Fiddler On The Roof Festival Theatre Edinburgh 10th September 2025 Review
Fiddler On The Roof is at the Festival Theatre Edinburgh from 9 – 13 September and if tonight’s full house is anything to judge things by, this show could simply have stayed there for as long as it wanted to.
Based on "Tevye the Dairyman" and other short stories by Sholem Aleichem, “Fiddler on the Roof” is set in Anatevka, a village in the Pale of Settlement of Imperial Russia in or around 1905 (Wikipedia) and somehow Jerry Bock (music), Sheldon Harnick (lyrics) and Joseph Stein (book), saw here the source material for one of the most successful stage musicals of all time.
Since the original Broadway production of this show opened in 1964, this musical and the 1971 film based upon it, has not only delighted audiences across the world, people have taken its characters and their stories and songs into their hearts in a way that few shows have ever achieved. Wisely, this revival of the show has stayed true to the original one and it has already been a huge success, winning along the way 3 Olivier Awards.
A huge part of this show’s success is, to me, its honesty, and emotional depth of all the main people in this story, in particular Tevye the Dairyman. In “Fiddler On The Roof” we not only have a celebration of the joys of life, but also a black comedy that is full of the humour that helps many of these people get through difficult times. Their troubles are many, poverty and persecution from the Russian authorities being only two of them. Still, despite everything, they hold on to their religious beliefs and their traditions. In Tevye, we are given not only a man who holds onto the old ways of life, but one who is struggling to come to terms with how quickly things are changing, particularly when it comes to the potential marriage of his five daughters.
Tevye the Dairyman is a wonderful character, full of emotions, at times a dark sense of humour, and many different facets to his nature, and Matthew Woodyatt is excellent in his performance here, and he has that gentle touch that is needed so much for some of the great comedy lines in this script.
This is of course a musical, and Tevye has one of the most recognisable songs from musical theatre, the now iconic ‘If I Were A Rich Man’. Oddly, for some reason this has never been one of my favourite songs, but I appreciate not only the musical and lyrical creativity of it, but also just how difficult this song is to perform just right. To do so, a performer not only has to get the timing and phrasing just right, but also understand not only the humour in this song, but also Tevye himself. Here, tonight, Matthew Woodyatt got everything right.
Every great character in writing (of any kind) seems to need that perfect counterbalance to work off, and, for Tevye, this is his wife Golde, and Jodie Jacobs is perfect in this role. She knows Tevye perhaps better than he knows himself and understands just when to let him think that he is in charge of everything. Together their duet on ‘Do You Love Me’ was one of the highlights of this show. Another great song from this show ‘Sunrise, Sunset’ gave the wedding scene that bittersweet touch that so many people must feel at many other weddings.
There are so many strong characters in this story that it is impossible here to list them all individually and, as always, a show like this is a collective effort from everyone involved, and although there were a few cast changes tonight, everything went smoothly with some fine performances by many people on stage.
“Fiddler On The Roof” was though, for me, not a perfect show tonight, and much of that was down to the stage design. Having a raised platform to have a real fiddler on the roof may be a great idea on paper, but if you are sitting in the stalls, then your view of that fiddler may be very restricted. Likewise, underneath this roof is the name of the village and like the fiddler this is going to be impossible to see from many seats. The use of modern stacking chairs also seemed out of place in this set too.
This story of a persecuted and displaced people may also be unintentionally resonating with many people due to events happening now in more than one region of the world. You have to follow this story through to its dark conclusion though and there are many uncomfortable historical truths to be faced here too.
Review by Tom King © 2025
www.artsreviewsedinnburgh.com
Based on "Tevye the Dairyman" and other short stories by Sholem Aleichem, “Fiddler on the Roof” is set in Anatevka, a village in the Pale of Settlement of Imperial Russia in or around 1905 (Wikipedia) and somehow Jerry Bock (music), Sheldon Harnick (lyrics) and Joseph Stein (book), saw here the source material for one of the most successful stage musicals of all time.
Since the original Broadway production of this show opened in 1964, this musical and the 1971 film based upon it, has not only delighted audiences across the world, people have taken its characters and their stories and songs into their hearts in a way that few shows have ever achieved. Wisely, this revival of the show has stayed true to the original one and it has already been a huge success, winning along the way 3 Olivier Awards.
A huge part of this show’s success is, to me, its honesty, and emotional depth of all the main people in this story, in particular Tevye the Dairyman. In “Fiddler On The Roof” we not only have a celebration of the joys of life, but also a black comedy that is full of the humour that helps many of these people get through difficult times. Their troubles are many, poverty and persecution from the Russian authorities being only two of them. Still, despite everything, they hold on to their religious beliefs and their traditions. In Tevye, we are given not only a man who holds onto the old ways of life, but one who is struggling to come to terms with how quickly things are changing, particularly when it comes to the potential marriage of his five daughters.
Tevye the Dairyman is a wonderful character, full of emotions, at times a dark sense of humour, and many different facets to his nature, and Matthew Woodyatt is excellent in his performance here, and he has that gentle touch that is needed so much for some of the great comedy lines in this script.
This is of course a musical, and Tevye has one of the most recognisable songs from musical theatre, the now iconic ‘If I Were A Rich Man’. Oddly, for some reason this has never been one of my favourite songs, but I appreciate not only the musical and lyrical creativity of it, but also just how difficult this song is to perform just right. To do so, a performer not only has to get the timing and phrasing just right, but also understand not only the humour in this song, but also Tevye himself. Here, tonight, Matthew Woodyatt got everything right.
Every great character in writing (of any kind) seems to need that perfect counterbalance to work off, and, for Tevye, this is his wife Golde, and Jodie Jacobs is perfect in this role. She knows Tevye perhaps better than he knows himself and understands just when to let him think that he is in charge of everything. Together their duet on ‘Do You Love Me’ was one of the highlights of this show. Another great song from this show ‘Sunrise, Sunset’ gave the wedding scene that bittersweet touch that so many people must feel at many other weddings.
There are so many strong characters in this story that it is impossible here to list them all individually and, as always, a show like this is a collective effort from everyone involved, and although there were a few cast changes tonight, everything went smoothly with some fine performances by many people on stage.
“Fiddler On The Roof” was though, for me, not a perfect show tonight, and much of that was down to the stage design. Having a raised platform to have a real fiddler on the roof may be a great idea on paper, but if you are sitting in the stalls, then your view of that fiddler may be very restricted. Likewise, underneath this roof is the name of the village and like the fiddler this is going to be impossible to see from many seats. The use of modern stacking chairs also seemed out of place in this set too.
This story of a persecuted and displaced people may also be unintentionally resonating with many people due to events happening now in more than one region of the world. You have to follow this story through to its dark conclusion though and there are many uncomfortable historical truths to be faced here too.
Review by Tom King © 2025
www.artsreviewsedinnburgh.com