its danger and violence, takes place in inevitable darkness."

"The fiddler – often an afterthought – here becomes the driving force of the play, embodying tradition and God’s will. Raphael Papo’s haunting violin shadows Tevye from sunrise to sunset."

"Adam Dannheisser’s Tevye, though occasionally overwhelmed by the vastness of the park, portrays the protagonist’s struggle between tradition and change."

"Since its creation by four Jewish men in New York in the 1960s, the musical has continued to speak to everyone – Jewish or not – and this production faithfully welcomes new audiences to Anatevka."

"Fiddler on the Roof at Regent's Park Open Air Theatre is absolutely glorious"

"Regent's Park Open Air Theatre delivers its best show in years with a sensationally staged Fiddler on the Roof that creates real magic."

"When the sensational Raphael Papo as the eponymous fiddler coaxed exquisite runs from his violin or Hannah Bristow as rebellious daughter Chava poured all of her heartache into a clarinet solo against the inky blue sky, I felt like I was dreaming."

"Set against Tom Scutt's magnificent stage and costume designs, director Jordan Fein beautifully treads the tightrope of respecting and celebrating the 1964 show while sensitively adding some modern nuances, notably in the portrayals of sisters Tzietal (Liv Andrusier), Chava (Hannah Bristow) and Hodel (Georgia Bruce)."

"As matriarch Golde, Lara Pulver has a beautiful singing voice and brought wry, steely stoicism to an admittedly unwritten role. Their duets on Sunrise, Sunset and Do You Love Me are lovely, but I didn't quite buy their relationship."

"So many shows unnecessarily hammer home messaging and parallels to our own times. Trust the material. Trust the audience... This show never preaches but allows us to feel the despair of being forced to become a "stranger in a strange new land," while also still believing there might yet be hope ahead when the sun rises."