Fiddler on the Roof Revival 2015 - Articles Page 2.6

I can't believe it's May again. It marks a year since my audition process for Fiddler began. It also marks a year since I decided that if I booked the show, I was going to propose to my girlfriend on the stage.

I'm amazed at how many things I keep learning from doing this show every day. Yesterday, during the matinee, as we were performing the sons' section of 'Tradition', I discovered that I was holding my breath during certain pieces of choreography, which obviously inhibited my singing. I mean, you're reading that thinking, 'well duh, Ben'. You're right. Absolutely 'duh', but it took me six whole months to realize that. That's the odd phenomenon of this almost zen practice of eight shows a week in a long run.

On May 4, the 2016 Tony nominees flocked to the Paramount Hotel, where they met with the press for the first time since getting the big news. BroadwayWorld will be bringing you coverage from the epic day over the next month (so watch out for lots more), but for now, check out photos of Best Performance by an Actor in Leading Role in a Musical nominee for Fiddler on the Roof, Danny Burstein, as captured by Walter McBride!

'God, Ben. We get it, we get it. Arts in school blah blah blah.' I know, I know, but I have to piggyback on last week and tell you about what I got to witness this week.

In the past ten years, Danny Burstein has wooed audiences with his Tony nominated performances as some of Broadway's most beloved characters- Buddy, Aldopho, Billis... the list goes on. Now he has taken on perhaps musical theatre's most iconic character- a milkman from Anatevka called Tevye. How does this role (for which he is nominated as Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical) compared to his others? Find out below!

'Twas the night before the Tony nominations, when all through midtown pretty much everyone was stirring. Especially that mouse (at least in pre-war buildings above restaurants). The iphones were charging on bedside tables with care in hopes that when the nomination list came out at 8:30, your name would be there.

Samantha Massell and Monica Swayne are currently both playing the role of Hodel in two different productions of FIDDLER ON THE ROOF, Swayne in Sydney, Australia and Massell on Broadway! The two actresses decided to interview each other, asking questions about Fiddler and more. Check out the video below!

The orchestra starts the waltz into 'Sunrise, Sunset'. Everyone is in place, Tevye sings, 'Is this the little girl I carried?' Nothing out of the ordinary, here. Then, four male ensemble members and the Rabbi slowly come up the upstage stairs from the trap, moving downstage center, where they slowly get into position with the chuppah (Jewish wedding canopy). One little problem, tonight. There's no chuppah (we later found out it had been broken). I look around the stage at my fellow cast members, who are all slowly registering this and getting that glint in the eye you get when you're about to crack up. Then, it hit me. Samantha Massell and I have a solo coming up in a second where we have to sing the lyric, 'Is there a canopy in store for me?' The irony of this is just too much for me and, no matter how hard I try, I sing this line with the stupidest grin on my face. I mean, you can't ignore it! I absolutely LIVE for moments like this. Happy accidents that keep things fresh, can breathe new life into the show, and remind us all that it's called a 'play' for a reason. It's supposed to be fun!

When I saw the current Broadway revival of FIDDLER ON THE ROOF, I enjoyed it. So, it was a surprise when I didn't feel the same way about Broadway Records' FIDDLER ON THE ROOF (2016 Broadway Cast Recording) upon first listen. FIDDLER ON THE ROOF is one of my top four favorite shows of all time, so I gave the album another couples of listens, and the charm of this record revealed itself to me.

I must have been an incredibly naive 12 year old. As my family and I were leaving the Marriott Marquis Theatre after a performance of the revival of Annie Get Your Gun, we passed by the stage door. A hoard of people were crowded behind the barricades, eagerly clutching their playbills, sharpies, and cameras in hopes to snag an autograph or photo with Bernadette Peters and Tom Wopat. We were watching from across the street. A security person was guarding the door, and would escort Bernadette and Tom as they made their way through the crowd, greeting their fans. Once they were done, they each got into the back seats of their respective black Lincoln town cars and rode off into the night. What I couldn't wrap my head around, at the time, was....where do they go?

On Monday, April 18, the Theater People podcast welcomes Five-time Tony Award-nominee, Danny Burstein. Burstein, currently staring as Tevye in the Broadway revival of FIDDLER ON THE ROOF, began his career on Broadway in the early 1990s working mostly as an ensemble member and understudy. After making the decision to turn down work that didn't challenge him artistically, Burstein would go on to become one of the most celebrated leading men of his generation, earning Tony nominations for his work in THE DROWSY CHAPERONE, SOUTH PACIFIC, FOLLIES, GOLDEN BOY, and CABARET.

I must have been an incredibly naive 12 year old. As my family and I were leaving the Marriott Marquis Theatre after a performance of the revival of Annie Get Your Gun, we passed by the stage door. A hoard of people were crowded behind the barricades, eagerly clutching their playbills, sharpies, and cameras in hopes to snag an autograph or photo with Bernadette Peters and Tom Wopat. We were watching from across the street. A security person was guarding the door, and would escort Bernadette and Tom as they made their way through the crowd, greeting their fans. Once they were done, they each got into the back seats of their respective black Lincoln town cars and rode off into the night. What I couldn't wrap my head around, at the time, was....where do they go?

On April 4th, 2016, Sing For Your Seniors (SFYS) hosted the latest in its series of Broadway sessions with cast members from FIDDLER ON THE ROOF for the patients of Calvary Cancer Hospital. The musical performance included songs of the performers' choosing as well of songs from FIDDLER ON THE ROOF. Patients and their families, nurses, doctors and staff enjoyed a one-hour session, as well as a meet-and-greet visit with the cast following the performance. Scroll down for photos from the event!

“We came up with this pitch that alliterates,” says Maine State Music Theatre's Managing Director Stephanie Dupal of the theatre's description of their upcoming 2016 summer season. “Relive the romance of Ghost; feel the fire of Evita; welcome the warmth of Fiddler; and experience the excitement of Mama Mia,” she recites. Joined by Artistic Director Curt Dale Clark, the pair is talking about their plans for their main stage productions and the various new initiatives this dynamic team has launched since taking the helm of the company's leadership in 2013. By all accounts it is to be a season to surpass even the excellence of the prior ones!