HPP’s Fiddler Finds Fresh Relevance in an Artful Frame

by Ash Kotter

Until its opening night at Haddonfield Plays & Players, I had somehow gone my whole life to date without ever seeing Fiddler on the Roof.

By that point, I had somewhat absorbed Fiddler by a sort of cultural osmosis. So much so that I probably could have sketched the show from a memory that wasn’t even mine. I knew the general plot synopsis. “Matchmaker” and the playful ya ba dibba dibba dibba dibba dibba dibba dum of “If I Were a Rich Man” were common earworms. I shared the audience with a community of folks who spoke of the show as if it were an old friend. People who have either watched the film on repeat, followed its trail on Broadway/regional/local stages, or performed in it multiple times. All this to say, when a show is this collectively known, you feel like you know what you’re getting when you take your seat.

But Director Drew Molotsky’s Fiddler at HPP never brings us to a literal shtetl. Fiddler being the first show he ever directed in his career, and this being his third time directing the piece overall, I imagine his other productions likely leaned more traditionally into the world audiences expect. With the support of Assistant Director Abby Drexler,  Molotsky brings us somewhere untraditional: a museum. 

Set design by Chris Miller

Rather than the village walls of Anatevka, we’re presented with an art gallery wall; brightly colored paintings, accentuated by bold lighting that pops the colors even further forward. An abstract fiddler on a roof, apt and centrally displayed. Hanging above a shelf of figurines is an enlarged signature reading "Marc Chagall.” Admittedly, I wasn’t familiar, so I used the intermission time to educate myself. 

Chagall, a modernist artist of the early twentieth century, depicted Jewish village life in his paintings through expressive, distorted imagery and vivid color palettes. The creative team’s choice to feature his art is far from random: in my quick fifteen minutes of research, I learned that Chagall’s work heavily inspired the design concept for the 1964 original Broadway production of Fiddler. And while I could find photos of many productions that have nodded to this aesthetic over the years, I struggled to find any examples that fully embraced it by using the art as the art itself.

There’s truth in the saying that you have to know rules inside out before you can break them. Molotsky clearly knows this show from the inside out, and that knowledge lets him shift the lens without losing the story. In his promotional interview, he mentioned hoping to offer a timely and topical twist on Fiddler, and this directional angle enables him to achieve it without resorting to kitsch.

There’s no curtain speech to start the show. People wander down the aisles looking like latecomers taking their seats… only they don’t. They walk onto the stage, move through the gallery, and snap selfies in front of the artwork. The shift into “Tradition” happens almost imperceptibly. The actors begin to take garments from the displays, using the artifacts and set pieces as if they were dressing stations (props curated by Debbie Mitchell). Contemporary clothing gives way to traditional garb (a muted, modest contrast to Chagall’s art, costumes well-designed by Lauren Patanovich and sewn with care by Annette Devitt). The act of observing the art becomes the act of embodying it as the ensemble steps into the very world the paintings portray. The energy from the entire company makes the concept stick the landing; they fully commit to the striking tableaus (choreographed by Jessica Teehan) that echo the compositions behind them. It is a clear signal of what this production intends to do: collapse the past and the present.

Andrew Clayton delivers a canonically affable Tevye, whose persistent sense of humor makes his quiet, restrained moments moving and vulnerable (particularly after the “demonstration” following his daughter’s wedding). Rachel DeMasi as Golde perfectly captures dry wit and cultural motherly/wifely customs; her characterization really came full circle in the “Do You Love Me?” duet with Clayton. Their daughters form the emotional center: Haley De Luna’s warm and sincere Tzeitel, Addison Clark giving Hodel a spark and spirited resolve, and Alexa Reeves as a delicate and inward Chava. The youngest of the five daughters, Olivia Nicolyn May and Eleanor Robinson as Shprintze and Bielka, remind us of the innocence that stands to be lost.

George Colli’s earnest Motel believably grows from sweetly awkward to quietly courageous. Jayson Borenstein’s Perchik brings a sharp intellectual edge that fits naturally into a production with a cerebral overlay, while Alexis Gonzalez offers a gentle, sincere Fyedka whose connection with Chava feels grounded rather than rebellious. Ken Locicero plays Lazar Wolf with a gentle touch that removes an assumed rough-edged caricature of a butcher, and in doing so, highlights why Tzeitel cannot see a future with a man so much older, even beyond her love for Motel. Jodi Lawrence O’Connor delivers sharp comedic timing as Yente, and Jared Camacho gives the Constable a polite restraint that reads as quietly dangerous, a reminder of how harm often arrives disguised as civility. 

Kat Corvino threads the production together as the Fiddler, appearing not as a rooftop figure but as an ever-present metaphor shadowing the story. The ensemble (Dominic Gullo, Dan Auerbach, Scott McClellan, Shayna Lorraine Murray, Christine Callahan, Cara Horner, and Jay Fink) gives the community of Anatevka well-rounded depth.

Shawn McGovern’s lighting design, executed by board operator Nicole Plasket, subtly but precisely highlights when a particular Chagall piece on the wall corresponds with a moment on stage. The choice to do so was a surprise and delight. I didn’t notice it happening at first, but when I did, I was keen to catch the next parallel. Music Director Mike Doheny keeps the score warm and well-balanced in the intimate space. Sound Operator Tanayjiah Jackson, along with technicians Ryan McAuliffe and Kevin Salvatorelli, maintains a clean blend of vocals and underscoring that emphasizes the emotional beats. Stage Manager Maddy Foler clearly anchors the backstage world so the onstage world can unfold with clarity and intention.

For a story that examines and criticizes tradition in the same breath, the moments where tradition was honored and celebrated struck me most deeply. Sabbath Prayer, illuminated only by the candles cupped in the company’s hands, made the room feel briefly suspended in time. The wedding sequence and all its shared rituals offered a glimpse of a people at their most joyous and unified. These traditions bind people to one another, even as the world shifts beneath them.

What we witness in this production becomes a curated moment, one gallery within a much larger historical timeline. As the community, displaced from Anatevka, announces their destinations, some naming Krakow and Warsaw, and others unable to name anywhere at all, they speak from a point in history where the future is unknowable. Yet the audience, positioned like the museum-goers who return to observe the final tableau of Tevye leaving with his family, does know what lies ahead for so many Jewish families in Eastern Europe only a generation later. 

HPP’s Fiddler on the Roof reminds us that the vulnerabilities faced by the people of the fictional Anatevka aren’t fictional, and aren’t sealed behind museum glass. They are part of a story we are still living, and part of a humanity we are still called to recognize.

Fiddler on the Roof runs at Haddonfield Plays & Players through December 20th. Be sure to get your tickets here: https://haddonfieldplaysandplayers.csstix.com/event-details.php?e=549