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Fiddler of the Roof: Photography by Damien Ramsurn
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FIDDLER ON THE ROOF |
Produced Bridewell Theatre |
11-14 April 2007 |
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Music by Jerry Bock
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Lyrics by Sheldon Harnick |
Book by Joseph Stein |
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| Emily Barber |
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Mirala/Alexi |
| Jordan Bosher |
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Raziel |
| Beth Burrows |
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Malka/Vasily |
| Iain Carson |
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Rabbi/Fyedka |
| Nicholas Corre |
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Motel |
| Aiden Crawford |
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Perchick |
| Robyn Cunningham |
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Bielke |
| Edward Currie |
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Reb Mordcha |
| Christopher Earlie |
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Mendel |
| Harriet Ellis |
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Shprintze |
| Cordelia Farnworth |
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Hodel |
| Jasmine Gur |
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Golde |
| Katie Hall |
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Chava |
| Sarah Harris |
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Tzeitel |
| Charlie Hiett |
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Yussel |
| Nicholas Hockaday |
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Shalev |
| Thomas Isherwood |
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Lazar Wolf |
| Amy Kakoura |
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Rivka/Fruma-Sarah |
| Greg Link |
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Avram |
| RachelMcDermott |
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Galya |
| Matthew Nalton |
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Tevye |
| Matthew Newton |
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The Constable |
| Ahsleigh Owen |
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Yente |
| Eleanor Sanders |
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Ruchel/Sasha |
| Archie Sullivan |
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Noam |
| Melissa Taylor |
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Vardiya/Grandma Tzeitel |
| Tamsin Topolski |
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Shandel |
| Georgie Wadstein |
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Pelia |
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CREATIVE TEAM |
| Caroline Leslie |
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Director |
| Steve Dummer |
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Musical Director |
| Lee Crowley |
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Choreographer |
| Laura Shimmen |
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Designer |
| Sally Ferguson |
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Lighting Designer |
| Dan Swana |
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Vocal Coach |
| Jeremy Walker |
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Vocal Coach |
| Patsy Burn |
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Accent Coach |
| Charlotte Hall |
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Company Stage Manager |
| Victoria Pritchard |
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Assistant Stage Manager |
| Jade Chamberlaine |
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Assistant Stage Manager |
| Anne-Marie Horton |
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Wardrobe Mistress |
| Emma Rowe |
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Wardrobe Assistant |
| Sophia Shillitoe |
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Wardrobe Assistant |
| Damien Ramsum |
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Head of Pastoral Care |
| Pascale Burgess |
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Pastoral Care |
| Liz Hamilton |
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Pastoral Care |
| Peter Holt |
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Pastoral Care |
| Frankie Durkin |
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Administrator |
| Sam Sargant |
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Administrator |
| Beryl Whyatt |
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Administrator |
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| ORCHESTRA |
| Harry De Voil |
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Flute |
| Ashley Cooper |
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Drums |
| Felix Cox |
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Clarinet |
| Richard Bramwell |
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Violin |
| Steve Dummer |
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Piano |
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April 2007 – Fiddler on the Roof – Bridewell
Theatre, London
“You've got to hand it to them...
not only does the National Youth Music Theatre produce
stars, they also put on some darn fine productions. We
recently chatted to NYMT star Marc Pickering and much
of his acting experience was credited to his time there.
Now, a new production is in full swing - from what we've
heard, you'd be mad to miss it.
Fiddler on the Roof is
the latest NYMT musical to hit our eyes and ears and
with director Caroline Leslie, (the new Artistic Director)
calling the shots, it's bound to be a good 'un. Chances
are, you've heard of the musical before. It's well-known
and amongst the persecution, and poverty, there are a
few good old favourite tunes such as the most well known
numbers include ‘If
I Were A Rich Man’, ‘Tradition’ and ‘Matchmaker,
Matchmaker’.
The music is by Jerry Bock with lyrics
by Sheldon Harnick and book by Joseph Stein. You'd best
get snappy though... the show's run is at the Bridewell
Theatre until Saturday 14 April. In this case, dawdling,
fiddling and general tardiness is not advised. Who knows,
with stars like Matt Lucas, Connie Fisher and Jude Law
under their belt, you may well see a brand new heart-throb
in the making.”
