Academy of Music, Northampton, MA
through November 8, 2026
Review by Simon Brighenti
It has become tradition to bring a variety of viewpoints to the musical "Fiddler on the Roof," which has been a palpable presence in our popular culture for more than half a century. The presentation this weekend by the Valley Light Opera at the Academy of Music brings the familiar characters of Tevye and Golde and their five daughters, the “radical” Perchik, matchmaker Tevye and even forlorn butcher Lazar Wolf to a vibrant life.
Virtually every song in the repertoire – music by Jerry Bock and lyrics by Sheldon Harnick – has been memorized and sung along to by generation after generation, featured in weddings and other meaningful family events for decades and some of the characters, while apparently based upon real individuals as portrayed in the stories by Sholem Aleichem, have become imbedded in the zeitgeist of American culture.
So, it can be a challenge in the face of all this history and familiarity to bring a personality to these roles, making them characters rather than caricatures. And it helps immensely in this regard to possess the talent, voice, and overall stage presence contained within this particular cast.
Joe Vincent, as a strong and strutting Tevye has a vocal projection that has served him well here as well in his long stage career, including 72 productions of nearly all of Shakespeare’s plays. Tevye is a proud character who exposes his struggles with his world and the changes being thrust upon him. From his sometimes-amusing misquoting of “the Good Book” to his wonder as to why things can’t stay as they have been, Tevye sees things as he would like them to be. But when faced with the inevitable, he sees that while he revers tradition, on the other hand he may need to accept this new reality. Vincent portrays this internal and external struggle in a powerful manner.
A star in one of the featured roles is Arjun Warrier as the idealistic Perchik. When given his chance to shine, he hits the mark in spectacular fashion. Warrier, indeed, has everything he needs to have a long and successful musical career. Steven Williams’ lovelorn tailor Motel is also a standout. He brings hesitancy to the role, especially in his interactions with the seemingly intimidating Tevye, but a hesitancy undergirded by his long-time love for Tevye’s daughter Tzeitel, portrayed by a strong a vocally proficient Julia Urbank.
The setting and direction by Rose Schwietz Malla are spare and effective, with a few benches and tables, a couple of doors, and some basic crates and boxes, working to portray the meager surroundings and possessions to which the inhabitants of Anatevka have become accustomed. As mentioned, the songs are virtually all by now familiar classics and the orchestra led by Concertmaster Fred Henle and Marybeth Mizula Vargas’ choreography bring great warmth and professionalism to the score.
Of course, any work of art that has existed for as long as "Fiddler" is not without its critics. Should the story of these people who were treated so objectively wrongly be presented in a “feel good” manner, concentrating on the love and community rather than the reality of the struggle against oppression that in some ways has continued in the decades since the time within which the show was set? Have the actual centuries-old traditions of the Jewish people been given too short a shrift and treated as being too easily disregarded and overturned? Those debates will continue, as will the pull of the story and music contained in "Fiddler" and as wonderfully presented by the Valley Light Opera.
