Home

Steamboat Springs — Rusty de Lucia's production of "Fiddler on the Roof" was cast and choreographed well. Choosing a slim Tevye and Golde faithfully served the story of a poor milkman struggling to support his wife and five daughters.

The young actors nicely handled the task of portraying the age differences required by the script. The students credibly transitioned from scene into song, and some of the principals seemed to have a real grasp of Jewish culture and understanding the Eastern European tensions motivating their dialogue. The audience responded enthusiastically several times: Tevye's belly-shaking dance, the Russians' stylized tavern dancing and the entire graveyard scene with Grandma Tzeitel (Iliana Chase) and Fruma Sarah (Emily Stout).

Cody Poirot's portrayal of the poor patriarch Tevye was solid - with visible cleverness for "Tevye's Dream" and the "same Matchmaker as Adam and Eve" scenes. Cody was believable each time Tevye struggled to quote from the "Good Book," delivering lines well familiar to many theatergoers as if he were actually saying them for the first time.

He balanced nicely the monologues during the freezes and interacting with his co-stars during the returns, and he, in general, played a very likeable Tevye, even when he loses his temper with his family or breaks his agreement with Lazar. As a sophomore, Cody has already demonstrated he has a lot to bring the drama department in the next two years.

A plethora of fine acting and harmonies from the actresses graced the production, and everyone had great stage presence and impressive unamplified projection of their lines and songs. Many fine ensemble moments in the production occurred in "The Rumor," "Sabbath Prayer" and "Tevye's Dream." But the most profound blocking came from the cast members' long exits into the audience in "Anatevka."

Jesse Helm boldly delivered his Lazar Wolf with an air of confidence and maturity far beyond his years, and Max Pensack brought to his performance of Motel a necessary depth to the character who is not only the first to confront Tevye, but arguably the one with the most difficult songs to sell.

Miriam Pensack gave a strong and vibrant performance of Hodel, and there were moments of real suspense during the argument between Tevye and Chava (Matthia Duryea). Each encounter with the women in Tevye's life was played with great conviction. Grace Stockdale really anchored the scene after Golde and Tevye's fabrication with dead relatives in Tevye's Dream, allowing for the progression of events leading to the wedding.

The male parts of the production that were rewritten for this cast as the Rabbi's daughter, the beggar and the innkeeper were believable and brought a fresh take on the character interactions for those familiar with the musical. Especially great touches were that Nechama (Charlotte Letson) was a one-armed beggar and that Masha (Erin Lewis) played the tambourine during "To Life."

The production featured Broadway-quality set pieces and impressive costumes that served the story but did not upstage the action. The milk wagon, an antique sewing machine, a house complete with fireplace and fence and the many costume pieces brought a standard of real quality to this production. Many sets doubled effectively as other locations with ease, and even the staging of the Fiddler's music stand behind the chimney effectively allowed her to always face out while playing and watching the proceedings from above.

De Lucia's strong choices and invigorating decisions led her cast and the audience through the important lessons and poignant stories of Sholom Aleichem with the respectable mounting of a classic.