12/16/11

Story by Diane Carroll

Fiddler on the Roof

Fiddler on the Roof plays at JCCC for two nights in January

OVERLAND PARK, Kan.  – Fiddler on the Roof, the Broadway smash and Tony Award winning musical that has captured the hearts of people all over the world, will be on stage two nights in January at Johnson County Community College.

The production will be presented at 8 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 7, and at 7 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 8, at the Carlsen Center's Yardley Hall. Tickets, which are $50 and $40, are available at the college box office at 913 469-4445 or on line at jccc.edu/TheSeries.

The show, which has been a perennial hit since it first opened in 1964, has enjoyed critical acclaim for bringing to the stage a poignant story about the enduring bonds of family. Now, the National Touring production brings the wit and wisdom of Tevye, the humble milkman, and his family to venues across North America.

Audiences will see Jerome Robbins' original Broadway direction and choreography, starring veteran actor John Preece in the role of Tevye. Early in the show, set in a village in pre-revolutionary Russia, Tevye announces: "Without our traditions, our lives would be as shaky as…as a Fiddler on the Roof," And so begins a tale of love and laughter, devotion and defiance and changing traditions based on the stories of Sholom Aleichem.

Tevye's wrestling with the new customs of a younger generation is punctuated by an unforgettable score that weaves the haunting strains of Sunrise, Sunset with the rousing If I Were a Rich Man and the exuberant Matchmaker, Matchmaker.

Preece has performed in Fiddler on the Roof more than 3,400 times. More than 1,700 of those appearances were in the role of Tevye. This production marks Preece's 10th national tour of Fiddler on the Roof.

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