For months you have been reading articles I’ve written about different plays in the community, but what is it really like to be part of the cast? Well recently I was given the opportunity to audition for Fiddler on the Roof and even though I don’t have the best singing voice, I was awarded a part of the chorus. It’s been 16 years since I’ve been on stage and even though some things have changed, mainly technology, most has stayed the same. Being a part of community theatre is demanding, and you don’t get paid, but it is an amazing experience. It’s exhausting, nerve-wracking and fun. We have a huge cast (over 30 people) and sometimes the hours can get long, patience can wear thin and egos can clash, but just like any family, we work through it and have a good time. The show isn’t until January but we have been rehearsing since October.
Hami award winner, Director Brady Lay says “This is such an amazing cast. They really convey the characters and the relationships between those characters. This story is about the importance of traditions and how traditions sometimes need to change as the times and people change.”
Fiddler on the Roof is a musical set in Russia in 1904 and chronicles the lives of a small Jewish village who are forced to break their long-standing traditions and cope with a new way of life. It’s interesting to watch the characters develop. Not only can you see the development in the main characters who are scripted that way, but you can also see the character development in the villagers. My daughter and I both play villagers and at first we were just given basic blocking and direction along with many other villagers and we were to come up with our own backstory. Our group decided that I would be the mother of 2 girls who sells bagels. Her mother and aunt live with her. They all raise the kids together and do everything together as a unit. She is a lonely widow and looking for a new husband, so she doesn’t mind throwing tradition out the window and dancing with a man (how scandalous!) at Motel and Tzeitel’s wedding.
One of my favorite scenes to perform is “The Dream” where Tevye is recounting a strange dream he had. In that dream, there are ghosts dancing around his bed and haunting him. My daughter and I actually get to hide under the bed and jump out midway through and then later run into the audience. It’s so much fun! It’s also quite a challenge because I have the first line in the very next scene, so somehow I have to manage to get back to the front of the theatre and enter from stage right with a tray full of bagels by the end of the song.
The choreography from Andi Garner is extraordinary! I absolutely love watching the bar scene where the Russians are dancing. They do a traditional Russian dance and it’s so entertaining and fun to watch. Once during rehearsals, I attempted to do that dance but I am way too old for my body to squat that low and get back up! The musical director is Dixie Lay and she does a great job of keeping us on track and bringing out the music inside of us.
It’s interesting to see the interactions between dancers, singers, and actors because it’s like we all speak different languages. Dixie is talking in “measures” and “timestamps,” Andi is talking in “piques” and “pas de bourree” and sometimes she doesn’t even have words for the dance moves- only gestures and sounds! Brady and stage manager Ellen Hutt are talking in “upstage left” and “downstage right” and “move that set piece to the spikes but don’t hit the leg or the cyc.” It can get confusing at times, but we all manage to understand each other at the end of the day.
So much hard work has gone into this production and we can’t wait for the whole community to come and enjoy our performance!
The Details: Fiddler on the Roof runs January 12 – 22 at Stage West Community Playhouse, 8390 Forest Oaks Blvd Spring Hill, FL. Tickets are $25 for adults and $20 for students. Contact the box office at 352-683-5113 for more information.