Few (if any) Broadway performances have garnered the plaudits bestowed upon Fiddler on the Roof (1964), which opened on the Great White Way September 22, 1964 at the Imperial Theater. It likewise broke Hello, Dolly!'s (1964) achievement for longest-running consecutive performances. The immortal
Zero Mostel (Tevye) heads up a luminous ensemble, rounded out by
Bea Arthur (Yente) and
Bert Convy (Perchik), among other notables. The plot pivots on Tevye, a Jewish milkman, his three daughters: Hodel, Chava and Tzeitel, and faithful wife Golde. While the characters survival in turn-of-the-century Russia remains both heart-warming and undeniably tragic, it is the score of
Jerry Bock (music) and
Sheldon Harnick (lyrics) that is at the center . The unforgettable original Broadway cast recording has been updated on this Broadway Deluxe Collector's Edition from RCA Victor. Thanks to a thorough digital remastering, the music has never sounded better. Classics such as "Tradition," "If I Were a Rich Man," "To Life," "Miracle of Miracles," "Sunrise, Sunset," and "Do You Love Me?" are but a few of the numbers that live beyond the context of the stage. The bonus tracks are two additional readings of "If I Were a Rich Man" from renown pianist/arranger Richard Leonard and the
Moscow Virtuosi chamber orchestra. Other supplementary materials include spoken segments with lyricist
Harnick from An Evening With... (1971) , as well as a February 2003 interview. His illuminations provide insight to songs written then subsequently removed from the finished product and the logistics of documenting the Broadway cast. The packaging boasts a 15-page booklet replete with rare photos, condensed plot summaries, and respectively historical essays. Without hesitation, the 2003 Deluxe Collectors Edition of
Fiddler on the Roof is recommended as the most comprehensive assessment of such a time-honored title. ~ Lindsay Planer