Fiddler on the Roof at Barbican Theatre

Fiddler on the Roof at Barbican Theatre | Theatre review

4^th June 2025

4 June 2025

From the outdoor space of Regent’s Open Air Theatre, the latest production of Fiddler on the Roof is taking off on a UK tour. The beginning, though, is still London, at the Barbican to be exact, where the show managed to retain some of the atmospheric setting of a mostly open-air ambience in the chamber-like hall of the arts centre.

The precarious balance of a fiddler on the roof pervades the late life of Tevye’s family, disrupting traditions on the moving sands of the future. Faith and love are the unshakeable constants.

In the remote little town of Anatevka at the beginning of the 20^th century in czarist Russia, a close-knit Jewish community live and swear by traditions for a good life, even when the reasons for such customs are not well known. Tevye (Adam Dannheisser) is a dairyman, the papa of five daughters, a family of humble origins, hardworking and penniless. The girls are now at a marriageable age, and the wish is to have them engaged with a wealthy and respectable husband. However, despite the norms to follow the guidance of Yente, the matchmaker (Beverley Klein), abiding by the father’s arrangements and permissions, the three young women, one by one, will challenge traditions.

Like many classics, which deserve to be in such a category for enduring the test of time, the story explores universal themes and human topics that overcome generational and national barriers: parenthood, migration and religion. In this case, yes, the musical has been in the past produced in Yiddish language and it closely looks at a Jewish way of living and thinking, but in those family dramas, in that paternal attention to the happiness of the daughters, in that gossip running through the village, in those frustrated conversations with God, in those double considerations on the opportunity of having a rich son-in-law, are elements that relate to many of us.

The show reprises the music by Jerry Bock, with lyrics by Sheldon Harnick, and book by Joseph Stein. Well paced and brimming with energy, the production is a stormy and exciting dance through the ups and downs of being a parent in a conservative society. Director Jordan Fein has infused a vision that doesn’t stay in the past, but very well proves how a long-established musical can still feel refreshed. That’s thanks to the movements choreographed by Julia Cheng (the bottle dance for The Wedding is a hypnotising somersault of arrangements), as well as to the powerful voices of the actors (Natasha Jules Bernard, playing Tzeitel, is a gem), besides the pep for every ironic and fun moment. Not to be forgotten is the thatched roof, from where Raphael Papo (the fiddler) often appears, a daunting (almost suffocating) presence from above, nevertheless, comforting in providing a shelter, exactly like the double-edged effect of customs on the protagonists’ lives. The live orchestra is instead at the back, half hidden behind the wheat, for the melodious envelopment of the drama. There’s a choral stage presence that, although highly symbolic, at times can be superfluous.

Dannheisser is magnificent, and he tailors individual interactions with every other cast member. His synergy with Lara Pulver (taking on the role of the wife, Golde) is palpable, in one moment reverent, the next, raising his voice with her.

This is a hyper-contemporary production about migration, community and money versus affection, dressed in period clothes.

★★★★★

Cristiana Ferrauti
Photos: Marc Brenner

Fiddler on the Roof is at Barbican Theatre from 24^th May until 19^th July 2025. For further information or to book, visit the theatre’s website here.