Imagine a plate of stuffed cabbage, at once spicy and sweet, tangy and tasty, brimming with chopped meat, wrapped in a cabbage coat, swimming in tomato sauce. Hungry, yet? The recipe is waiting for you at the Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts in Hartford from Tuesday, November 6 to Sunday, November 11, so don’t miss the symbolic meal.
More than fifty years ago, the tales of Sholem Aleichem were immortalized by Jerry Bock for music, Sheldon Harnick for lyrics and Joseph Stein for book in the classic musical “Fiddler on the Roof.” This is a stunning, new version of this traditional favorite, with an Israeli choreographer Hofesh Shechter taking wing from the original stylings of Jerome Robbins.
It’s1905 Russia, in a shtetl called Anatevka, where the dairy man Tevye lives with his opinionated wife Golde, his five unmarried daughters, three of whom are determined to marry against his wishes, a cartful of poverty, a lame horse, and a Tsar who wants to force the Jews from their village to scatter with the winds.
Can Tevye endure the changes that assail him, while still maintaining his faith and shaky position as father, husband and friend, that cause him to be as insecure as a fiddler perched on a roof? As each one of his strong willed daughters comes to him wanting his blessing, each abandoning the old honored traditions of using a matchmaker, a yente, to arrange a marriage, Tevye is tested.
First Tzeitel wants to marry Motel the tailor for love, then Hodel falls for Perchik the teacher and finally, hardest to believe, Chava wants to marry out of her faith, to a Russian soldier. Tevye is like a tree, willing to bend but afraid he will surely break.
Songs like “If I Were a Rich Man,” “Tradition,” “Miracle of Miracles,” “Sunrise, Sunset,” “Matchmaker” and many more swirl to greatness.
For tickets ($23-113), call the Bushnell, 166 Capitol Avenue, Hartford at 860-987-5900 or online atwww.bushnell.org. Performances are Tuesday to Thursday at 7:30 p.m., Friday at 8 p.m., Saturday at 2 p.m. and 8 pm. and Sunday at 1 p.m. and 6:30 p.m.
Travel back in time with Tevye and his family to a long forgotten corner of the world where the villagers take pride in minding your business for you and are willing to share your laughter and your tears.
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