It is not the bush of beard or hedge of moustache that make Wayne Kennedy unrecognizable in “Fiddler on the Roof.” Though they certainly help.
Instead, it is the way the stalwart disappears so wonderfully into the farmer slump, the rueful jig of Tevye, the villager blessed with five — count ’em — daughters and stern wife Golde.
Kennedy is transfixing as the enduring dairyman, penned by Yiddish author Sholem Aleichem. His Tevye is the guy who’d be mayor of your street, alderman of your district. Think the Bible’s beleaguered Job, were he good-natured and aware — painfully and otherwise — of God’s occasionally too-pointed wit. Kennedy seems to actually banter with God. When he’s not, he’s bringing the audience in on the divine joke.
Even when “The Sound of Music” is done well on stage, it’s the movie that endures. By comparison, this story of a man and his family, a people and their diaspora feels so right on stage. Act 1 is front-loaded with songs familiar and winning: The bombastic “Tradition,” “If Were a Rich Man,” and the solemn beauty of “Sunrise, Sunset.”
“Matchmaker, Matchmaker” starts out fit for television’s “The Bachelorette” before daughters Tzeitel (Jessica Hindsley), Hodel (Rebekah Ortiz) and Chava (Sarah Grover) shift toward patience and wiser hankering for marital parity.
There’s an “Our Town,” er, “Our Shtetl” spareness to Amy Campion’s set with its few trees, some slats to suggest peasant dwellings. There is something Marc Chagall in the understated fracturing of space as well as Brett Maughan’s lighting. And the musical’s title.
The present yet transitory quality of the set is a deft way to handle the village home of a people who can — and will — be torn from it. And the costumes by Linda Morken are evocative of hardship but also, yes, “tradition.”
Last year marked the 50th anniversary of Jerry Bock, Joseph Stein and Sheldon Harnick’s musical inspired by Aleichem’s stories. Like “The Sound of Music,” this musical owns a place not just in theater but culture. For a terrific account of Tevye’s journey from page to stage to screen, read Alisa Solomon’s enjoyable, whip-smart book “Wonder of Wonders: A Cultural History of Fiddler on the Roof.”
Two summers ago, the Phamaly Theatre Company reprised its production of “Fiddler.” Cast solely of actors with disabilities, the show has set a new standard. Not least because community is made so central to the show’s spirit and lessons.
In this production, Kennedy doesn’t gobble up the scenery. He’s too generous a performer for that. And Rebekah Ortiz as middle daughter Hodel and Matt LaFontaine as Chava’s non-Jewish love Fyedka are impressive. But Kennedy gives a commanding turn, a star turn. Others glimmer but none blaze.
Lisa Kennedy: 303-954-1567, lkennedy@denverpost.com or twitter.com/bylisakennedy
“FIDDLER ON THE ROOF”
Music Jerry Bock. Lyrics by Sheldon Harnick. Book by Joseph Stein. Directed by Michael Duran. Featuring Wayne Kennedy, Shelly Cox-Robie, Jessica Hindsley, Rebekah Ortiz, Sarah Grover, Brett Ambler. Through Feb. 28. Runtime 4 hours, 30 minutes including meal. At BDT Stage, 5501 Arapahoe, Boulder. Tickets $38-$59 via BDTStage.com or 303-449-6000.