TheatreBuff, Seatwave.com, 11 April
2007 |
Anyone who can’t wait for the much-admired Sheffield
Theatres production of this classic musical, which transfers
to the West End next month, can get an interim fix from
this less polished but appealing staging. Presented by
the National Youth Music Theatre and directed by Caroline
Leslie, it’s performed by a 28-strong company aged
from 11 to 19, packed with nascent talent.
It’s undeniably a stretch for these young people
to play the work’s key older characters, yet Joseph
Stein’s book, with its blend of romance and domestic
and political drama, offers a wealth of opportunities
for colourful cameos, while the sweet simplicity of Sheldon
Harnick’s lyrics and the lilt of Jerry Bock’s
klezmer-inflected score put the cast’s vocals on
impressive display.
Matthew Nalton is Tevye, the philosophical,
impoverished dairyman scratching out a precarious living
in a 1905 Russian shtetl threatened by pogroms, with
five daughters to find husbands for and a formidable
wife, Golde. Nalton has a nicely lugubrious, faintly
equine quality, and is persuasively dreamy, doting, wily
and despairing by turns. He could cut a little looser
in the exuberant If I Were a Rich Man; and as Golde,
the superb singer Jasmine Gur needs a little more lightness.
But when they come together for the inverted love song
Do I Love You? , in which both recognise the depth of
their feelings after 25 years of arranged marriage, they
are irresistibly affecting.
Other fine performances include
Cordelia Farnworth as a graceful Hodel, and Ashleigh
Owen as a clucking Yente, the matchmaker.
The singing on the whole is stronger than the acting,
and the scenes demand more truth and detail. But it’s
in the big company numbers that the production comes
into its own. The opening Tradition bustles with vivid
village life, enhanced by Lee Crowley’s vigorous,
folksy choreography. And the final image of diaspora,
as the residents of Anatevka, forced from their homes,
take to the road as refugees, has considerable potency.
Sam Marlowe, The Times, 13 April
2007 |
With the NYMT, the future of musical theatre is in
good hands.
Fiddler is a powerful show, encompassing faith,
family and the importance of tradition, set in the impoverished
Jewish community of Anatevka, in pre-revolutionary Russia.
The Bridewell’s simple set uses a number of screens
behind which village life continues through the show.
This
happens noticeably during the Sabbath Prayer where the
community of Anatevka are visible, blessing their food,
in their own rooms lit by candlelight and bowed in prayer.
Such simplicity in staging continues through the show,
befitting the poverty surrounding its characters’ daily
lives.
For the National Youth Music Theatre, with a cast
containing no-one older than 19, it could have been a
challenge to produce something approaching realism, but
a number of outstanding performances and a strong ensemble
means this is never an issue. Matthew Nalton’s
milkman Tevye (whose frequent conversations with God
about his lame horse are full of humour), despite an
occasionally shifting accent, is fine throughout, comically
beleaguered yet devout. Jasmine Gur is memorable in her
angry interpretation of his wife Golde.
Of Tevye’s 5 daughters, 3 are marriageable: Tzeitel,
Hodel and Chava, played by Sarah Harris, Cordelia Farnworth
and Katie Hall. All sing well together in ‘Matchmaker,
Matchmaker’. However Farnworth also has the best
song in the show,’ Far From The Home I Love’,
delivering it with passion, a beautiful voice and the
emotion this number demands.
Iain Carson inhabits his
contrasting roles as the aged Rabbi and proud young Russian
Fyedka with distinction. Ashleigh Owen is distinctive
as Yente the Matchmaker, her aged gossip being every
bit the crone the part demands.
The NYMT cast excel in
the ensemble numbers, particularly the opening ‘Tradition’, ‘To Life’ and
the outstanding dream sequence, where Tevye convinces
his wife Golde, by making up an elaborate nightmare,
that their eldest daughter should marry the man she loves
and not the match arranged by Yente. It‘s an elaborate
ensemble piece, filled with inventive choreography, making
it a high spot of the show.
Geoff Ambler, Reviewsgate,
12 April 2007 |
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