What is your Fiddler story?
As opening night of Fiddler on the Roof approaches, we’re celebrating the memories that have made this production unforgettable. For generations, Fiddler has stirred laughter, tears, and reflection—and we wanted to hear what it has meant to you. We asked patrons to share their personal memories of Fiddler on the Roof, read on to relive the magic through the eyes of our community
Fiddler on the Roof was my mother’s favorite musical. Every Saturday she would play the album throughout the house and clean singing along with the album. To this day, my brothers and I can sing all the songs without missing a beat. Every time I see Fiddler on the Roof or hear the music, I think of my mother.
- Melissa Helmer
I’ve been alive for a bit. My 1st experience with Fiddler on the Roof was the movie in the theater. It was a class field trip more than once. Those were the days when movie favorites would make 2 or more “circuits”. My school went a couple of years. A MAZ ING.
-Mp
I walked down the aisle at my wedding to ‘One Hand, One Heart,’ and my father and I danced to ‘Sunrise, Sunset.’ This was over 50 years ago, and I’ve loved the music ever since.
-Jacqui
Fond memories of performing the show—I played Tzeitel all summer at Bucks County Playhouse and Falmouth Playhouse in the early ‘80s.
-Teresa B
I first saw Fiddler on the Roof at Cincinnati's Schubert Theater when I was a college freshman. A friend got me tickets for my birthday, and a group of us went together. We loved it, and I remember we all came out dancing with our arms in the air—just like in the show!
-Elaine Billmire
When it was announced my high school drama club would be putting on Fiddler on the Roof, I sooooo wanted the role of Hodel so that I could sing the pretty song— “Far From the Home I Love.” I practiced and practiced for the audition.
When the cast was posted, I was thrilled to get the role of Tzeitel, the oldest sister—but sad I wouldn’t get to sing the pretty song. I embraced the role, sang “Matchmaker,” and enjoyed getting a wedding scene with my crush at the time, who played Motel. Years later, I asked our director, Charly Stewart, why he didn’t cast me in the role I requested (though the student who played the role did a beautiful job). Charly responded, “Because NO ONE could play YOUR older sister.” We had a good laugh. I guess I did have a strong, take-charge personality even then. I have such great memories from doing that wonderful show with classmates I still think of fondly. A cast is a family. Doing theater at that formative time in my life was so uplifting in this journey we call life. All the best with your production!!
-Julie O’Neill
I performed with the National Touring Company of Fiddler on the Roof with opera star Robert Merrill as a dancer….not having the bottle fall during the performance was always a moment when I looked up to thank God—I made it again without the sound of the bottle breaking on the stage.
-Michael Rozow
Like so many in the 1970s and 1980s, my sister, Betsy, and I included "Sunrise, Sunset" in our weddings but our family believes Fiddler on the Roof played a key role in eventually uniting Betsy and her husband, Tim.
Betsy and Tim knew each other at Lorain High School but didn't date or even run in the same circles. Betsy was busy with leadership activities and Tim had a longtime girlfriend. In their senior year, both were part of the chorus in the annual school musical. And, yes, it was Fiddler on the Roof in 1973! Tim and Betsy were "assigned" to clasp hands during a rousing chorus number. We all believe the spark was lit!
A little more than a year later, Tim started showing up at our house and eventually got up the nerve to ask Betsy out. It was the start of a truly remarkable love story that continues today.
My son and I are opera season ticket holders but guess who is joining us at the July 27 performance? Betsy and Tim!
-Janie Bobel
I first saw Fiddler on the Roof in the 1960s when I was in high school in Owensboro, Kentucky. During my sophomore year I worked as an assistant stage manager for my former junior high school’s spring musical (spring 1968). To thank us, the school’s music teacher/director took all the backstage folks to see a Broadway touring company performance of Fiddler at the old civic auditorium in Evansville, Indiana. I fell in love with the music, the story, and the humor. Who doesn’t love Tevye’s philosophy and conversations with God?!? Within a year I bought the original Broadway cast album with Zero Mostel. I played it so much, and so loudly sometimes, that I was sternly admonished by my mother.
Years later, after the movie version came out and made its way to DVD, I learned my older brother had discovered it because his granddaughter loved to dance to some of the tunes when they viewed it together. After years of separation, Fiddler was the path for my brother and me to reconnect more closely as older adults. L’chaim!!
-Roger Hickman
My wife and I went to the theater in Detroit where Fiddler on the Roof was playing pre-Broadway. As we were standing in line waiting to buy tickets a man approached my pregnant wife and gave her two orchestra seats, explaining that their friends were not able to use them. We certainly enjoyed that performance.
-Michael Porte
Fiddler on the Roof was the very first stage production that I ever performed in, over 50 years ago! I attended Anderson High School, and auditioned in the winter of 1973, my sophomore year.
It was the first time I had ever auditioned for anything, and I was so nervous! But…I must have done all right, and was cast as a daughter in the chorus, and was the understudy for Hodel. Being in the show that spring was simply thrilling for me, and I have so many fond memories of that first time on stage. Little did I know that this was a first step in my becoming involved in musical theatre - After Fiddler, I performed in two additional Anderson musicals, in musicals at Miami University, and did several shows with Cincinnati Music Theater and the Fairfield Summer Theater. As a music educator, I was the assistant music director for a number of musicals in the Fairfield City Schools. I cherish all of these experiences so very much.
So…Fiddler “gave me my start” and it will always live in my heart as a favorite musical - the story and the music are timeless, and I’m so excited to see the Cincinnati Opera’s production!
-Dawn Bruestle
I attended a tiny independent school that mounted a middle school and a high school musical each year. The glorious peak of my eighth grade year (1975) was playing Hodel in our Fiddler on the Roof production, learning the polka, and seeing my English teacher play his violin in silhouette against the scrim. My 88-year-old mother still reminisces about my little train station solo: "How can I hope to make you understand?" Mom and I sang Sunrise, Sunset to my father on his deathbed several years ago. This show holds a unique place in our memories.
-Elizabeth