Tradition, religion, love

Tipped the all-time favorite musical in Finland, this weekend I went to see ”Fiddler on the Roof”. Since the musical hasn't been performed on a big stage for a while, the shows have been mostly sold out since the premiere in August this year.

I had not seen it before and didn't actually know much about the story, but the main themes are surprisingly enough tradition, religion and love. Placed in a small village in the Ukraine in early 1900s, the musical gives you a window to the life and days of a Jewish community. Tevye is a poor milkman with wife and five daughters, out of which three are approaching the age to get married. The musical starts off with a song called ”Tradition” - the father's plans are to find husbands to the girls through the village's matchmaker. Needless to say, not everything goes according to his plans or tradition. Instead of finding a wealthy, nice Jewish boy, the hubbies turn out to be poor, revolutionary or... goy.

Act I is wonderful fireworks of witty comedic dialogue/monologue and interesting portraits of Jewish traditions and habits. Preparing for shabbat, references to the Holy Book, kippahs, tzitzit, tallit and of course a very fun Jewish wedding full of dance and happiness. The wedding party, though, is bluntly interrupted and ruined by Russian officials making a demonstration.

Act II then continues with the gloominess of how the wedding party ended. New loves are found and traditions are being challenged again. But sadly, the expelling of Jews from villages in Ukraine continues and even the people you have got to know through this story need to leave Anatevka, the village they for such a long time have called home. Some head for America, some for Poland. The widowed matchmaker does what is said every year during Pesach - next year in Jerusalem – and sets her course towards Israel. The lively, lovely village seen in act I is now empty. To emphasize this, the director had added his own touch to the ending scene: Tevye sings in three languages Eli, Eli lomo azavtoni (My God, my God, why have you forsaken me).

I naturally then started thinking what happens to everyone. The story has kind of a sequel called "Rags" (1986), but it never became as popular as its predecessor. And why is the story called ”Fiddler on the Roof”? As misleading the title could be, the fiddler isn't in any particular role but used as a metaphor how life in the village is as challenging as playing a violin while balancing on a roof.

This musical has been popular throughout the years, and I think not only it is because of its timeless sarcasm and humor, the topic still applies to date. Even if the problems dealt with in the musical aren't exactly the same anymore, the underlying factors remain similar: our world keeps changing, and we, as parents, daughters, Jews or Christians, eventually need to change and adapt to it.

In addition to that, it was interesting to see a Finnish intrepetation of Jewish culture, holidays and traditions instead of only always seeing them in Hollywood movies. Who would have thought that l'chaim and mazel tov would so cheerfully echo in a dimming autumn evening in Finland :).