FIDDLING ON THE ROOF IN TORRINGTON

       

    Forget that the price of milk is skyrocketing and go greet the world’s most famous dairyman:  Tevye in the classic family musical powerhouse “Fiddler on the Roof.”  No where are the themes of family, love, tradition and religion more beautifully and poignantly portrayed than in the tiny village of Anatevka, in Czarist Russia, where a poor milkman, with his long suffering wife Golde, try to raise five daughters in a world that is spinning out of control.
   
Let the Community Theatre of the Warner Stage Company at the Warner Theatre in Torrington help you celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of “Fiddler on the Roof” weekends  until Sunday, November 10 with one of its most ambitious undertaking to date.Based on the tales of Sholom Aleichem, with book by JosepStein, music by Jerry Bock and lyrics by Sheldon Harnick, this magnificent musical is universally loved.
   
Joe Harding is wonderful as Tevye, the papa who must accept the changing times or break like a willow tree in a storm.  With his  wife Golde, the devoted Mary Johnson at his side, the pair make a strong foundation for this tale, as she adds a maternal warmth that glows like the Sabbath candles.
   
The love stories of the older daughters, Tzeitel (Kate Valiska) for Motel the tailor (Cole Sutton), Hodel (Janina Reiner) for Perchik (Brad Stoll), the teacher and Chava (Autumn Sheffy) for the Russian soldier (Jonathan Zalaski) illustrate how marriages that used to be arranged by the Yente (Susan Hackel), the matchmaker with the permission and blessing of the papa, are now being motivated by more modern means.
   
Choreographer and director Donna Bonasera manages a mighty community cast of 46 actors,  with a marvelous hand.  Nowhere will you hear more stirring songs than “Tradition,” “Matchmaker,” “If I Were A Rich Man,” “Miracle of Miracles,” “Sunrise, Sunset,” and the list goes on, under the direction of TJ Thompson.
   
For tickets ($18-26) call the Warner Theatre, 68 Main Street, Torrington at 860-489-7180, ext.261 or online at www.warnertheatre.org .  Performances are Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m.

Travel back in time to a long forgotten corner of the world where the villagers mind your business for you and are willing to share your laughter and your tears...the place where life is as precarious as a fiddler playing his music on the roof.